Tourism welcomes acceleration of road safety improvements

Tourism welcomes acceleration of road safety improvements

The government’s decision to fast-track road safety work to improve driver safety has been welcomed by the tourism industry, says Chris Roberts, Chief Executive, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA).

Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss announced today that a range of planned safety improvements on state highways in Otago and Southland will now be completed by 1 July 2015, including additional centre-line ‘rumble strips’, no-passing markings and ‘keep left’ arrows. The government is also extending its Visiting Drivers Signature Project to include the West Coast.

“TIA and the AA have been calling for the government to take more action to improve road safety for visiting drivers and New Zealanders, particularly in regions where there are challenging roads and roading conditions,” Mr Roberts says.

“We are very supportive of these new measures. They will build on the initiatives TIA has been leading over the past six months to educate visiting drivers on what’s different about driving in New Zealand. These include developing best practice guidelines for rental vehicle operators and accommodation providers and a DriveSafe website which provides a range of important messages and useful information for visiting drivers, with key messages translated into Mandarin, German and French.”

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