20 Dec 2014

Tourist drivers campaign 'a joke'

3:03 pm on 20 December 2014

A road safety campaigner says a new initiative targeting tourist drivers is a joke.

The Transport Agency and the Rental Vehicle Association will roll-out a nationwide safety campaign this summer in which tags with road safety information are attached to the steering wheels of rental cars.

It comes after several recent crashes involving visiting drivers.

The Dog and Lemon Guide website editor Clive Matthew-Wilson said the tags would not stop visiting drivers making mistakes such as falling asleep at the wheel after a long flight.

"This is just another bad joke from the road safety authority.... How does solve the problem of people lurching to the other side of the road during and emergency manoeuvre? It doesn't."

He said they should have to pass a practical test before being allowed to drive on New Zealand roads.

The NZTA and rental vehicle association had been trailing the project in Queenstown this year, and said the had received mostly positive feedback from tourists.

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