[Singel]

NZ Herald
Friday July 21, 2006
By James Ihaka

A leading British insurance provider has warned travellers of the dangers prevalent when visiting New Zealand.

Aviva, the largest insurance services provider in the United Kingdom, has released findings on travel hot-spots around the globe, listing the countries most likely to pose a risk to tourists based on its claims database.

While Thailand leads the list, appearing in almost every category as a "hotbed for theft, tummy problems, traffic accidents and lost belongings", and South Africa comes out on top for robbery with violence, New Zealand also appears on three lists.

It is rated fourth behind Thailand, South Africa and India as the most dangerous country to drive in, and features highly for incidents of theft against British tourists, coming in at fourth place behind Thailand, South Africa and islands in the Caribbean.

British tourists also report more lost or misplaced belongings while visiting New Zealand.

The National Party's tourism spokesman, David Carter, said he was disappointed by the survey's results.

"New Zealand appears to be developing a reputation for petty crime and dodgy roads," he said.

"Perhaps if the Government had set sensible police priorities earlier, we could have dealt with this poor perception.

"And if the roading crisis had been taken seriously, we would have fewer accidents."

Mr Carter said tourism was now vital to the New Zealand economy and the country could not afford to have its "image sullied by a perception of lawlessness and petty crime".

Aviva's research revealed the safest countries for travelling Brits were in Western Europe.

Ireland came out on top, followed by Belgium, Holland, Germany and France.

HOW WE RATE

Lost/misplaced items

1 Thailand.
2 Mexico.
3 Caribbean.
4 Australia.
5 New Zealand.

Road accidents

1 Thailand.
2 South Africa.
3 India.
4 New Zealand.
5 Canada.

Theft

1 Thailand.
2 South Africa.
3 Caribbean.
4 New Zealand.
5 Mexico.

Source: www.aviva.com

[Moorf]

So true about the roads/accidents and my personal favourite, hoons... my personal no.1 dislike of NZ...

[Singel]

I don't think the roads are bad. Most of the accidents are caused by human errors, speeding and bad-conditioned/poorly-maintained imported cars. We find that there are a lot of dangerous driving here :( . We hardly find a learner driver from a driving school. It is so so rare. Any teenagers could just learn from any adult driver within the family and go to AA for the theory and driving tests.

[Paul & Rach]

NZ just behind India in road accidents....!!!!!! I find this hard to believe.... I reckon there's a statistical problem here - I can't imagine that Thailand and India for instance as as good at recording traffic accidents as NZ for instance...

Quite shocking though.

[Diny]

NZ just behind India in road accidents....!!!!!! I find this hard to believe....

Quite shocking though.

Believe it !!!!!

Diny

[ENZ]

Some international comparisons of road traffic deaths per head of population:

http://www.driveandstayalive.com/info%20section/statistics/multi-country_death-rates_1988-2001.htm

The stats only cover developed countries - NZ is not especially good nor is it especially bad. Some examples of road deaths per 100,000 people in 2002 are:

Australia 8.8
Austria 11.9
Belgium 14.5
Canada 9.3
Czech Rep. 14.0
Ireland 9.6
Italy 11.7
New Zealand 10.3
UK 6.1
USA 14.9

[StevieD]

I think the lost items probably due to keys and wallets falling out of peeps pockets on the bungees!! :laugh

[Diny]

Unless you do it Billy Connolly style !!!!!!!

[Oregonkiwi]

I reckon there's a statistical problem here
I thought of that too - but - the story says that the study is based on the insurance company's claims database, not on crime/accidents reported to police.

NZ does have a lot of one lane bridges, and gravel roads, and narrow winding steep roads, and people driving rented campervans on those roads, and 2 lane highways with no median divider (I'm going to miss interstates!)... In my opinion, NZ is not a particularly unsafe place to drive, (in general people obey traffic laws, stop for red lights, etc, compared to "third world" countries) but it is not an easy place for a tourist to drive.

[Oregonkiwi]

And on the theft issue, I think a lot of tourists have a tendency to think, "oh, lovely quaint little NZ, everyone is so friendly, nothing bad is going to happen", and not exercise the same level of caution that they would if they were visiting somewhere with a scarier reputation.

