A while ago, we posted about tourist drivers in New Zealand, and how the crashes they are involved with are often widely publicised. We wanted to revisit this topic, because there seems to be no slowing down of the coverage, and we thought it might be helpful to present a bit of a summary of the facts.
Tourists do not cause more crashes than other drivers in New Zealand. In fact, if you compare the crashes they have per head of population, there are in fact slightly less crashes where a tourist is at fault or involved.
However, the media like to cover incidents involving tourists because it makes a good story. We might get outraged because we feel our locals are at risk, or find stories where tourists make colossal mistakes particularly memorable, easy to repeat, and maybe even funny.
Dr Robert Isler, our Head of Research, has an additional two theories why the public pick up on these stories so swiftly. “It’s a very emotive type of story, the German newlyweds on their honeymoon, dying on New Zealand roads far from their family, on a once in a lifetime trip. We hear these things and we feel awful for the people involved, and it stays in our minds.”
He also says that it’s very believable that it would be hard for tourists to handle our roads well. “They are negotiating unfamiliar roads, in unfamiliar rental cars. They’re distracted by our scenery, reading maps, don’t know the road rules and might be tired from jetlag. It’s easy to believe that they will struggle!”
The media also like to skew facts and figures slightly, so that the message they are after comes across. That’s evident in this story for example, which singles out one area where there are a lot of tourists crashes.
Additionally, the government isn’t keen to legislate against tourists driving on our roads with no test of their skills before they do so. The reason for this is mainly because they’re afraid other countries will impose reciprocal rules for kiwis visiting their shores, and that this will impact us negatively.
Whether tourists cause more or less crashes than New Zealanders, we at Fleetcoach still feel that there is a way to train their higher-level driving skills while giving them practical help to negotiate our roads. We think it’s an excellent cause too:
- Everyone, no matter who they are, could afford to improve their driving skills
- It might help mitigate any bad press we’re getting overseas about our big bad scary roads
- Our visitors might feel more safe and comfortable about coming over and seeing our beautiful country
- It might begin to change the perception the media love to promote, and show kiwis that tourists aren’t at fault as often as we’re told.
- Quite simply, better drivers, make safer roads!
So in summary, don’t believe everything you read! This is a complex issue, but a very important one nonetheless, and we think the answer involves less blame, but more training. Our programmes eDrive and Fleetcoach both address higher-level driving skills (the crucial ones!) so if you know a tourist about to hit our roads, let them know!
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