Just Googled and found this: The current rules were introduced in 1977, New Zealand borrowing the idea from Victoria, Australia. Victoria switched back in 1993, and the AA says the state experienced a decline in crashes as a result.
Great! so in 1977 we copy a give way rule from the state of Victoria, their main city is Melbourne, which as you all know has Trams running all throughout the city, so their give way rule was to actually designed to give way to Trams, yet they made the rule law for the whole state. So say you came from New South Wales into Victoria, with two different give way rules, it was confusion on both sides. So in 1993 they let traffic lights control the Trams and joined the rest of the country with the same give way rule.
What moron politican here in New Zealand in 1977 decided to introduce this stupid give way rule we have now! Did he even look at the paper he was signing, or was he too busy watching "Star Wars" at the cinema.
How many Trams do we have running in Westport, Reefton, Leeston! None! just like other small towns in the state of Victoria, yet they had to obey this give way rule for that "Imaginary Tram". Panelbeaters and Lawyers at the time were expecting lots of business when the new give way rule went into effect, yet it didn't happen, aussie drivers were more cautious / careful at intersections.
I bet the car rental people can't wait for this stupid "right hand rule" to be gone. Spare a thought for these people trying to explain the current give way rule to tourists who've just flown in from Australia and being driving around there for a couple of weeks with no problems, then they come here. First question they ask "Why aren't you like the rest of the world!".
New Zealand is the only country in the world which has the 'right hand rule'.
We should have changed back in 1993 along with Australia.
outbidyou2,
Feb 5, 10:40pm
Change sucks, wish we could all be stuck in the 70's lol
holdenboy11,
Feb 6, 2:36am
I agree with you on this point.But why are you going on about trams!The Victorian rule is much better either way, you only have to consider trams with hook turns and such.
icemans1,
Feb 6, 3:17am
all red cars have to give way to all green cars, but what if your car is blue or silver etc.!
murph2068594,
Feb 6, 5:37am
Melbourne used to have give way laws like those that we have now. In their case it was intended to speed up the trams by getting right turning cars out of their way. This was before the "Hook Turns" they use today. The vehicles were actually on the Tram tracks with their indicators waiting to turn right, holding up the Trams. So they change the rules to get those vehicles out of the way.
Then in 1993 they changed the rules back. People adjusted immediately and the accident rate in the city dropped.
The problem with our current ones is that people have to make too many decisions and look in too many directions. The more decisions you have to make the more likely is an accident.
Quote: "It was intended to speed up the trams by getting right turning cars out of their way." So next time you're on a flush median (or in the middle of the road) and you've got your right indicator on, that car who's got his left indicator on to turn into the same street as you, and is waiting for you to go - look in your rear view mirror, because there is an "Imaginary Melbourne Tram" coming up the rails behind you.
We want the tracks clear all the time, we can't keep a time-table waiting for right turning traffic, when all we want to do is to go straight ahead. So we'll make any vehicle turning left, give way to all right turning traffic, that way our Trams can keep going straight ahead.
So in 1977, we brought this rule in, how many Trams were running around Hamilton, Dunedin, or Ashburton at that time! Fast-forward to 1993 in Melbourne and by then, the Trams had their own set of traffic lights and vehicles were doing "Hook turns". People from other states that were coming in to Victoria were equally confused. The state of Victoria changed the give way rule so all States in Australia were the same, that way if you went from Queensland to New South Wales to Victoria then to South Australia, you just followed one rule, not two.
We should never have changed in 1977 or at all.
murph2068594,
Feb 6, 5:37am
Melbourne used to have give way laws like those that we have now. In their case it was intended to speed up the trams by getting right turning cars out of their way. This was before the "Hook Turns" they use today. The vehicles were actually on the Tram tracks with their indicators waiting to turn right, holding up the Trams. So they change the rules to get those vehicles out of the way.
Then in 1993 they changed the rules back. People adjusted immediately and the accident rate in the city dropped.
The problem with our current ones is that people have to make too many decisions and look in too many directions. The more decisions you have to make the more likely is an accident.
Quote: "It was intended to speed up the trams by getting right turning cars out of their way." So next time you're on a flush median (or in the middle of the road) and you've got your right indicator on, that car who's got his left indicator on to turn into the same street as you, and is waiting for you to go - look in your rear view mirror, because there is an "Imaginary Melbourne Tram" coming up the rails behind you.
We want the tracks clear all the time, we can't keep a time-table waiting for right turning traffic, when all we want to do is to go straight ahead. So we'll make any vehicle turning left, give way to all right turning traffic, that way our Trams can keep going straight ahead.
So in 1977, we brought this rule in, how many Trams were running around Hamilton, Dunedin, or Ashburton at the time! Fast-forward to 1993 in Melbourne and by then, the Trams had their own set of traffic lights and vehicles were doing "Hook turns". People from other states that were coming in to Victoria were equally confused. The state of Victoria changed the give way rule so all States in Australia were the same, that way if you went from Queensland to New South Wales to Victoria then to South Australia, you just followed one rule, not two.
murph2068594,
Feb 6, 5:37am
Melbourne used to have give way laws like those that we have now. In their case it was intended to speed up the trams by getting right turning cars out of their way. Then in 1993 they changed the rules. People adjusted immediately and the accident rate in the city dropped.
The problem with our current ones is that people have to make too many decisions and look in too many directions. The more decisions you have to make the more likely is an accident.
Quote: "It was intended to speed up the trams by getting right turning cars out of their way." So next time you're on a flush median (or in the middle of the road) and you've got your right indicator on, that car who's got his left indicator on to turn into the same street as you, and is waiting for you to go - look in your right side mirror, because there is an "Imaginary Melbourne Tram" coming up the rails behind you.
