OPINION: There are missiles flying around New Zealand. No, not of the military kind. These are on four wheels.

Have you driven around Mackenzie Country? People from all over the world come to see the turquoise glacial lakes, such as Lake Tekapo, framed against our tallest peaks. The scenery is breathtaking.

BROOK SABIN Tourists clog our summer hotspots with no clue about Kiwi road rules.

But what took more breath from my lungs was watching the driving; a symphony of uncertainty - nobody knew who was conducting the show. Give way rules were effectively ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that nobody has yet decoded.

At an intersection near Tekapo, one driver even stopped about 20 metres away from the junction to avoid the mess.

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In another intersection, a driver (with right of way) sat in the middle of the road - with no idea what to do. I beeped, to try and tell him I couldn't drive around him - to which he shrugged.

To be fair, these drivers were ultra-cautious; that's because some were obviously also clueless.

The Ministry of Transport keeps some pretty good data on crashes involving foreign tourists. There are a couple of startling statistics. On the West Coast, 43 per cent of drivers involved in crashes were foreign nationals in 2017, the last publicly released data. In Queenstown, it was 33 per cent. And 23 per cent in Southland, which encompasses the drive to Milford Sound.

BROOK SABIN Mackenzie Country is a popular tourist hotspot, with around one million expected to visit this year.

The Ministry is quick to point out the number of fatal crashes involving foreign drivers is on the decrease, and that most overseas drivers crash for the same reason as New Zealanders. But, I would argue it's not quite that simple. For one, we don't have any good statistics on the numbers of foreigners driving here, so it's hard to make a direct comparison.

The most startling statistic comes in the form of a University of Otago report. It found seven of 226 foreigners surveyed, or 3 per cent, passed a theory test. An additional 31 drivers from China couldn't complete the survey because they didn't understand much English.

Let's take that as a representative sample, and extrapolate it out. Let's say 10 per cent of the 3.8 million who come here drive. That'd be roughly 380,000 tourists at the wheel each year. If only 3 per cent could pass a theory test, that'd mean 368,000 tourists are driving our roads pretty clueless on the rules. That's all entirely hypothetical, but demonstrates it's a huge problem.

BROOK SABIN Tekapo is often clogged with foreign drivers.

Currently, there is no legal requirement for tourists to know the road rules - at least not one that is enforced. That despite you and me having to sit a theory and practical test to drive the same roads. And with tougher tests these days, a fair few people have sat it multiple times.

Tourists wanting to drive in New Zealand should be directed to a website where they can be tested. After that, once they've passed, they can be given a unique code to use when booking a rental car or buying a vehicle.

The editor of Dog and Lemon Guide, Clive Matthew-Wilson, is a long-held advocate of further restrictions and rules around foreign drivers. He's written a significant report about the topic.

Wilson suggests we may not be able to test foreign drivers, because we're part of a United Nations convention that means we can't double test drivers.

However, if we can find a way through a thorny issue like GST on foreign shopping - we can find a way through this. Wilson suggests if we frame it as a competency test, it won't breach the convention.

BROOK SABIN Tourists wanting to drive in New Zealand should be directed to a website where they can be tested, says Brook Sabin.

But this Government doesn't seem motivated to test foreign drivers. Nor do National; Simon Bridges as Transport Minister defended the current regime.

Politicians will no doubt point to statistics to back up their argument. But I encourage them to get out from behind their Crown limos and drive to a busy tourist district this summer. I'm confident their views would change.

There have been many stories of heartache; of families who have lost loved ones at the hands of foreign drivers. If new rules saved one life, it would be well worth it.

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