New Zealand

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Location
Midlands
I cycled around New Zealand a bit around the turn of the millennium

1999-New Zealand - Auckland - Wellington - Picton - Blenheim - Christchurch - Invercargill - Queenstown - Haast-Lyell-Greymouth- Lake Arnaud - Nelson -Wellington -2500km

2002-New Zealand - Part 1 Haruru (Bay of Islands)- Ompere - Dargville - Bryderwyn - Kaiwake -Wellsford - Helensville - Auckland -500km
2002-New Zealand - Part 2 Auckland - Raglan - New Plymouth - Hawera - Wanganui - Bulls - Woodville - Hastings - Napier - Gisborne - Hicks Bay - Ohope - Tauranga - Paeora - Thames - Bus to Auckland - Achilles Tendon not good. - 2008km

On both occasions I was warned that New Zealand driving left a little to be desired – including by someone I knew who worked in a reasonably senior capacity in the road safety department of NZ Highways – on the morning of day one at my first café stop south of Auckland I was told that a pair of German cyclists had been killed a few days earlier on the junction of the main road by the cafe

Despite this apart from one incident where I was on a gravel road and was passed by a logging truck in a cloud of dust so close that I could have reached out and touched it – I never felt at risk

I spent most of my time on the black top – on my occasional forays onto gravel roads I found that not all gravel roads were equal – some were nice flat dust-tops whilst many of the ones I chose turned into deep big gravel avec logging trucks – likewise some of the trails I attempted were more suitable for VTT than a heavily loaded touring bike

Over the years since then I’ve read many posts on here recommending that it is best to stay away from the black top - I’ve always assumed that in the intervening years that many of the roads that I used have been upgraded and now are more like the busy fast A roads of this country – my experience at the time was predominantly more like the intermediate level roads I was used to using in England – not huge amounts of traffic – to my surprise a quick wander around streetview ala Jayclock seems to indicate that not much has changed – in fact if anything the surfaces on a couple of gravel roads that caused me a lot of pain in the south island have improved

Latest figures for fatalities
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Latest figures for fatalities
Although fatalities aren't the only potential risk measure, that's broadly the same rate per person as the UK, and the rest of the NZ government's fact sheet on cycling risk is also pretty familiar stuff: a very remote risk of any kind of injury, with towns and cities being the most dangerous places, presumably mainly because that's where the riders are:
http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Documents/Cycling-2016.pdf
 

Scotkiwi

Regular
Location
Papamoa
The government is putting some real money into cycling now - Tauranga has moved from a few hundred thousand dollars last year to 20 millioin this year. There are more and more good cycleways through the country. Yes, there are a lot of scary drivers here, but traffic volumes off the main roads are low, and generally pretty good to cyclists. In the cities bus lanes are shared with bikes, which is useful. Just don't assume a car won't turn in front of you. Remember the first rule of the road - all other drivers (and cyclists) are idiots. And you should be just fine. And it is a glorious country!!
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Just don't assume a car won't turn in front of you.
Isn't there something strange about turning off a highway onto a minor road at a T junction, too? I thought left-turners used to be meant to give way to right-turners (different to the UK where I think left-turners go first although it's not explicit in the Highway Code), but now I see https://wikitravel.org/en/Driving_in_New_Zealand#Give_way_to_the_right says right-turners should pull onto the shoulder and wait for a gap in all traffic :eek:

https://slightlyodd.com/2010/03/new-zealands-stupid-right-hand-turn-rule suggests my memory of the old rule is correct. Not that it mattered much away from the cities - traffic was very sparse. Which is just as well, as I will never get used to far-eastern cars with their control stalks backwards, washing the windscreen whenever I approached a turn...
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next

Scotkiwi

Regular
Location
Papamoa
There used to be a give way to the right rule, but that was scrapped a couple of years back - too confusing for the oor tourists, and could get silly with everyone being polite or not indicating to avoid it.

If you are going to hold up traffic by turning right, especially on minor roads, and where there is a fair bit of following traffic, it is considered polite to pull in to the left to let following traffic past, then turn right without holding up anyone. It isn't a rule, just common courtesy.
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
I cycled in NZ in the mid 1990s around a bit of the North Island - Hastings, Napier and also on the South down to Christchurch. Whilst the country is indisputably very scenic I had one or two very scary moments with drivers big trucks as well as cars. The dirt tracks were idyllic but the roads were not. After the first week I am ashamed to say I had had enough and hired a car to see the rest of the country. If I went back now which I would love to do at some point I would tour around by motorbike something like a BMW GS, but not bicycle. A lot the dirt tracks I remember riding will probably have been tarmac'd over. Also shocking was the number of drivers who drove drunk and crashed. Late at night was not a time to be on the roads. I remember riding down to Wellington to get the boat to the South Island was scary.
 
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