New Zealand has followed many other countries in the hand held cell phone ban after statistics showed that between the period of 2003 to 2008, 482 injury crashes and 25 fatal crashes on New Zealand roads where attributed to the use of a mobile phone.

The new law states –

Calls can be made and received only if the cell phone is “secured in a mounting fixed to the vehicle” or is fully voice-activated.
The rules apply even while stopped at a traffic light. Those caught breaking the law face an $80 fine and 20 demerit points on their licence.

The opportunity to be the first person in the country to be issued with an infringement notice proved to much of a temptation this morning. After fuelling up the thirsty Hummer I went cruising to make a little history.

I deduced that I would have two problems to overcome in order to be NZ’s first ticket holder. Firstly how would I know that I was the first in New Zealand to be issued with a ticket? The second was that Police have publicly stated that they would be only issuing warnings in the first few days or weeks of the new law. My solution to the last problem would be to ask the officer to wait a moment while I finish the call. That should be enough to infuriate one into issuing an infringement rather that a warning.

Little did I know the real problem was finding a police patrol.

Recently land Transport NZ completed the Northern Gateway toll road to help alleviate congestion by bypass the town of Orewa. Although Transport NZ boasts that the new road would reduces delays, congestion and travel times, improves access to Northland for tourists and provides people with a much more direct and safer route between Auckland and Northland.

A free flowing highway is only as good as its weakest point. Unfortunately it is obvious for all regular uses of State highway one north of Auckland that thew new toll road would do little to help ease traffic congestion during the holiday rush periods.

1 – Please drive on the left hand side of the road…..at all times.
2 – Please note that New Zealand dives on the left hand side of the road in both the North and South Islands.
3 – Please drive on the left hand side while in car parking lots.
4 – Parking your over length beast is your problem so please don’t park with the camper tail end blocking parking lot access ways.
5 – Councils will ticket campervans that take more than one street park.
6 – If your camper van does not have toilet facilities, please don’t use our parks and reserves as one.
7 – NZ law makes rear view mirrors a requirement on all vehicles. Please use them to see the pain and misery that you are inflicting on vehicles following.
8 – Once you have discovered these mirrors, they may provide hours of entertainment watching cars jostle for pole position in the que behind you. When you are bored of this dance of frustration, please pull over to let them overtake.
9 – Please don’t get frustrated that you may need to pull to the side of the road more than occasionally to allow vehicles to pass.
10 – Convoying with friends in other campervans can be fun but not for drivers following who find passing two, three or sometimes four vans almost impossible.
11 – Passing lanes require you to drive in the left hand lane when not overtaking.
12 – Please do not attempt to use a passing lane to overtake a slower vehicle when other cars are behind you.
13 – New Zealand has plenty of open space for everyone to enjoy. Please respect other holiday makers privacy when parking you vehicle in a scenic locations.
14 – Campervans are not 4 wheel drive vehicles so please don’t get offended if other vehicles do not stop to offer you assistance in off road situations.
15 – Please ask your rental car company and not petrol station customers if your van requires diesel or unleaded fuel.
16 – New Zealanders are happy to offer directions but please supplement their advice with your own New Zealand road map.
17 – Please don’t decide that intersections are the ideal ‘time out’ to read your road map.

Recently the South Island’s Queenstown Lakes District Council has publicly blamed vehicle hire companies lack of co-operation in collecting unpaid fines. While rental companies passed on customers’ details to council they are refusing to debit credit cards to help with fine collection. Queenstown Council is citing this for $2.4 million in unpaid parking fines from overseas rental car drivers.

NZ Rental car companies understandably do not want to be seen as the enforcer, claiming it is the role for government and not private companies to collect government infringements.

Queenstown Council are always looking for new enforcement methods to collect funds to help prop up their future cash short falls. Recently council started to charge children’s sporting clubs for the use of the district public sporting fields. Now Council is pressuring the Rental Vehicle Association to provide customer’s credit card details in order to pursue fines from overseas visitors.

It is one of a very few parrots in the world that are omnivorous. Unfortunately Keas also are very inquisitive and are not shy to close human contact. Keas particularly enjoys stripping cars of rubber window seals, window wiper blades and even tyre covers.

Areas that you will commonly encounter Keas are along the road to Milford Sound, Arthurs Pass and around Mt Cook.

Many visitors have returned to their rental vehicle to find significant damage done by these personable birds. Your car hire company however may not have fluffy thoughts about the damage done.

I witness this regularly in the small towns in the South Island of New Zealand. The locals wise up to the window ice road blocks but the visitors get caught day after day. No need for a visitor bed tax when the NZ Police are collecting revenue from tourists.

Although impaired visibility due to iced up car windows clearly is a safety hazard, it is the level of impaired that is the questionable factor.

It all boils down to policing to population ratios. The NZ Police currently has a ratio of one police officer for about every 510 people. That is not a lot in comparison to England who have a police to population ratio of 1 to 375 and Australia on average that has ratio of 1 to 415. Police resources are allocated based on population size and not on crime percentage per population.

Now in some small towns located in the North Island the crime rate can be extremely high. Police have their hands full chasing real criminals. On the other hand some towns in the South Island have crime that is in the magnitude of stolen bicycles, under age drinkers and frosted up windows. Basically they have little to do but enforce the minor infringements.

When in the South Island don’t drive over 54km per hour in built up areas. Put your seat belt on before you start the ignition and not as you leave the parking bay. Don’t overindulge in alcohol the previous night as you may find that you are still a few milligrams over the limit the next morning.

The grit in the form of fine rocks that are spread onto these areas prove to be a major hazard long after the ice has thawed. These small stones are large enough to become projectiles that will crack and chip your vehicle window. Personally I replace one window per winter season and considering that I don’t spend the whole winter in NZ or do a lot of country driving you can see the potential threat.

Although a window chip or crack is not a personal hazard it does however usually result in the vehicle failing the statutory warrant of fitness that all vehicle in New Zealand are required to obtain. For this reason all hire car companies will carefully inspect the front windscreen for any signs of damage that was incurred during the period of hire. If you have received a stone chip or crack then you will be liable for the cost of the replacement.

In a previous post I outlined the potential New Zealand hire car insurance pitfalls and the additional excess damage cover that may or may not cover you against this expense.

Many NZ hire car companies offer an additional window and glass cover. It pays to use a company that you can either purchase insurance that has no excess or purchase a glass coverage.

Black ice has been reported in areas that seldom experience this winter phenomenon and travellers that are unaccustomed to harsh winter driving conditions are being warned to stay off the roads until later in the day.

Grit trucks have been busy in all the usual black spots but with the early and very cold winter thus far, many areas that are not on the road maintenance radar are experiencing problems with ice.

Local knowledge is the best way to know which route proposes risks. This information is best gained by listing to the local radio morning road reports if frosts or negative overnight temperatures are experienced. If in doubt, delaying your driving to mid morning or later is the most sensible option.

Queenstown District lakes Council has followed through on its promise to toughen up laws relating to freedom campers.

Earlier last year South Island local councils met and proposed to introduce measures to kerb sleeping van camping over night in areas that have no toilet facilities. Effectively vans that have no onboard toilet and waste holding abilities will be forced to camp overnight in holiday parks. led the charge.

The Queenstown Council has been very vocal on this issue believing that the proposed sticker policy did not go far enough. Now the council has drafted its own strategy to increase its enforcement powers.

Although the new draft policy has been released for public consultation, the new enforcement powers will not be of great community interest so I imagine that the draft will pass into law with little or no amendment.