Driving in New Zealand

Driving in NZ


I have mentioned a number of driving related matters in the blog but I thought that I should mention some more before we moved onto Australia.

First driving in NZ is based on the premise that you actually trust the other drivers on the road. For example, in the rural areas most of the bridges that you would cross are single lane ones and you have to trust that the guy, coming the other way, will read the yield sign and follow it. Just like he has to trust you. It is embarrassing to meet someone in the middle of a 100-metre bridge who has right on their side.

North American driving is the based on the premise that you can’t trust the other drivers. We are overrun with traffic lights, stop signs and other directional indicators that take away the whole concept of self-determination on the road. Mostly because we can’t be trusted to do it on our own. The “rules of the road” that we are all supposed to know have degenerated into “survival of the most maniacal”.

In NZ, there are very few traffic lights (only in major towns/cities) and almost no stop signs. You could spend a whole vacation in the rural areas and not see more than one or two.

There is however, lots of things called roundabouts (the one in Vernon is not really a functional one) which operate solely on the principle that what is to the left of you is not important. That concept escaped me on the first few hundred roundabouts that I drove into. I was watching the cars to the right of me, the cars coming in on the left and frantically subduing my urge to just panic and stop somewhere in the middle. Since there were no stop signs that meant (to me anyway) there was roughly the same amount of control as one might get jumping out of a plane or falling into a whirlpool.

I eventually gave up and plunged into the “chaos” of traffic while only looking to the right and fully expecting that I would be blindsided by one of those maniacs on the left. (Nothing like clenching your teeth and expecting to meet your maker at every intersection.) The weirdest thing happened. The system worked

Since NZ has hundreds of traffic cameras and a very determined stance on speeding almost no one does it. That is except the motorcyclists. Apparently, the traffic cameras can’t read their tiny plates and the helmets cover their faces so they, as a group, seem to do anything that comes into their heads. Watch out for them.

As far as drinking and driving goes they do random spot checks with ALL drivers having to speak into the “machine”. If it glows green then on your way but if red then into the nearby van for some more conclusive testing.

One other assumption is that drivers are paying attention all the time. This means that when they change the speed limit that only post it once. After that you may have to wait a long time to see a reminder. They also assume you know what the main roads are when you reach them presumably in the belief that you saw the sign when you turned on it. The concept of putting up both road names at intersections hasn’t really taken hold here (although it does prompt some interesting conversations with your in car GPS unit or spouse).

One more thing. Don’t laugh at their police cars. They get sensitive about that and they are quite colourful after all.