I read somewhere that New Zealand has 6 times the GA accident rate compared to the UK. I have picked on the UK as they have lots of cultural commonality and the data is accessible.
There are a number of factors which I believe are responsible:
1) Climate. The weather is volatile here compared to the UK.
2) Geography. There are a lot more hills to hit and and less flat bits to land on if needed.
3) Fleet age - I flew in a Tomahawk that was 200 hours from the scrapper when in Nelson - I don`t think that is unusual over here.
4) And this is the biggy. New Zealand has a culture of tolerance towards minor breaches of regulation. If no-ones hurt no-one really minds. This mentatility is also why NZ has double the UK motor vehicle fatality rate (per registered vehicle). "Its fine to overtake there because no one is ever coming the other way"! How many times are the road deaths due to cars "crossing the centreline'? A somewhat euphemistic term for some prick trying to overtake. This mentality pervades aviation as well over here. The problem with flying (at the ga level) is that it is not difficult, just exceptionally intolerant of mistakes.
It won`t change in a hurry sadly, cultural change is difficult to achieve..
Cheers
James