We want the tracks clear all the time, we can't keep a time-table waiting for right turning traffic, when all we want to do is to go straight ahead. So we'll make any vehicle turning left, give way to all right turning traffic, that way our Trams can keep going straight ahead.
So in 1977, we brought this rule in, how many Trams were running around Hamilton, Dunedin, or Ashburton at the time! Fast-forward to 1993 in Melbourne and by then, the Trams had their own set of traffic lights. People from other states that were coming in to Victoria were equally confused. The state of Victoria changed the give way rule so all States in Australia were the same, that way if you went from Queensland to New South Wales to Victoria then to South Australia, you just followed one rule, not two.
tonyrockyhorror,
Feb 6, 2:14pm
Explain what you mean by this because I can't see that it does. If there are no other vehicles, you don't have anyone to GIVE WAY to.
holdenboy11,
Feb 6, 2:32pm
Great explanation murph.That does make sense then, makes us look like idiots for even introducing it.The new rule (old old one!) is going to be hard at first, but will be more efficient in general.Although I can see right turning traffic taking a little longer in some cases.
tonyrockyhorror,
Feb 6, 2:57pm
And preventing those leaving the terminating road of uncontrolled T-intersections. You could well end up waiting ages to get out of that road, just like you do now at GIVE WAY signs.
tgray,
Feb 6, 4:45pm
You have the right of way unless there is someone else wanting to go straight ahead, that's behind the car that wants to turn.
tonyrockyhorror,
Feb 6, 6:05pm
You mean the right turning vehicle has RoW unless there's an approaching vehicle going straight. They still have RoW over the left turning vehicle though - they never had RoW over vehicles going straight so nothing has changed in that regard - merely the sequence of movements which always depends on the vehicles approaching the intersection.
I've never had any problem with turning left and giving way to right turning vehicles. It might be due to the fact I use my mirrors and position myself correctly on the road - I indicate early, am aware of other traffic around me and don't make left turns from right beside the centreline.
pauldw,
Feb 6, 7:07pm
The rule says one thing, it is the road code that adds the rider that following vehicles may affect whether the right turning car can turn or not. That should have mentioned lanes or road width. If your giving way stops a following vehicle from passing you I haven't seen anything that gives you back the right of way.
murph2068594,
Feb 7, 12:02am
Some politican brought the rule in for the same reason, clear right turning traffic, so it doesn't hold up the straight through traffic behind.
This was back in 1977, there were no turning bays or flush median that you could drive over and "be safe" from straight through traffic.
Fast-forward to 2012 and we have turning bays, flush median, right turning arrow traffic lights, roundabouts, everything to make turning right as easy as it is to turn left.
With all the above helping you make that right turn, the give way rule we use today, should have been changed along with Australia back in 1993.
dlmckay,
Feb 7, 12:25am
Wow, never realised my near miss would create so much conversation!
As a new arrival to NZ, that was how I interpreted the rule - if the car approaching is indicating left, you may turn right in front of it.Well, I never made that mistake again and made sure that the car had actually stopped before I turned right.
I still think it's a stupid rule. how am I to know if the car behind the one indicating left is also indicating left or wanting to continue straight on!
gilco2,
Feb 7, 12:29am
Thats what they all said when they changed it to how it is at present. Maybe when they change back to how originally was it wont be all doom and gloom like last time
murph2068594,
Feb 7, 3:45am
I'll always try and let a car get out of a very busy intersection, you can just wave them through. The idea of the turning bays was to find that "gap" in the traffic and go, yet if you have lots of straight through traffic, sometimes you wish you packed your lunch.
Very busy intersections which are on the list to be upgraded to roundabouts or traffic lights may be fast-tracked with this new (correction - old) give way rule due next month.
I was at Templeton the other day and spotted a B-Train truck and trailer that was on the right turning bay, lots of straight through traffic, so i flicked my lights (dip not high beam) he understood what i meant and let him turn into the side street.
As long as it's safe, it's up to you, you have the option to let vehicles get out or in.
tonyrockyhorror,
Feb 7, 4:33am
The GIVE WAY rule does not state 'unless you wave the other vehicle through'.
If they subsequently go and collide with you, even though they 'waved' you through, you're the one at fault for failing to GIVE WAY. No ifs, buts or maybes.
murph2068594,
Feb 8, 2:15am
Hello.I'm going with straight through traffic at a T intersection, i'm not the one waiting at a give way sign.
If the traffic is crawling south along riccarton road and all someone wants to do is a left turn from a give way sign, and get on to riccarton road there's nothing in the road code that says you can't let them in. I just let one join in with the rest of the straight through traffic - "merge like a zip." I only do it when heavy traffic is going slow or is in stop / go motion - just like riccarton road.
kevymtnz,
Feb 8, 2:28am
as it is now is plain stupid and i almost have incidents everyday cose of it start doing it now so it is easier when it comes in
tonyrockyhorror,
Feb 8, 3:26am
Nor did I say there was. I simply raised the point that if someone waves you in even though you should be giving way, it doesn't absolve you for responsibility if there's a collision.
smac,
Feb 8, 1:15pm
If you 'give way' to them, and they wave you through, you have still given way.
kiwis0,
Feb 8, 7:54pm
Wouldn't it be easier to introduce trams to NZ roads, so we reduce the carbon footprint instead, then there would be no reason to change the rule. but yeah, candid camera @ intersections on march 25 @ 5 am.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.