New Zealand steps up road readiness for holiday motorists

The New Zealand government's tourism agency is to train overseas travel sellers in preparing visitors for driving in the country, following a spate of deadly crashes involving motorists on holiday.

A new online training module had been developed in answer to growing concern in New Zealand about the safety of visiting drivers, Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said Tuesday.

It would be available in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Bahasa Indonesian.

The training covered road rules, information about driving on the left, road conditions and speed restrictions.

"We know that driving in New Zealand is often very different to where our visitors are from and that there are some unique conditions that people are unlikely to have encountered before," Bowler said in a statement.

"The module encourages visitors to consider these unique conditions when planning their trip, such as the fact that with narrow, winding roads in some parts of New Zealand, it can take longer to reach places than the distances suggest and people need to make sure they leave enough time," he said.

"We also want prospective visitors to consider how weather conditions, fatigue and unfamiliarity with our roads will impact on their journey."

Last month car rental companies began trials of a new code of practice aimed at improving road safety screening.

The code included greater screening of driver experience at vehicle collection, more pre-arrival information about New Zealand driving conditions, and sharing between companies of information about visitors whose contracts had been cancelled. Endi