Sunday, September 30, 2018

Driving in New Zealand

My wife and I recently traveled to New Zealand. It had been a bucket list place to visit. We had a great time visiting the Coromandel Peninsula and greater Rotorua on the North Island.

New Zealand is a country where you drive on the left. Nothing new here. The national speed limit is 100 kph, unless otherwise posted, which is a lot, mainly for towns, but also during construction.

The unusual driving item are the rural one lane bridges. A sign as you approach indicates which travel direction has the right-of-way. Sometimes it is a challenge to see to the end of the bridge to see if anyone is coming. Didn't meet anyone on the middle of a bridge, but I'm sure it happens.

Details from New Zealand government are here.

When using a navigation system in New Zealand the estimated travel time requires adjustment, especially on rural roads and unsealed roads. [Unsealed road means dirt roads where I come from.] As stated, the national speed limit is 100 kph. If the distance to travel is 50 kilometers, the navigation system will report a time of 30 minutes. Not!

The rural roads in New Zealand can be twisty and hilly. The speed at turns can drop to 55 kph, then 45 kph, even 25 kph. Even if the navigation system knows the speed and distance of turns, it assumes you can go 100 kph between them. This is not possible. Add 25-50% to the estimated time and "She'll be right."

No comments:

Post a Comment