Tourist crash victim urges Government intervention

Friday, 23 February 2018

A head on crash victim says it's time the Government stepped up to do something about the accidents caused by tourist drivers on New Zealand roads.

David Miller, of Lumsden, on Friday, spoke out demanding something be done, after he and his family were involved in a head on collision on December 26 when a tourist driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into them.

Miller, his wife Sharon, and his daughter Katie were airlifted to Dunedin Hospital, and even though they did not suffer serious injuries, two of them are still struggling with lingering effects of the crash.

On Thursday, the driver, Kansei Uno, of Japan, was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court, ordered to pay $15,000 in reparations to the Miller family and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

It was time that Government stepped in to do something about the number of accidents caused by tourist drivers on New Zealand's roads, Miller said.

In his victim impact statement, Miller says that his ultimate wish to the defendant is that he establishes an education programme in his country that educates travellers to New Zealand on the dangers of fatigue after air travel.

That is at the centre of Miller's response to his family's experience, that some good come out of it.

'People need to talk to their MPs and create a bit of a groundswell – New Zealanders shouldn't have to drive in fear in their own country,' he said.

Although people have told him that they drive defensively when on a tourist road, Miller said that was exactly what he had been doing at the time, and it still did not prevent the accident.

In Miller's case, he says the other driver made a simple mistake, something that could happen to anyone.

He said it did involve bad decision making on the part of the other driver to get behind the wheel after such a long flight.

'Could we look at a stand-down period maybe? Maybe a 48-hour stand-down after long flights?' he asked.

Although he said that he also travelled overseas and expected to be able to rent a vehicle in foreign countries, he was concerned whether all countries did enough in their driver testing to ensure that those who are licensed are in fact competent drivers.

Some form of education for tourist drivers would also help to ensure that they were familiar with New Zealand road rules would also help, even though Miller believed the language barrier would make this a challenge.

'The rental companies are the gatekeepers. A little bit of emphasis from the Government needs to be put back on the rental companies,' Miller said.

He also questioned whether it was wise to allow camper vans and rental cars on Milford Rd, given the nature of the road and the number of accidents that occur there.

Instead, he would rather see a shuttle bus service to take tourists to Milford, which would not only make the road safer but also allow the tourists to enjoy the scenery and create jobs for New Zealanders.

'It's certainly not all tourists, I've some some bad New Zealand drivers as well,' he said.

Miller said that even though the $15,000 that was awarded to his family under the judgement might seem a lot, it was 'a reimbursement basically'.

The $15,000 is what they (family) put in for what the accident had cost his family up to this point, Miller said.