DANGEROUS DRIVER: Haast woman Sol Norton captured this video of a dangerous driver, while she and her friend Sheri Wright were driving on the West Coast on Monday.

The Government is urging motorists not to take the law into their own hands to stop dangerous tourist drivers - but is responding to calls for greater safety measures.

Associate tranpsort minister Craig Foss was quizzed about reports worried drivers resorted to confiscating keys after a spate of near misses and accidents.

Read more: Road safety campaigners call for rumble strips, median barriers



He said he had asked officials to fast-track work to implement more rumble strips, signage and improve lay-bys and speed up a research programme into visiting drivers, launched in April last year.

"I understand some of those concerns. But please, don't take the law into your own hands anybody. Call *555."

He hoped to make an announcement within a week - but added there would be no more money for safety schemes.

"I have asked officials in the last couple of days about what is happening, what have we got planned, can we do more . . . I'm on to that right now."

The Government also wanted to talk South Island mayors, car rental companies, and tourism operators.

"It is not a question of money at the moment at all. Safety is our number one priority . . . we already have programmes in place. What I'm saying is can we do those earlier, deeper widely more effectively."

Foss was responding to a growing clamour to take action in the wake of a series of horrific fatal crashes and arrests for careless driving involving tourists.

On Monday, a family of five from China, including a baby, was in a rental car seen repeatedly straying onto the wrong side of the road as it travelled south along State Highway 6 on the West Coast on Monday.

A motorist, who captured footage of the dangerous driving, later confiscated the driver's keys and reported the incident to police.

It follows several fatal crashes and near misses across the country this month involving tourist drivers with some police officers saying problems have spiked with 40,000 visitors to New Zealand for the Chinese New Year.

The latest figures on crashes involving foreign drivers are from 2009-2013 show that nationally only 6 per cent of crashes involved an overseas driver.

However, the proportion varied enormously with the worst affected region - Westland - reporting more than one in three crashes (37 per cent) involved an overseas driver. In cities including Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton, only 3 to 5 per cent of crashes involved a foreign driver.

A tourist has been charged today with dangerous driving after allegedly forcing two oncoming drivers to take evasive action near Queenstown.

Sergeant Mark Gill, of Queenstown, said a 36-year-old Chinese man was charged after the incident in the Kawarau gorge at 6pm yesterday. It appeared the driver had crossed the centre line and at least two oncoming drivers had to take evasive action, he said.

The tourist was arrested in Arrowtown and is expected to appear in Queenstown District Court next month.

Another Chinese driver, 42, was given infringement notices and his rental contract cancelled after he drove around two roundabouts the wrong way in Frankton at 10.30am.

Yesterday, the family of a Canterbury woman who was killed after a tourist allegedly ran a stop sign said they hoped no other family would have to face the same pain.

A 26-year-old German man will appear in the Christchurch District Court on Friday charged with careless use of a motor vehicle causing death after colliding with the car driven by Leeston woman Stephanie Anne Ellis, 54.

Ellis died at the crash scene on the Goulds Rd and Leeston Rd intersection, near Springston, on Monday.

Ellis' former colleagues said the death had been devastating, particularly for her two adult children Rachael, 19, and older brother Jeremy.

A spokesperson for Ellis' family said it was "extremely upsetting" to know their mother and close friend would not come home.

On Saturday, a car driven by a Chinese national allegedly crossed the centre line on State Highway 1 near Moeraki, north of Dunedin, and collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing 5-year-old Ruby Jay Marris from Oamaru.

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An online petition calling for testing of foreigners before they are allowed to drive on New Zealand roads has gained support in recent days.

South Island police say they have noted a spike in traffic complaints in recent weeks, particularly during Chinese New Year.

Dashcam footage of dangerous driving is providing them with evidence to prosecute people, they said.

Haast women Sheri Wright and Sol Norton witnessed Monday night's incident. On every left-hand corner the car would cross the centre line, they said.

"We were thinking we were going to come around the bend and there was going to be an accident," Norton said.

Wright was driving and did not want to pass, telling her friend "we've got no idea what he's going to do".

They followed the car from Harihari to Franz Josef, where the driver, from Beijing pulled into the Top 10 Holiday Park.

The pair approached the vehicle and Wright got the driver to put his window down, then reached in and pulled his car keys out.

They called Hokitika police and dropped the keys off at the Franz Josef police station.

Video that Norton took on her cellphone was used by police as evidence to issue the Chinese driver with an infringement notice.

The rental company cancelled its agreement with the tourists.

With accommodation and transport fully booked, the family chartered a private plane to take them to Queenstown.

Sergeant Dave Cross, from Greymouth, said he did not encourage drivers to take matters into their own hands.

