Should tourists in New Zealand, including Hong Kong visitors, take driving tests?

Calls for road safety renew amid concern over number of fatal crashes caused by foreign nationals

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In 2008, a traffic accident in New Zealand killed four tourists from Hong Kong, all from one family. Their car was involved in a collision with a four-wheel drive vehicle. Photo: Handout

Published: 4:30pm, 19 Aug 2017Updated: 1:16pm, 20 Aug 2017

A growing number of fatal car crashes involving tourists in New Zealand, including those from Hong Kong, has sparked calls for stricter traffic rules in the popular holiday destination.

According to the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, up to 37 per cent of accidents between 2011 and 2015 in Westland District of the South Island were caused by foreign nationals. Countrywide, an average of 6 per cent of accidents in this period were caused by foreigners.

Last year, at least 25 people died in accidents caused by drivers from overseas, up from 13 similar cases in 2013.

New Zealand presses tourist road safety after Hong Kong family dies in crash

Chinese nationals were involved in 270 accidents resulting in fatalities or injuries between 2011 and 2015 in New Zealand, and Hongkongers were involved in fewer than 50, statistics show.

In 2015 all four members of a Hong Kong family died after their car collided head-on with a logging truck in North Island. The year before, three Hong Kong tourists including their driver were killed when their rental van collided with a truck in Central Otago.

Jason Shum, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents, said a big problem for Hongkongers on driving holidays in New Zealand was the unfamiliar single-lane roads.

Statistics show the most common causes of accidents for overseas drivers were loss of control, failure to adjust to local rules or conditions, and failing to stop or give way.

The series of crashes caused by tourists has prompted calls for change, including a petition presented to New Zealand’s parliament earlier this year, demanding driving tests for those staying longer than three months.