Tourist road safety billboards to feature in summer

The new road safety billboards will feature key messages such as: 'Keep left', 'Your speed affects others, slow down', and 'Allow extra time on NZ roads'. Photo / iStock

Giant road safety billboards are being placed on popular New Zealand tourist routes ahead of the summer holiday season after a spate of horror fatal crashes involving tourist drivers last year.

The West Coast of the South Island will soon get 12 new road safety billboards, with three key messages: 'Keep left', 'Your speed affects others, slow down', and 'Allow extra time on NZ roads'.

Five thousand road safety visitor information cards will also be distributed to tourist operators in a bid to drive down the holiday road toll.

"The Government is committed to improving safety for all road users, regardless of where they're from," said Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss.

"Billboards are a simple yet effective way to get the message across."

Five billboards will be installed along popular tourist routes in time for Labour Weekend.

Another seven will follow next month.The billboards form part of the Visiting Driver Signature Project (VDSP) - a partnership between central Government, local government and the private sector.

"Partners are working together to promote safe driving messages to tourists at all stages of their holiday - planning, booking, in-flight, arriving in New Zealand and on our roads," Mr Foss said.

Last summer, the issue of tourist driving escalated after a number of high-profile fatal smashes.

It led to some vigilante motorists snatching keys from overseas drivers perceived to be driving dangerously.

While tourists are blamed for fewer than 2 per cent of annual fatal crashes, the rate soars to 25 per cent in the tourist hot-spots of Queenstown and Wanaka.

Overseas drivers were involved in 493 injury or death crashes in the Otago and Southland regions from 2009 to 2013.