BEVS

I think the confusion was because you mentioned points on a license.

If the license is clean then nothing to worry about. You hand it in. They will do the checks. You do the theory test ( from memory) + eyesight. You get your NZ license.

There has been a general tightening up nationwide as NZ does have a downer on overseas drivers, many of whom are used to driving on the opposite side of the road to NZ and the UK. They are also not aware of the driving standards here and the need to be very aware and adopt defensive driving skills.

You'll be fine mate. My UK license was ancient - bit like me - I had no issues and neither did him indoors.

Stonesy93

Awesome, cheers mate. Thanks for the assistance!

jarv5116

grant r

I'm curious 🤔 in what way are they dangerous? I'm coming over in march for a holiday/recce and I'm wondering what I'm letting myself in for lol

Justcol

Kiwis are pretty poor drivers in general. For years the driving test was two minutes round the block with a copper sat next to you. Only recently had the minimum driving age been raised from 15, and in some areas it wasn't uncommon to see a kid in school uniform leaving school in a badly maintained V8 or massive Ute. Add a huge influx of overseas driver's into the mix and it can get "interesting". Kiwis always blame foreigners for all the bad stuff, but it's mostly the homegrown drivers that cause the most issues. Driving to slow, then speeding up at the passing lanes is a kiwi favorite, or charging up behind you at silly speeds on the motorway, desperate to overtake, then when they do, swinging straight across all three lanes to just make it onto an off ramp.Another is the wandering Asian who can't seem to decide what lane to be in so will drive with a wheel in each at 20kmh under the limit. Kiwis love to tailgate. They will quite happily sit two feet off your back bumper, even on an empty road, regardless of the speed you are doing. Slow down to let them pass and they will then get irate that you are holding them up even though there might be two empty lanes for them to use to pass you. On the twisty country roads around me, Asians also have a habit of slowing to around 20 or 30 kmh (in a 100 zone) as they are not very confident drivers. The occasional one will forget we drive on the left, but I've only seen that a couple of times. In general things are usually incident free and I'd still prefer to drive here than in a big UK city

grant r

To be honest it doesn't sound much different than the UK after the influx of our European friends 😂😂

escapedtonz

They aren't dangerous. They are just different. State Highways are mostly single carriageway with the odd passing lane and can be a mixture of awesome open roads through open countryside or native bush to 25kph hairpin winding roads where you struggle to get any speed up before brake brake brake although there'll always be some local passing you at double the speed in a shitbox Mitsi legacy, on the opposite side of the road crossing the yellow line with 4 kids in the car and none of them in any child restraint .
What makes driving dangerous here is the incompetent drivers on the roads. Absolutely no driving skills whatsoever. Don't seem to take a blind bit of notice of any speed limits or road markings. They cut corners, regularly use the wrong side of the road as they haven't learned the art of turning the steering wheel.
I'm ranting a bit now seems years of driving 220km return commute has that effect.

BEVS

escapedtonz

Converting the UK license is easy.
I used the local AA office.
Turn up with UK license, complete the application form, get in the queue, hand over the application form, UK license and payment (around $60 per person I think) at the counter, take a simple eye test at the counter, they'll then give you a temporary slip with your driving classes on (make sure they've transferred them across correctly - they missed out my motorcycle entitlement and had to do it all again when I questioned it) and that's it. They'll give you your UK license back, the temporary license slip and a receipt. NZ license takes around 2 weeks to arrive in the post.
Your UK license will naturally expire and if you're still in NZ when that happens you cannot renew as you have to be resident in the UK to maintain it.

A4Ron

UK is a better safer place to drive, with a modern up-to-date road network. But New Zealand has other benefits.

The problem with the roads here is the road infrastructure is the same as the UK was in the 1950s, but now with increasing traffic volumes... As mentioned above, the vast majority of NZ's motorways/'state highways' are single-carriageway with the odd passing lane every few kms - but without central barriers to separate oncoming traffic! Central barriers and proper tarmac are considered luxuries here by NZTA - very much a 'nice to have'. And when the NZTA do bother to pull their finger out with a central barrier they install wire barriers (which are banned in Europe) and can prove fatal in crashes with bikers - they call them cheese-graters. A poor fellow in Christchurch last Christmas got decapitated by the wire barrier on the Southern Motorway in his BMW Z3 convertible. If i was his family I would've taken NZTA to court.

Vast majority of road surfaces here are chip-seal, which was orginally designed for extremely low traffic volumes many years ago. The downsides are that it wears out quicker than proper asphalt/tarmac, breaks up in heavy rain with heavy vehicle use on it and offers less grip than tarmac too. The only upside is that it's cheaper, which is why NZTA persist with it... Long-term, tarmac would be a cheaper and better solution on the main roads and motorways. However, when it comes to updating the road infrastructure to modern levels, the government & NZTA do a cost-benefit analysis and conclude the costs too expensive compared to saving people's lives and reducing the road toll.

Charismatic

​​​​​​New Zealand:
Road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year: 7.8
Road fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles: 10

United Kingdom:
Road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year: 3.1
Road fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles: 5.7

You could argue New Zealands roads are more varied but equally the UK typically has more inclement weather and more traffic due to its population density.

​​​​​​In my view it comes down to driver training and testing issue. It's insufficient to tell people to do their best, they need to know what to do and then to do their best. If New Zealand had a motto it'd be "She'll be right" but, unfortunately, driving standards is one of those areas where indifference to quality results in a very high error rate. Sometimes those errors cause deaths.

Clappy

The roads are OK. It is the people that are a liability. That extends to more subjects than just driving.

grant r

Sounds just like the UK! 😂😂

A4Ron

They definitely need to improve driver education and make the driving test harder. But they also need to get the roads up to a modern OECD standard. The vast majority of the road death stats are head-on collisions on the 'state highway' network and poor road design at rural intersections. A proper motorway network and increased driving standards would significantly reduce the road toll.

I drove all over the UK last year for three weeks and it was delightful in comparison and much less stressful, even including some traffic.

BEVS

It really isn't.

Just adopt defensive driving strategies. Remember that insurance is not compulsory here. That most are not taught how to drive. That the road signage means nothin' . Then you'll be right.