NZ 'shouldn't let them drive' without tests

China-born Dunedin businessman Joe Jiang says Chinese visitors should be tested before driving on New Zealand roads.

Mr Jiang (35), who was the interpreter for a Chinese national who caused a fatal vehicle crash 14 months ago, has made the call for compulsory testing after becoming concerned about the recent spate of vehicle injury crashes attributed to foreign drivers.

Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss said there was always more to be done to improve driver safety but gave no indication there would be significant changes to foreign driver licensing.

Mr Jiang, who grew up in Shandong province, has lived in New Zealand for 16 years and is director of the Chinese-language New Zealand South Island Chinese Newspaper.

He said there were too many differences between driving regulations and conditions in New Zealand and China for it to be safe to let Chinese visitors drive in this country without prior testing.

In China, traffic travelled on the right, making it difficult for visitors to New Zealand to adapt quickly to driving on the left, Mr Jiang said.

Many Chinese visitors did not know enough English to read New Zealand road signs, and they encountered unfamiliar road markings, such as double yellow lines, he said.

New Zealand highways could also be much narrower than the Chinese equivalent, causing Chinese drivers to misinterpret a road's status.

Because most New Zealand roads had only one lane in each direction, some drivers treated them as minor roads, believing it was acceptable to stop on the road to take pictures, he said.

''New Zealand should not let them drive here before they pass a [practical] driving test, or at least pass the road code test,'' he said.

In December 2013, Mr Jiang acted as an interpreter at Dunedin Hospital for Chinese national Yong Wang.

Mr Wang had been in New Zealand two days when, driving from Te Anau on State Highway 94, he overtook a vehicle and remained in the opposite lane.

Rounding a curve, his rental car collided head-on with another vehicle.

Mr Wang suffered major head injuries, his sister was killed, her husband suffered major internal injuries and the couple's daughter sustained head lacerations.

The other driver suffered multiple injuries and his passenger sustained a broken wrist and collar bone.

Mr Jiang's involvement in that case, and reports of several recent vehicle crashes involving foreign drivers, had left him concerned the present requirements were insufficient.

''It's not good for the Chinese and not good for China,'' Mr Jiang said.

''Those who are affected and those who made the mistakes - everyone suffers. A test would benefit both parties.''

At present, visitors with a valid and current driver's licence could drive in New Zealand for 12 months.

In China, foreign drivers with a valid licence needed to attend lessons on Chinese road safety regulations before they could drive.

The foreign licence was valid for three months.

Official reports of road fatalities showed China had a lower incident rate than New Zealand - five deaths per 100,000 population, compared with 9 per 100,000 in New Zealand.

But a 2011 joint United States-China study, partially funded by the Chinese Government, suggested traffic deaths there were significantly under-reported, perhaps by almost 300%.

Between 2010 and 2014, the number of visitors to New Zealand from China more than doubled to 239,712.

Rental Vehicle Association New Zealand vice-president Mark Righton said an increasing number were choosing to do self-drive tours.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's estimates showed while annual spending by Chinese visitors during the past five years had more than doubled to $821 million nationwide in 2014, spending by Chinese visitors in the Queenstown-Lakes district has grown nine-fold to $149 million.

Nationwide, about 6% of crashes involved a foreign driver.

But foreign driver involvement rose to 24% in Queenstown Lakes and 37% in Westland.

By 2020, it is expected an extra 850,000 visitors a year will be coming to New Zealand.

China will account for a third of that growth.

The Government estimates by then Chinese visitors will be spending $1699 million a year here, a 132% increase.

Asked whether New Zealand's approach to foreign drivers was primarily driven by a desire to attract tourism dollars, the office of Prime Minister John Key, who is Minister of Tourism, referred the question to Associate Minister of Transport Craig Foss.

Mr Foss said New Zealand's approach was consistent with other countries such as Australia, Canada, Britain, the United States, France and Germany.

''We recognise that many people are concerned with poor driving behaviour on challenging roads in and around popular tourist destinations, particularly in the lower South Island,'' Mr Foss said.

A number of tourist-focused safety initiatives were already in place, but ''there is always more to be done''.

''The Visiting Drivers Signature Project is already considering more rumble strips, median barriers, laybys and rest stop areas throughout the lower South Island,'' Mr Foss said.