A nine-year-old from Timaru is petitioning to get the law around foreign drivers on New Zealand roads changed following the death of his dad in a crash which also killed Tauranga man Dennis Pedersen.
Sean Roberts' father Grant and Dennis, also known as Deno, were killed in a crash on Lindis Pass on State Highway 8 on November 26, 2012.
Deno was a well-known member of the Tauranga community.
Deno and Grant were riding as part of a group returning from the Burt Munro Challenge in Invercargill when he and South Canterbury Road Knight Grant, 43, collided with a southbound Nissan near Goodger Road at around 2pm.
The car was being driven by Chinese tourist Kejia Zheng, who only had a few weeks' experience behind the wheel and lost control of the rented vehicle.
Since then, Sean has launched an online petition in the hope of getting laws around foreign drivers in New Zealand changed.
'I would like to see a change, a test before they drive on our roads,” Sean says on his petition. '
'I want to ask if there can be a change and why can't they (foreign drivers) be made to sit a test before driving in New Zealand.
'Nobody really deserves to go through what I have been through, if things don't change people will keep getting hurt.”
A coroner's inquest into the men's death ruled the driver only had one month's driving experience before she ventured on to New Zealand's roads.
She was convicted on two counts of careless driving causing death and sentenced to two years' disqualification from driving and ordered to pay $10,000 emotional harm.
A police investigation found the 20-year-old tourist had crossed the centreline and collided with the oncoming motorcyclists.
Police had received a complaint about Zheng's driving earlier in the day but an officer was unable to locate the vehicle.
Even if the vehicle had been located, police were limited in what they could do to stop Zheng from driving due to current legislation.
Coroner Richard McElrea said: 'The motorcycle he (Deno) was riding was in a lawful manner and none of the group were found to be speeding.
'The driver of the car had minimal experience at driving at speeds near 100km/h and no driving experience of any kind in the 10 months to noon November 25, 2012.”
To sign Sean's petition, click here.
10 comments
good question
Posted on 25-11-2014 14:59 | By sojourner
"Why can't they sit a driving test" GOOD question. They can and they should be made to. Period. Going to sign that petition. Good on you,Sean!
Sad.
Posted on 25-11-2014 15:20 | By Watchdog
Because Chinese also drive on the opposite side to us, it is probable they lapse into their own sense of what is the correct side of the road. But newly qualified drivers should be carefully vetted, or even not permitted to drive until they can prove competent behind a wheel.
sympathy
Posted on 25-11-2014 15:45 | By rosscoo
although i sympathies with Sean in his loss making people take tests won't achieve anything. You could have rental company go for short drive to check there driving but it all comes down to attitude and most foreigners that come on holiday do not want to understand English never mind play by law of land. It all boils down to driving to conditions
At the very least
Posted on 25-11-2014 16:04 | By BennyBenson
foreign drivers should be fully qualified in their own country, surely a few weeks driving experience doesn't count. Surprised they could even rent a car.
Tourist drivers
Posted on 25-11-2014 17:53 | By darrenc
While I feel for Sean's situation the answer to his question is that the proposed test is completely unfeasible. Who would generate and administer the test? It would mean several hundred thousand tests a year, which is way more than the number of learner drivers that take a driving test each year. There is already a set of recommendations supplied to rental car companies by the Tourism Industry Association of NZ that recommends the following resources: a brochure from NZTA called What's Different About Driving in New Zealand, the tourist Road Code test here http://www.drivingtests.co.nz/roadcode/tourist/ and a video by Campermate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD-Ml7mMXBg. There are a lot of things we can do to save lives in many different areas; banning alcohol is one example, and it is as unfeasible as enforcing a test on tourist drivers that will simply discourage tourism here.
Tests Wont Work
Posted on 26-11-2014 08:19 | By Politically Incorrect
Yeah this is a tragedy, but making tourists sit driving tests isn't logistically possible. You can't come on a 2 week holiday and wait 8 weeks for a driving test. Rules are already in place about who can drive on what kinds of foreign licence. Besides anything, look how many foreign tourists kill people compared to kiwis on learner or restricted licences, drunk, on drugs or whatever. Don't persecute the millions of tourists based on the actions of a tiny minority when we can't even clean up our own act.
Not just foreign drivers
Posted on 26-11-2014 09:01 | By Not just foreign drivers!!
Whilst I sympathise here, I think we need to get things into perspective and stop blaming foreign drivers. The standard of driving by Kiwi's is by no means the best and they are guilty of poor and dangerous driving and for the killing of many on the roads. The number of fatalities caused by foreign drivers on NZ roads is very small in comparison to the number caused by Kiwi's. We need to be careful that we don't create a "campaign" against foreigners who bring in an awful lot of revenue!!
Think about this
Posted on 26-11-2014 10:11 | By Annalist
When NZers travel overseas they probably also like to drive, Maybe a campervan, or a car, or a scooter. If we make tourist drivers sit tests here, we will also have to sit tests when we travel. Of course we sympathise with those who have lost loved ones in crashes with foreign drivers. But many more lose their lives at the hands of our own drivers. Think about it.
perhaps
Posted on 26-11-2014 12:11 | By @)---}-
People who haven't held their full license for a minimum of three - maybe four years in their own country, should not be permitted to drive on our roads?
Realistic
Posted on 26-11-2014 15:06 | By DanielT
there are many poor drivers on our roads causin similar types of crashes. This driver happened to be foreign. Testing visitors is not practical, but imposing stricter limits may help, such as having held a full foreign licence for a certain period of time as others have mentioned.
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