Thefts from cars is a big problem in some areas, particularly isolated tourist spots, where people park and then walk off to see a scenic attraction. When we were in the Waipoua kauri forest a few years ago, and also around Rotorua & Taupo, someone (local council?) had hired people to guard the carpark, which made us feel a lot better about leaving the car while we sight-saw (sight-seed?).
Avril

[jdbob]

New Zealand has about 10-15% more population than Oregon but has lower traffic fatalities so I can't see what people are complaining about. OregonKiwi what do you think about this comparison?

North Island = Western Oregon
Auckland = Portland
Wellington = Salem
South Island = Eastern Oregon
Christchurch = Bend

:D

[Oregonkiwi]

North Island = Western Oregon
Auckland = Portland
Wellington = Salem
South Island = Eastern Oregon
Christchurch = Bend

:D

Yeah, when people around here ask what NZ is like I tell them it's a lot like Oregon - mostly rural with population clustered in a few big cities. I hadn't thought of it exactly like you put it, but would have to agree. With Hamilton as Eugene-Springfield I guess. And K-Falls as Invercargill? (Just because it's at the bottom.)
By the way, we went out to the John Day Fossil Beds last month (it was great) - wow, there's really not much out there, is there? It made Roseburg feel like a bustling metropolis! :D

[Diny]

When we were in the Waipoua kauri forest a few years ago, and also around Rotorua & Taupo, someone (local council?) had hired people to guard the carpark, which made us feel a lot better about leaving the car while we sight-saw (sight-seed?).
Avril


You'll find this is becoming more popular too, there's an increasing amount of places with 'guarded' car parks.

As for your comment about people coming here thinking 'quaint little ol' NZ - nothing's gonna happen to us here' ......... well I couldn't agree more.

Diny

[Oregonkiwi]

Another thought on that "road accident" list - perhaps UK tourists feel more comfortable about renting a car and driving in NZ than they would in, say, the US or Japan? More driving = more accidents = higher on the list?

[K&CS]

I just cannot believe it could be considered as bad as India. I can't remember the exact statistics, but a huge percentage of truck drivers in India have sight problems but don't have glasses and something like 10% are actually registered blind. I remember going from Delhi - Agra on a coach trip (not a huge distance but takes hours because the roads are so poor) and I thought I was going to die. The drivers play chicken with each other all the time - you constantly see huge trucks hurtling towards you then at the last minute either they, or your bus driver, decides to move. I don't think the cars are equipped with seat belts either... I really loved India by the way, and hope to go back some day, but I think train is the only safe way to travel.

[kiwidebs]

I spent 9 years in London and never saw/experienced a mugging. Went to Western Springs (big public park in Auckland) last week on a hot sunny winter day and saw some guy snatch a woman's camera and run off with it. Very scary!! Loads of people around and he didn't seem bothered at all!!

[K&CS]

Debs, that's awful. Who didn't seem bothered - the guy who stole it? I've been fortunate enough never to see or experience a mugging either - must have been scary. I think a camera is one of the worst things to have stolen - not only are all your memories on there, but then there's the thought of some low life looking through your precious pictures...

[Singel]

.................., (in general people obey traffic laws, stop for red lights, etc, compared to "third world" countries) but it is not an easy place for a tourist to drive.
2 days ago, my colleague car was hit by a car running through the red light and it happened just outside our company. :mad: Her car was badly damaged and luckily she did not sustained serious injury. We personally see people running through red lights before :no

[kiwidebs]

Debs, that's awful. Who didn't seem bothered - the guy who stole it? I've been fortunate enough never to see or experience a mugging either - must have been scary. I think a camera is one of the worst things to have stolen - not only are all your memories on there, but then there's the thought of some low life looking through your precious pictures... Yup, the guy who pinched the camera just ran off - totally unconcerned looking. The poor woman chased him but her english wasn't great and it took us all awhile to figure out what was happening. I noticed, as we left, that the police were out in force around the park and the carparks so i suppose there'd been a bit of crime spree. I just couldn't believe that anyone would grab something and run off in a crowded park in broad daylight. Scary :eek: .

