Associate Minister of Transport Craig Foss anounces the government will fast forward some measures to assist tourist drivers on New Zealand roads. With him is Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean

More rumble strips, yellow lines, and keep-left arrows will be installed to help foreign drivers stay safe on South Island roads.

Speaking in Queenstown, Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss has announced the West Coast would now be included in the Visiting Drivers' Signature project set up last year in response to growing concerns over the number of crashes involving tourist drivers in Otago and Southland.

Foss said safety work would also be fast-tracked and before July 1 there would be 50 kilometres of additional rumble strips in Otago and Southland, 140 additional no-passing solid yellow lines on roads and 200km of roading marked with 'keep left' arrows.

The Government is to fast track work on safety measures on State Highway 1.

The announcement follows another spate of crashes, including the death of 5-year-old Oamaru girl Ruby Jay Marris on February 21. A visiting Chinese driver is facing a charge of dangerous driving causing death and four charges of dangerous driving causing injury following the crash.

Waitaki mayor Gary Kircher, who was at Thursday's meeting while the funeral of Ruby was underway, said his community was hurting.

"We're just trying to bring home the real-life situation for individuals because you can look at all the statistics and so on but at the end of the day these are lives, real people that are being killed, injured," Kircher said

"For us it's been a local family that's well known through the community that's been affected. They've lost their daughter, two parents both have reasonable injuries and both younger girls have less serious injuries but really a legacy that's going to be with them forever."

He hoped the changes would help.

"It's a matter of getting it rolled out as quickly as possible," the mayor said.

"My reading of this particular incident - things like arrows and so forth would have perhaps meant that that crash would have been avoided.

"There are a number of different reasons why crashes happen. Where they're easier to solve let's get on and do it."

Foss also met with Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden, Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper, and representatives from police, the tourism industry and NZ Transport Agency.

He said the Government recognised that many people were concerned with poor driving behaviour on challenging roads in and around popular tourist destinations, particularly in the lower South Island.

"Every death or serious injury on our roads is a tragedy and these tragedies can be prevented by improving safety on every part of the transport system - vehicles, speeds, road users and the roads themselves," Foss said.

There was no "silver bullet" but the removing of keys from overseas drivers had to stop.

"Only in extreme, extreme circumstances should that happen," he said.

"Police are committing their resources to make *555 operate as people expect and leave the enforcement up to the police.

"Vigilante enforcement is not the way to go."

The Visiting Drivers' Signature project has been a collaboration with the Tourism Industry, Rental Vehicle and Automobile Associations, Queenstown Lakes and Southland District Councils, Environment Southland, Tourism NZ, NZ Police and Ministry of Transport.

It has already seen the trial in Queenstown last year, and has now been rolled out nationwide.

It involves a "steering wheel safety tag", similar to a luggage tag, with pictorial road safety tips for visiting drivers.

Other initiatives include: new signs on key visitor routes, a police enforcement campaign, and new resources from Tourism Industry Association NZ "communicating with visiting drivers".

As part of the project, the industry has also changed its standard rental vehicle agreements so it is easier for operators to immediately cancel rental agreements if the hirer's driving poses a real danger.