Most of the time it’s good to be unique, but when it comes to right turns the Government thinks we’ve gone off track.
Since 1977, cars turning right at intersections have had priority over cars turning left, but that’s put us out of step with other countries and has been blamed for a rise in intersection crashes, particularly those involving pedestrians.
“This rule change is designed to make it simpler and more straightforward for motorists about who gives way to whom at intersections,” says the NZTA’s Geoff Dangerfield.
Right cars turning left give way to cars turning right, but from the 25th of March the rule is reversed – cars turning right give way to cars turning left.
The change only applies on junctions with no sign or signal, or the same sign or signal.
The rules at T-junctions will also change. The top of the T is the continuing road, the bottom of T is the road that meets it.
If you’re a car waiting to turn right at the bottom of the T you’ll need to give way, just as you would if you were joining a road from a driveway.
The changes sound sensible but what will happen on the roads where current rules work quite well?
Across the country, the NZTA is identifying intersections where there could be problems. Auckland has found 500.
“We’ll be assisting drivers in road markings on the those intersections and we’ll be down on the ground monitoring how drivers transition through this rule and we’ll be potentially tweaking traffic lights as we go,” says Auckland Transport’s Sharon Hunter.
The Government hopes there will be 7 percent drop in intersection crashes once drivers have got used to the change.
3 News
Read more: https://www.3news.co.nz/New-NZ-give-way-rules-explained/tabid/423/articleID/246113/Default.aspx#ixzz1p8qhFfo6
Post time: Oct-11-2017