Support for reviewing restrictions on overseas drivers

1.00pm

The Land Transport Safety Authority says it has received "widespread support" for its plans to review the restrictions on overseas drivers in New Zealand.

In a bid to improve the safety of overseas drivers on New Zealand roads, the LTSA in August released eight proposals.

A total of 73 public submissions were received before the closure date in September.

Two of the higher profile cases of overseas drivers causing problems were two Chinese students convicted following fatal crashes.

In April, unlicensed and overstaying Chinese student Jiang Kai Liao, 20, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Anne Lester, 63, and driving while forbidden.

Liao had ignored three $400 police fines for unlicensed driving before running a red light without headlights at an estimated 80km/h, killing Mrs Lester early on Easter Sunday in Auckland.

And in February 2003 Ding Yan Zhao, 19, killed four-year-old Georgia McCarten-Graham when his speeding car careered into a service station at the Waikato town of Rangiriri.

He was deported after serving six months of a 12-month sentence.

An LTSA spokesman today told NZPA that while they were not yet ready to release the full results of the public submissions, there had been widespread support for the proposals.

The need for overseas driver requirements to be reviewed has been highlighted by a doubling of the proportion of fatal and injury accidents involving overseas drivers.

In 1999 the proportion was 3 per cent, but by 2003 it had jumped to 6 per cent.

The submissions are to be considered as part of the Driver Licensing Amendment Rule, expected to come into force in April next year.

The LTSA's proposals would:

* require overseas drivers' licences to be stamped or hole-punched when converting to a New Zealand driver licence.

* require overseas drivers with a licence that is not in English to carry an accurate English translation of it or an International Driving Permit while driving.

* restrict the recognition of overseas drivers' licences to overseas drivers aged 18 years and over.

* clarify that a current overseas licence is valid for use in New Zealand for multiple periods of less than 12 months

* specify countries whose licence holders are exempt from the practical driving test.

* tighten the primary identification requirements for driver licensing applicants who are not New Zealand citizens.

* remove the ability of applicants from countries exempt from the practical driving test to use a certified copy of their overseas licence to convert to a New Zealand licence.

* allow overseas drivers to present an overseas driver licence that has been expired for less than 12 months for conversion to a New Zealand driver licence. If the overseas licences have been expired for more than 12 months, then all overseas drivers are to go through the graduated driver licensing system.

- NZPA