[Singel]

Lately, there are 4 teenagers got killed in Hastings because of speeding. There are a lot of discussion about dangerous driving. My hubby and I was shocked to know that there is no law that require the people here to buy car insurance :eek:

My question is what happen if a car hit our car and the driver at fault, do not have insurance and he also has no monies?
My colleague told me that the only way is to claim from my own insurance - seems like being penalised/punished* for being a good citizen :confused:
*may affect the bonus points and premium will go up in the next review

From now onwards, we ought to be really careful on the roads, if not, we might be made poorer by some idiots out there :wah

Just a warning...............

[Moorf]

That's right, mad isn't it. :confused:

And apparently 15 - 20% of drivers in NZ aren't insured!



Research shows that uninsured drivers face a significantly higher risk of car crash injury. After allowing for age, gender and level of education, they are five times more likely to face car crash injury.



Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3364936a1864,00.html

[Graham Barnes]

Am I being gormless??
Isn't the point of the ACC that individuals do not make claims against each other, but apply to the ACC for their costs/expenses?

[Smiler]

Timely thread thank you!

Yesterday I mailed some companies to get a rough idea of the cost of insuring our car and motorbikes in NZ.

I can't ever imagine driving without insurance. :(

Is there fully comp in NZ or just third party or nothing?

Deborah

[kiwidebs]

There's def fully comp. Some of us Kiwis wouldn't dream of driving without insurance :no and I know loads of Kiwis who believe some form of compulsory car insurance is long overdue:yes . When I drove an old car (in my teens) I only had 3rd party, fire and theft but once I got a decent car I got fully comp. And it used to cost me alot less than car insurance here in London !!!

Debs

[Singel]

Am I being gormless??
Isn't the point of the ACC that individuals do not make claims against each other, but apply to the ACC for their costs/expenses?
ACC only cover injuries sustained during a road accident, it does not cover the damage to the vehicle : http://www.acc.co.nz/wcm001/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1494

If you also claim from your personal medical insurance, whatever amounts that you receive from ACC will be deducted.

[GeorgeM]

As stated above the ACC only covers the personal injury side of things - damage to property has to be persuded individually against whoever caused it.

In some way the situation in NZ is better than in the UK for two reasons:-

Many in the UK drive illegally without insurance and if they cause physical injury to anyone there's no one there to pick up the tab.

Insurance companies are more realistic about their premiums as the insurance isn't compulsary - if the costs get too high then people will just opt out whereas in the UK they must buy off someone.

On the downside, though, there is nothing to keep youngsters out of high performance cars here whilst for most teenagers the insurance costs would be sufficient to keep most out of these vehicles in the UK.

[ruthyroo]

Having listened to the stories of the ongoing death toll among young drivers in NZ, it's really depressing. For a lot of kids, 15 is just too young to drive, especially the souped up cars that are so popular out here. I remember myself at 15, and I don't think I would have had the necessary self-discipline and judgement to drive safely. And the lack of compulsory insurance just compounds the problem. Yet no-one seems willing to actually do anything about it - least of all the government. One theme I've heard on radio phone ins / smoko chats is 'how will 15-17 year olds get to work / school if they aren't able to drive?' Well we seem to manage in the UK with lifts from parents and public transport.

[Singel]

Imposing compulsory 3rd party insurance has it's drawback. The insurance company will inflate the premium amounts, in anticipating a lot of claims. This will cause further hardship to people who are already struggling financially and may also affect the overall inflation rate.

It seems that the best option is to raise the minimum driving age.

[Miffy]

I was pretty shocked that there was no need for carinsurance over here. And that 15 years could drive.

On the plus side car insurance is super cheap. when we got our quote from the AA (which we were later told to be one of the more expensive providers) we asked if the amount was per month ... but was told no it was for the year! :laugh :laugh

[Avalon]

We are paying $225 PER YEAR to fully comp insure a car which is apparently a "high theft risk". Some companies were saying "Oooh - we will have to check with our underwiters if they are willing to insure such a risky car" then came back with a highest quite of less tha $500 a year.

I nearly wet meself laughing!

I would not dream of driving in NZ without fully comp insurance. On open roads its fine becaus ethere just arent that many people on them, here round welly - its like taking your life in your hands!

[GeorgeM]

I remember myself at 15, and I don't think I would have had the necessary self-discipline and judgement to drive safely.
I don't think that I'm a bad driver but...

At SEVENteen when I passed my test I was pretty much a liability in my old Triumph Herald - 0 to 60 in about half an hour - due to the usual teenage male challenges of too much testosterone and too little experience. There are a couple of incidents where, if I had had a high performance car available to me, I could have easily wiped out myself and several of my young friends.

One theme I've heard on radio phone ins / smoko chats is 'how will 15-17 year olds get to work / school if they aren't able to drive?' Well we seem to manage in the UK with lifts from parents and public transport.

The problem is with the rural community in NZ - it can be difficult for youngsters to live in the back blocks as it is without being a prisoner until they're well past 17. An option would be to only allow people to drive cars up to a certain (very low) bhp until they had, say, 2 years experience. At least that would do something about the high top end speeds and vicious acceleration of the cars many 15-18 year olds drive. I suppose that if any govt tried to bring in a requirement like this, though, the civil liberties crowd would find some reason for opposing it.

