Put dummy cars on the shoulder painted to look like rea l patrol cars cheap but law says not allowed to park on motorway .
socram,
Nov 22, 1:35pm
" I would rather drive 1000 miles on the M1 in England than 10 miles on the southern motorway." That is a typical response from those Kiwis who have driven any distance in the UK.
My solution - motorways only?
1) Keep left - banning overtaking on the left would be a good start. Frustrated motorists behind the hogs would soon let them know.
2) Police turning a blind eye to minor speeding infringements on motorways in NZ. (I got a ticket for 86kph between Onewa Rd and the Harbour Bridge at 6:20am on a Sunday. ) Motorway? I don't think so.
3) The UK bans learner drivers from Motorways. That couldn't happen here as there are places where a so called motorway is the only road.
4) Truckies wouldn't like it here, but they are banned from the right lane on British 3 lane motorways. (see #1)
5) Some of our on-ramps are a joke. How can you merge like a zip on an uphill on ramp that is preceded by a 55mph corner and a red stop light? OK if you have a zippy rice rocket, but not so easy with a small truck, let alone a large truck and trailer.
6) Notices to remind drivers to 'Keep Left' - and also use mirrors and indicators wouldn't go amiss.
cabrio1,
Nov 22, 1:42pm
yeah it was broken
gazzat22,
Nov 22, 2:37pm
Most of which comes down to enforcement and the resources to do the enforcing.#2 what was the speed limit.Dont crashes occur at 620am or is it only to other drivers.?
desmodave,
Nov 22, 3:29pm
What part ? no doubt the engine .
philltauranga,
Nov 22, 4:18pm
New Zealands 3 lane motorway. all 40 kms of it. LOL but wait. there are 30 on ramps and off ramps in that 40kms. LOL
socram,
Nov 22, 7:17pm
It was on a motorway (sic) where there is an 80kph limit. So my point is that whereas the British Police turn a blind eye on the motorways up to about 95mph, as long as drivers are behaving, and they have NO hidden speed cameras, NZ has a fixation with pettiness. Given that during the rest of the year, a 10kmh tolerance is deemed OK, parking a speed camera on a so called motorway, particularly in a spot where you are trying to join the motorway and cross over to lane 4, concentrating on the mirrors and traffic in the other lanes, is petty - and especially as there have been no fatals on that stretch of road since they put in a concrete barrier, donkeys years ago. Much of the enforcement attitude in NZ is financially driven, rather than driver education driven.
#57 also hits another nail on the head.
headcat,
Nov 22, 7:27pm
But you left Britain for here. live with it.
socram,
Nov 22, 7:52pm
That wasn't MY initial post. See post #15.
gammelvind,
Nov 22, 7:54pm
Wee bit out of context.
bill-robinson,
Nov 23, 6:36am
no Ra, you are about as far from the true me as you can get lol
rsr72,
Nov 23, 8:39am
- Smoke and mirrors perpetuated by officialdom. Tourists are only a tiny fraction of the drivers on our roads and quite obviously in comparison with 2 million, or whatever, Kiwi's on the road the deaths they cause are small in comparison, but great in comparison with other tourist numbers driving our roads.
rsr72,
Nov 23, 8:43am
. 'The percentage of fatal and serious crashes where overseas drivers were involved or at fault was calculated from data supplied by the NZ Transport Agency for 2006-13.
A comparison between the two sets of data shows that tourists in rental cars make up a small percentage of all the vehicles on New Zealand roads in any month, but overseas drivers are involved in a much larger percentage of fatal and serious crashes. '
FYI. I am a New Zealander but have spent varying times in the UK and IMO drivers in the UK are more courteous/more skilled and more policed than NZ.They also have higher fines for traffic offenses including using cellphones whilst driving.
bill-robinson,
Nov 24, 1:17pm
i will join you if you do not mind. i am a kiwi and lived in the uk for 25 years and i will state the uk drivers are more sensble tha kiwis all and every day. the police in the uk also use their heads with regard to speed and other road conditions before applying the law which is enforced not played with as here
socram,
Nov 24, 5:38pm
Agree with the two above. Although I am an import, I still drive a considerable distance each year in the UK. Also totally agree with the comment above about the Brit police.
As I have stated in here several times before, one of my two best buddies in the UK is a retired grade 1 Police driver and he always adopted the common-sense approach.
"If drivers are speeding (well, not exceeding 100mph/160kph) but not tail gating, overtaking on the inside or in any other way bringing attention to themselves, what is the point of stopping them?" was their mantra - though things might have changed, as he got stopped not too long ago by some young keen constable - and he was the local Mayor at the time!
fekim,
Nov 25, 12:28pm
Tell us again how many other people these drivers killed, which added to the road toll.
gazzat22,
Nov 26, 9:52am
The road toll in the UK particularly when the population and all other relevant statistics are considered is so much lower than NZ so can any one give reasons for this .I think even Australia has better stats than NZ.
bill-robinson,
Nov 26, 10:37am
a lot of uk roads are similar to here (except unsealed) the cars are of the same standard, so i guess that leaves the vehicle operaters who are so bad
peja,
Nov 26, 11:32am
Precisely what I have just done in the last couple of weeks in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Did the same in Cambodia and Malaysia too. Much safer than trying to drive on the opposite side of the road and in completely unfamiliar (and deeply challenging at times) traffic conditions.
Should be a legal requirement for anyone from an LHD country in my view, and perhaps RHD developing world countries too.
jantar,
Nov 26, 11:56am
But take a look at the accident statistics in the reqion that the OP was talking about: Southern Lakes and Central Otago; and the statistics show that tourist accidents are not just over-represented, they are the majority.
esky-tastic,
Nov 26, 10:01pm
The 'gossip line' ( almost as factual as TMMB!) tells me the majority of *555 calls in that area were for badly driven rental cars, no mention if the drivers were foreign though.
socram,
Nov 27, 10:17am
Whilst I have no knowledge of pay rates in those countries, you can get a driver and car (they call them taxis) for about four or 5 hours in Kochin for about $20US, Mumbai, $30US.
Good luck for getting those rates in the USA, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Austria etc.
Noting the time it takes just to travel around the various Auckland regions, I can't think of many countries where the average visitor would be able to afford it in NZ.
Given the numbers arriving and assuming they could pay, what about the local drivers? Licenced? Taken a Police clearance test? Would single females be safe?
On the 14 day trip, would you expect the visitor to pay for their food and accommodation too?
craigsmith,
Dec 4, 10:24pm
Much of this issue could be solved by ceasing to recognize certain countries' driver licenses as valid for use in NZ, and acknowledging them as the worthless corruption-bought pieces of fraud that they are.
The people holding them are simply not qualified to drive here or anywhere else we care about people's lives (or time for that matter). If you want to drive on NZ roads as a citizen, we require you to pass the NZ license requirements. Why do we make exceptions for everyone else?
Everybody knows which countries these are. It's not the US, it's not the UK, or Finland, or Australia, or Japan, is it.
But political correctness and the necessity for our leaders to avoid awkward conversations at their next APEC dinner party will prevail. What's a few dozen lives every year? Nobody actually cares.
serf407,
Dec 5, 6:38am
What is the best way to handle this situation? Campervan heading towards you in your lane, go left into the dirt, go right and into the dirt? Buy a very large truck to drive?
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