Road Rules

We’ve been doing quite a bit of driving here in New Zealand. We’ve mastered the whole left-hand-side-of-the-road-driving thing; we can zip through a traffic round like a true Kiwi; we can even read the sometimes amusing road signs… But there are still things that surprise and delight us about driving in New Zealand.

The curvaceous roads never fail to disappoint as we introduce visitors to the area, and they never fail to bring out Cory’s inner race car driver. Because of these windy roads, the maximum speed limit in New Zealand is 100 kilometers per hour. This often feels plenty fast, but, remember, that is only 62 miles per hour. As a five-year veteran commuter on I80, I was used to traveling around 80 miles per hour as I made the trek from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids every day. Now, 62 often feels frighteningly fast.

There are a few stretches of straight, flat, two-lane, divided highway in New Zealand. All are along Highway 1, which stretches from Cape Reinga in the Far North of the North Island to Bluff at the southern-most tip of the South Island. Such stretches are mainly in the Auckland area, and they help zip ¼ of New Zealand’s population through its largest city.

Even here, on these few stretches of gorgeous flat highway made to drive, no one speeds. I commented on this to Cory, as I drove a rare section of such a highway. It was then that he reminded me of a recent news item on speed cameras. A recent press report identified general locations of speed cameras and listed them in order of most profitable. And, yep, right there along Highway 1 in Auckland are the speed cameras that catch the most speeders each year!

Not so long ago, the efficiency of New Zealand’s speed camera system was demonstrated when, a few days after a weekend trip, we received a speeding ticket in the mail, along with a notification that we had been caught going eleven kilometers over the posted speed limit. I will say it has acted as a deterrent.

Another pretty effective deterrent are the mandatory drink driving stops where they breathalyze every driver of every vehicle. Cory has been stopped probably four times; each car is shunted to one of the waiting officers, where the driver is asked to state his address into the machine. Those who haven’t been drinking are able to quickly continue on their way. They usually do this on Friday or Saturday, and they often set up their station on the Harbour Bridge, which is one of the only two routes between the Mount and Tauranga. Evening revelers can figure that there is a good bet that they’ll meet with the local police on their way home.

However, as long as you aren’t driving, you can enjoy your evening to whatever extent you’d like. And if that means tipping back a few cold ones as your sober driver safely escorts you across town, then by all means, do so. There is no Kiwi version of the open container law.

So as your driver is slowly navigating the undulating scenery of New Zealand, keeping ever-mindful of those speed cameras, you, the passenger, can sit back and enjoy a beverage. Just don’t share any with your driver…