Police were happy to receive recordings of bad driving as evidence, or to be notified of dangerous driving, he said.

Further south, Otago Lakes Central area commander Inspector Olaf Jensen said there had been an increase in the number of *555 calls relating to bad driving.

"We encourage people to call us if they witness any driving behaviour that endangers the lives of others.

"Police are increasingly receiving a lot of valuable evidence from members of the public who are using phones or dash cams to video the dangerous driving behaviour of others."

Tekapo Constable Brent Swanson reported a big increase in driving complaints over the Chinese New Year period.

On Monday, six Chinese tourists were fortunate to escape serious injury after the driver of their rental van fell asleep at the wheel on State Highway 8 near Tekapo on Monday Swanson said. The vehicle crossed the centre line and then over-corrected, going 15 metres into a paddock.

Last night, police named Taiwanese tourist Fu-Hwa Ju, 66, as the passenger killed when the car he was in collided with another at the junction of Jones and Dawsons roads in Templeton last Wednesday. Witnesses reported that Ju's vehicle drove through a stop sign on Dawsons Rd before colliding with a vehicle travelling on Jones Rd, police said.

National road policing manager Assistant Commissioner Dave Cliff last night told The Press he was unaware of any link between Chinese New Year and an increase in driving complaints.

On average overseas licence holders were involved in about 4.5 per cent of fatal crashes every year, he said. Until last Wednesday, foreign drivers had been involved in four of the country's 38 fatal crashes this year.

Since then, however, that number has nearly doubled.

ROAD DEATHS 2015

January 2

Irish agricultural worker Martin Cadden, 22, died when he lost control of his car and hit a tree on The Lake Rd, near Leeston.

February 4

German Romy Reinhardt-Baer, 48, and Janine Baer, 19, were both killed when husband and father Andreas Baer, 48, drove their car into a ditch and hit a tree stump near Matakana, north Auckland. Janine Baer was working in New Zealand as an au pair. Her father, Andreas Baer, survived the crash.

February 7

Israeli tourist Liora Keren, 61, was killed when the van she was a passenger in went over a cliff in north Canterbury. The vehicle veered off State Highway One in Greta Valley and went over a cliff into a river bed. Keren's husband and four Israeli friends holidaying in New Zealand were injured in the crash.

February 13

A Korean man and woman in their 30s were both killed when their hatchback car collided with a four wheel drive vehicle in Blackhead near Dunedin. Male passenger Jewon Yeon, 32, died at the scene, while female driver Jiseon Jeon, 31, died later in hospital.

February 17

American citizens and family Warren Lee, 53, Aesoon Lee, 52, Julia Lee, 20, and Griffen Lee, 17, were killed in a crash on State Highway One in Tokoroa.

February 18

A Chinese tourist was killed when his car collided head on with a truck full of lambs in Greta Valley. The car crossed the centre line on State Highway 1 near the Omihi railway crossing about 10 kilometres south of Greta Valley in north Canterbury.

February 18

Taiwanese tourist Fu-Hwa Ju, 66, died when the vehicle he was a passenger in collided with another car at the junction of Jones and Dawsons Rd in Templeton. Witnesses reported that Ju's vehicle drove through a stop sign on Dawsons Rd before colliding with a vehicle traveling on Jones Rd, police said.

February 21

A five-year-old girl from Oamaru was killed when two cars collided on State Highway 1 near the Moeraki township near Dunedin. Four relatives in the same car as the five-year-old were sent to hospital with serious injuries. The 32-year-old Chinese man who was driving the other vehicle was charged with dangerous driving causing death. The four people in his vehicle, all Chinese nationals, were treated for moderate and minor injuries.

February 23

Leeston woman Stephanie Anne Ellis, 54, died when a German national allegedly ran a stop sign at the Goulds Rd and Leeston Rd intersection, near Springston.

TOURIST CRASHES BY REGION (TOP 20)

Westland 37 per cent (76 crashes)

Mackenzie 27 per cent (34)

Southland 25 per cent (173)

Queenstown-Lakes 24 per cent (104)

Kaikoura 22 per cent (24)

Central Otago 17 per cent (45)

Buller 13 per cent (23)

Ashburton 13 per cent (40)

Tasman 12 per cent (60)

Hurunui 12 per cent (35)

Waitaki 12 per cent (46)

Ruapehu 11 per cent (32)

Clutha 11 per cent (47)

Marlborough 11 per cent (57)

Waitomo 10 per cent (26)

Far North 9 per cent (84)

Thames-Coromandel 9 per cent (36)

Taupo 8 per cent (50)

Selwyn 8 per cent (43)

Western Bay of Plenty 8 per cent (51)