Carpenter Tane Roderick was killed during a crash in Hillgrove-Moeraki Rd on Thursday.

The mother of a motorcyclist killed on Waitangi Day says overseas tourists should have to sit a test before they are allowed to drive on New Zealand's roads.

Sally Wast said she is devastated by the death of her son Tane Roderick who died on Thursday when his motorcycle was hit by a campervan near Moeraki, south of Oamaru.

She said the 42-year-old - who was travelling to Invercargill for the Burt Munro Challenge Rally - was a good man and a loving son and had just celebrated his first wedding anniversary.

Hamish McNeilly/Stuff Melanie Giesinger, 28, has admitted causing the death of motorcyclist Tane Roderick in a crash near Moeraki, in Otago, on Waitangi Day.

Melanie Giesinger, 28, a teacher from Austria pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving causing death when she appeared at Dunedin District Court on Friday afternoon.

The collision occurred on Hillgrove-Moeraki Rd, near State Highway 1, and Roderick, who lived in Auckland, died at the scene.

Wast said tourists should be required to demonstrate a good understanding of Kiwi roads before they are allowed to hire a vehicle.

"I'm not against overseas drivers but they should have to sit a test," she said.

"I understand that the tourism dollar is important but it shouldn't come at the cost of peoples' lives."

She said Roderick was a carpenter who had three sisters and lots of nieces and nephews.

"He was a good son, a good man and he's been taken too soon."

Community magistrate Simon Heale heard that Giesinger was holidaying in New Zealand with two friends when the crash happened.

Roderick had been visiting an uncle who lived in the area before the collision with Giesinger's campervan.

The court heard her sentencing may happen in Auckland at the end of the month before she was due to leave the country.

Her counsel confirmed she would be applying for a discharge without conviction as there were concerns about the impact a conviction would have on her career.

She would appear in court in Dunedin again next week.

The crash happened near the area's popular tourist attraction, the Moeraki boulders, and on the road leading into the Moeraki township.

The crashes brought the number of deaths on New Zealand roads so far this year to 27.

This includes 18 fatalities in January, one of the lowest figures since records began in 1965.

At this point last year, the road toll stood at 38.