But Gaskin said the Twizel officer and other local police were "shooting off at the mouth" about overseas drivers and unfairly maligning foreign and foreign-looking drivers.
"The majority of people killed on the roads in our country are locals," Gaskin said.
"We have a lot of Asians living in New Zealand and 90 per cent drive very well.
"Some of these guys in small areas will deal with a particular thing in their area and they shoot off at the mouth and are not quite correct.
"They [the officers] are suffering from tunnel vision."
Gaskin said the officers who spoke out of turn would not be disciplined as they hadn't breached rules.
Gaskin said there were 120 complaints about bad driving across Canterbury yesterday, including 47 in mid-south Canterbury.
"Of the 47 I can guarantee the majority would not be rental vehicles and not be overseas tourists."
He denied 80 per cent of tickets were going to foreign drivers.
All tourists to the region were often left in awe by stunning vistas and tended to stop in places that were not ideal for photographs.
He said there were places designated for stopping along the route and those wanting a picture were encouraged to wait until they reached the lay-bys.
When it came to following distances, Gaskin said all drivers needed to allow plenty of space on the road irrespective of whether or not they belonged to a rental company.
The Canterbury inspector said there had been a dire 200 per cent increase in the number of deaths on the region's roads and pleaded for people to take their time and show patience ahead of some of the busiest traffic days in the year.
This year the Christmas-New Year road toll stands at seven.
The latest to die were two South Island drivers in a horror crash on the Waimate Highway on Boxing Day.
The two men killed in that crash have been named as Horton James Hill, 80, of Christchurch, and 31-year-old Matthew James Gilchrist, of Oamaru. They died at the scene of a crash between Carrolls and Stangers Rds shortly after 8.30am on December 26.
