Thought for the Day: Foreigners Driving on the Left

Tuesday, 24 February 2015, 9:55 am
Column: Keith Rankin

We are hearing a lot on the news this summer about the high numbers of serious car crashes in New Zealand linked to foreign drivers. The assumption always made is that it's because people in other countries drive on the other (right) side of the road. The comments became ridiculous when, with the Cricket World Cup starting, it was claimed increased awareness would be required about our left-driving.

The facts are that about 35 percent of people in the world live in left-driving countries. Further, almost certainly a significant majority of foreign visitors to New Zealand come from countries that drive on the left. Of the countries participating in the cricket tournament, only two drive on the right (Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates).

Of the world's ten most populous countries, five drive on the left (India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan). Three more of the top 25 drive on the left: United Kingdom, Thailand and South Africa. Three in the Eurozone drive on the left: Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. (Even Turkish Cyprus.)

In greater China, Hong Kong and Macao drive on the left. While there are exceptions in all cases, the general rule is that countries that once belonged to the British, Portuguese and Dutch empires drive on the left. This was also true of the Austrian Empire, until Adolf Hitler put an end to that, creating traffic chaos in Vienna in 1938. Italy drove on the left until just over 100 years ago.

The major single reason for switching to driving on the right was 'Napoleon'. Other reasons include teamster driving in America where the coachman liked to sit on the left and hold his whip in his right hand. Island colonies generally saw least reason to switch to the right. The American Virgin Islands drive on the left.

So what is the problem with foreign drivers in New Zealand? My guess is that age is significant. Almost certainly the average age of foreign drivers in New Zealand is significantly younger than it was. Younger drivers, including New Zealand younger drivers, often lack empathy. (We know that the empathy issue also arises with young freedom campers who wish to spend as little money as they can get away with.) And attention spans are probably shorter this century when too many people believe they can multi-task.

Drivers from places like Hong Kong have little experience in extended high-speed rural driving. Drivers in rural India may still be dodging animals as much as other traffic, and many rural roads are narrow. They may not have as strict a sense as we do about keeping to one side or the other, and may tend to drive in the centre. Other foreign drivers in New Zealand are jet-lagged, and more subject to distraction if driving unfamiliar vehicles, full of passengers, in unfamiliar environments. As well as younger drivers, there are more family-groups on self-drive holidays.

One other problem may be the default insurance option used by rental car companies. The rental car industry makes a significant proportion of its profit from insurance, especially the increased tendency this century to default to a comprehensive no-excess option and therefore less concern at point-of-sale about driver capability. (It's analogous to the extended warranties we are urged to acquire with purchases of electronic goods. It's also analogous to the sub-prime loan problem in the USA in the mid-2000s.)

What to do? It's about promoting awareness about a whole range of driving-related issues (ie not just about which side of the road to drive on). And there needs to be an incentive structure built into rental car insurance. As it is today, it is the drivers who pay these huge premiums for comprehensive coverage and who do not have accidents who pay the vehicle costs incurred by those who do have accidents. The human costs are paid by the innocent victims and their families.

ENDS

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Keith Rankin

Political Economist, Scoop Columnist

Keith Rankin taught economics at Unitec in Mt Albert since 1999. An economic historian by training, his research has included an analysis of labour supply in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and has included estimates of New Zealand's GNP going back to the 1850s.

Keith believes that many of the economic issues that beguile us cannot be understood by relying on the orthodox interpretations of our social science disciplines. Keith favours a critical approach that emphasises new perspectives rather than simply opposing those practices and policies that we don't like.

Keith retired in 2020 and lives with his family in Glen Eden, Auckland.

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