Road safety: fix the driver vs fix the driving environment Sweden is at least 20 years ahead of NZ when it comes to road safety, ie. Number of deaths and serious injuries per capita. They've done the maths and the cold hard facts can't be ignored.
Sadly, NZ drivers have an outdated, she'll be right attitude towards driving. There's always going to be people who are opposed to making our roads safer. Kiwis in general like to get from A to B as quickly as possible and l guess that's human nature. And we like to think we're bullet proof. As a country we've become conditioned to the road toll states. And unless we or someone we know is involved in a serious crash, we probably don't think of the adverse effects on so many other people besides the injured or deceased.
Having said that, l believe that we need to take a more holistic approach to road safety. Eg. Mandatory driver training and maybe a more comprehensive licensing system, ie. The learner's license limiting drivers to 50kph speed zones, with a full license conditional on further driver training and a practical test carried out in 100kph speed conditions.
On the subject of tourist drivers, it's clear that they shouldn't automatically be let loose on NZ roads, especially when the vast majority aren't used to driving on the left hand side. Another problem is that tourists are not conversant with NZ road rules.
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