[jubjub]

The power of the vehicle is probably the one way of stopping a lot of the accidents for kids, as they seem to be caused by speed.

Something similar to the new motorbike licence laws that came in to the UK a while back, you pass a test for a certain power, and thats it, want to drive something faster, another test, think there are age limits as well (not sure on that bit though).

Having insurance wont stop anyone hell bent on showing off speeding around.

When I first got here, and got my car, I spent two weeks without insurance, (too lazy to sort it out as it was not a legal requirement!) and I felt nervous every day I went out!

We spend $80 a month on insuring two cars, and thats fully comprehensive.

And I still have not got the hang of the give way to people doing right turns, it does my head in, had a couple of near misses with that one!:o

[Singel]

And I still have not got the hang of the give way to people doing right turns, it does my head in, had a couple of near misses with that one!:o
You can count me in on this one especially when I reach a cross-junction with no traffic lights except give way signs, and I still couldn't figure out "who" has the right of way :confused:



An option would be to only allow people to drive cars up to a certain (very low) bhp until they had, say, 2 years experience. At least that would do something about the high top end speeds and vicious acceleration of the cars many 15-18 year olds drive.
Speed is always very difficult to police. Those boy racers always get away with murder. In fact, some of them boost that they have been speeding dangerously for 3 years and have never get caught.

I would advocate that during the half-yearly WOF inspection, those high-power turbo-charge with noisy exhaust old cars, should be taken off the road on the spot.

[Diny]

Heck yeah ..... have had a couple of near misses on that turning left rule too. Must try and get use to that.

I too drove our car without insurance for a couple of weeks, it feels odd eh.

Am fully paid up now. Insurance over here is so cheap compared to UK. We insured both our cars fully comp for a full year (one off payment). This is what it cost:

Honda Integra $277.00 for 12 months

Mitsubishi Delica 4WD $411.00 for 12 months

Not bad eh !!!!

Diny

[Glenda]

And I still have not got the hang of the give way to people doing right turns, it does my head in, had a couple of near misses with that one!:o

I have now got used to giving way to people doing right turns but have a lot of bother with driving behind someone who is turning left and giving way to the oncoming car turning right.

The roads here are on the whole quite wide and there is often plenty of room to pass a car turning left and still be in the correct side of the road. Is that legal when he is giving way to a car turning right? Should I just stop and hope nobody goes into my boot? Anyone know?

:confused:

[Singel]

The roads here are on the whole quite wide and there is often plenty of room to pass a car turning left and still be in the correct side of the road. Is that legal when he is giving way to a car turning right? Should I just stop and hope nobody goes into my boot? Anyone know?

:confused:
If you pass a car that is turning left and you are going straight, the car that is waiting to turn right must give way to you.
:cheers

[GeorgeM]

If you think that the NZ left/right turn law is wacky you should see what they've just introduced in Victoria, Oz.

In Melbourne, if you're turning right at lights (I'm not sure whether it's all lights or just a select few) you pull over to the LEFT and stop! When the lights turn red you then complete the right hand turn!!

I must have took a huge number of degrees in traffic and town planning to dream that one up!

[Moorf]

Here's one that's bugging me (and sods law it will be one of my driving test questions so I need to clear it up!)...

At a T-junction... ( I probably need to draw a pic for this but I'll try anyway)... There is someone stopped at the T. I am driving toward the junction from his left and at the same time someone is coming from his right, but that person is turning left into the road that the person who is stopped at the T is on... (still with me?)...

I also want to turn right into the road ... so, I let the person turning on the other side go first... I know that much.. but then who has right of way after that? I was told that I have to let the person waiting at T-junction go first... then I can turn in.. and there is that solid white line across the turning area too.. :confused:

[jubjub]

Hubby had it explained to him, that if you are going to be hit by a turning vehicle on your drivers side if you both keep moving, then you should stop let it go first.....

[Moorf]

Aha - so it is right, you let the person waiting at the T-junction out before you turn!!! Interesting - as no-one actually seems to adhere to this rule!!! Yet the solid white line across the road is an indicator... thanks for that Jub - will be some lively debate this weekend re that and I love the explanation! :D

[GeorgeM]

It depends on whether the T junction has a give way marked or not.

If it does then the person waiting in the side road has to give way to you.

If it doesn't then the give way rule applies and you give way to vehicles from your right, which means that you give way to him.

In practice many people assume that there is always an implied give way across the side road and so turn off the 'main' road ahead of someone waiting to pull out regardless.

The junction of Hewitts Road and Carlton Mill Road in Merivale, for example, has no give way markings but many people assume them to be there. I've seen near accidents and irate drivers as people try to turn right out of Hewitts Road only to be nearly wiped out by people doing a right turn off Carlton Mill Road. Normally it seems that the ones in the wrong aren't trying to push in - they just seem to be ignorant of the rules.

[Singel]

Road Rage captured on CCTV and showed on telly yesterday : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10342422

Poor chap, might have to pay for the medicals out of his own pocket, I doubt he could claim ACC because it is not a road accident.

...........sad isn't it? :no

[Moorf]

And he's in Lindajax's hospital!