Death of a man named Horse

James Aitken was a guy with a heart of gold who had two passions in his life: Harley Davidson motorbikes and his wife, Jacqueline.

Known to his friends and family as Horse, the 38-year-old heavy machinery operator from rural Mapiu in the King Country was riding his motorbike with Jacqueline, who was riding pillion, when they collided head-on with a vehicle driven by French tourist Federic Bignon near Te Kuiti on Saturday.

Mr Aitken died at the scene and Mrs Aitken suffered severe multiple injuries.

It is alleged that Bignon, who has surrendered his passport to police and appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Monday with an interpreter, was driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the collision.

Ministry of Transport figures show that of 52 fatal crashes in the past three years involving overseas drivers, six were on the wrong side of the road.

But driving on the wrong side of the road included swinging wide and cutting corners.

Across all accidents causing death or injury and involving foreign drivers, 6 per cent of drivers were on the wrong side of the road at impact.

Counties Manukau road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells said she was not shocked by the statistics.

"They [tourists] get off the plane at the airport, get into their rental car or their caravan and off they go."

The accidents tended to happen on rural roads where there were fewer cars and people had a lapse in concentration, often reverting to driving on the right side of the road as they did in their own country.

"Some people are used to faster speed limits than what we have. Around the city there are more people, it's busier so people go a lot slower."

Mr Aitken's funeral will be held at his family home on Saturday at 1pm.

His brother David said his family were "working through it, mate".

Mr Aitken's sister-in-law, Kim Aitken, told the Waikato Times he had a heart of gold and was a "straight-up guy who would take the shirt off his back for anyone".

She said Mr Aitken and Jacqueline had travelled around New Zealand on his motorbike and had made a lot of friends during their adventures.

"There were not many places in New Zealand that he and Jacqui had not been [on the bike].

"They were inseparable - a team that worked hard and played hard."

OVERSEAS DRIVERS
* From 2006 to 2008, of the 53 overseas drivers involved in fatal crashes, six were on the wrong side of the road.
* Of the 1920 overseas drivers involved in injury crashes, 118 were on the wrong side of the road.
* In 271 of the accidents foreign drivers were involved in, they were at fault.