Debs

[dbonnett]

The rate of traffic deaths was something I had pondered as well (don't want no 'horror crashes'!), so I decided to compare NZ's annual toll with Colorado (about 4 million people, same geographic size and also mountainous roads with snow etc).

The results were interesting: for 2004: NZ has 446 dead, CO had 665 (almost 50% higher :eek: )- I won't go into other years, but NZ has shown a significant rate of decline in deaths over the last 10+ years, while the US toll has dropped, but at a much smaller pace.

I haven't driven in NZ (yet), but my suspicion is that the lower traffic speeds and smaller vehicles help to keep the number of fatalities below what it could be; in Colorado it is a common thing to see huge passenger vehicles (3000+ kilos) pass you at better than 128 km/hr.!:exit

I realize this doesn't help those who feel that the NZ roads are hazardous, but I do think that the study from the UK is a bit simplistic and alarmist..

[Oregonkiwi]

Yes, but, remember that the study lists levels of "road accidents" that people had made insurance claims on (presumably this would include minor things like broken windscreens and dented bumpers), not fatalities.

[jdbob]

By the way, we went out to the John Day Fossil Beds last month (it was great) - wow, there's really not much out there, is there? It made Roseburg feel like a bustling metropolis! :D

I live about 50 miles from the fossil beds but have never visited there, just driven past it. I keep thinking someone will visit that wants to go, but hasn't happened yet :(

[Lupin]

It's interesting to note that in the statistics ENZ links to, New Zealand has the greatest percentage reduction in the rate of deaths of the countries in the study.

If I'm reading the stats correctly then NZ has reduced it's road fatality rate by 48% in the period 1988-2002.

I think fatalities per capita is a more useful measure of road safety than insurance claims as they can easily be skewed by minor accidents and there can be many reasons why a country has a high number of those...for instance many of the tourists in NZ drive campers around and don't in their home countries, in fact I would suspect that NZ has a higher number of tourists who get behind the wheel than countries with decent public transport or where the tourism is more centred on urban areas and NZ drive on the left, which is not the norm for most countries.

Although a quick look at the site doesn't tell me whether the number of road fatalities that are counted include those visiting the countries or just those residing there. For a small population NZ gets a lot of tourists per capita (and as I speculate above, a lot who drive?) and therefore including the road fatalities of tourists on the fatalities per capita would not show NZ in a favourable light? Again this is more thinking aloud than meaningful critique...so please correct any glaring errors in my thinking!!!! :laugh

I live in a rural part of the UK and I found driving in NZ to be a far more pleasant experience in both urban areas and rural just because of the fewer other drivers. I saw the odd stupid driver, but I see plenty of those here also!

[Smiler]

I think fatalities per capita is a more useful measure of road safety than insurance claims as they can easily be skewed by minor accidents and there can be many reasons why a country has a high number of those...for instance many of the tourists in NZ drive campers around and don't in their home countries, in fact I would suspect that NZ has a higher number of tourists who get behind the wheel than countries with decent public transport or where the tourism is more centred on urban areas and NZ drive on the left, which is not the norm for most countries.



There was a case last year where a man was killed because the driver, a tourist, wasn't used to driving on the left. The Coroner recommended that hire companies make people more aware of the driving conditions and regulations here. They also suggested having large 'keep left' stickers on the dashboard of hire cars.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=663&objectid=10387575

There was another similar incident in may 06 in Christchurch. :(

A large factor in fatal crashes is also the refusal to wear seat belts here and the quicker they bring in the ban on mobiles, the better IMHO.

[Kim39]

I have to agree on the state of NZ roads. As a HGV driver over here i have travelled quite a few K's on these roads, and must say that the main SH1 is no better than a bog standard A road back home in the UK. How they can justify the speed limits are beyond me, and it just seems that folks see this as a target and go for it without any thought to what is either a: on the other side of the road, b:whats round the bend,etc.

The standard of driving is quite scary and i have to agree that i have yet to see any driving schools, so who is teaching these folks to drive? They have a 3 second limit on indicating, and that really gets my goat as they sometimes think that 1 second is sufficient, if not anything at all. You get drivers pulling out of junctions and just sitting in the middle of the road waiting for a gap to appear and you not knowing what they are about to do.

As for the petty crime, i have to say i just haven't seen it.

Kim