Recently there have been calls for road-testing tourist drivers. In January of this year two Chinese nationals were killed near Port Campbell. They were driving on the wrong side of the road when they hit another vehicle. Over the years there have been many such incidents in every state of Australia and a significant number of people have lost their lives or been severely injured.
According to RACV Research Report 14/02 Crash Risk of International Visitors to Victoria (May 2014) analyses of crash data suggest that:
- visitors are at a greater risk when they first arrive;
- visitors from right-hand drive countries are over-represented in Transport Accident Commission (TAC) claims on a per visitor basis;
- when involved in a crash, drivers licensed overseas are more likely to be at fault than Victorian license holders.
It was reported in the Herald Sun on 7 March, 2015 (p 15) that James Purcell, a Western Victorian MP, has called on the Government of Victoria to “crack down on visiting motorists who are risking lives by ignoring local road rules”. Mr Purcell says he has been “inundated with horror stories about tourists, particularly along the Great Ocean Road.” The article also states that a Surf Coast Police Officer backed Mr Purcell’s plan for compulsory tests and said “unbelievable” incidents happened on the Great Ocean Road.
I am a regular driver and motorcycle rider along the Great Ocean Road and can attest to the fact that “unbelievable” incidents occur. Tourists make it a very dangerous place and we should be concerned, as should our government. In the previously mentioned RACV report it is stated that Coronial reports showed that many of the fatalities involving international visitors to Victoria occurred on the Great Ocean Road and the Prices Highway West.
It would seem that our State Government is unwilling to do anything about this problem. The same article in the Herald Sun states that a spokesperson for Luke Donnellan, Victoria’s Minister for Roads and Road Safety said “the government was not considering making international drivers do tests before they could drive in Victoria.” The Minister is aware of the problem but refuses to do anything about it. Does this make him responsible for road death and injury caused by tourists?