Quote Originally Posted by percy View Post
As some one who does a lot of driving I should point out just how dangerous some of these foreign drivers are.
It is the Asians.
We would not let in a serial killer,yet we let these murders in.
They do indeed drive on the wrong side of the road.They overtake on blind corners.I am scared stiff of them.
Following them I can pick them up a mile away,but when they come at you on the wrong side off the road on a blind corner,that is murder.
Hi percy, this is a very emotional subject - and prone to irrational and unfair judgements. It is bad enough without throwing racism into the debate.

I agree that it is dangerous for any driver to change over night from driving on one side of the road to the other side. Any driver changes from time to time to "autopilot" and this is when you make a mistake if your default side to drive is on the other side of the road. I did drive for decades on the right side of the road, for decades on the left ... and am typically at least once a year in a country where they drive on the other side. I do know what I am talking about.

This is however in my view just a risk we need to accept unless we want to totally ban tourists driving on our roads (and with that any Kiwi who would want to drive abroad). Remember - all these agreements are reciprocal.

Nothing of that has to do with Asian drivers. Some of them are used to drive on the left (e.g Singapore, Malaysia and I think India), and they will not have more problems than any Kiwi driver. Some of them come from countries driving on the right side of the road - and they will have not more problems than any driver from continental Europe or the US.

If you observe on your trips a vehicle with an reasonable driver who looks caucasian - you don't know whether (s)he is a tourist, but you assume probably its a Kiwi. Could be however a continental European or an American.

If you observe on your trips a vehicle with an appalling driver who looks Asian - you don't know whether (s)he is a tourist or a Kiwi, but you just assume (s)he is a tourist. Could be however a third generation Kiwi.

See where I am coming from?