Yellow lines on the road.

[yungatart]

The Insane Yellow Paint Maniac. coming to a road near you.

Nah, Ixion, he has already been there!

[Ixion]

Nah, Ixion, he has already been there!

He's been everywhere, man, he's been everywhere.

[MSTRS:Me]

We stopped him at the border. But his sensible workmate has been allowed a splash or two.
Nor do we have those cheesecutter thingies...although someone missed the prick with the new armco posts.

[pzkpfw]

Anyone will notice that there are many many places where any person would be mental to cross the centre line (i.e. to pass someone) but there are no yellows. That's because these places are obviously unsafe to pass. (Perhaps because they simply don't afford the minimum clear-visible distance required by law.)

So the yellows don't mark all places that are "unsafe" to cross the line, just the places where someone somewhere has decided it's likely people will try - but where they perhaps shouldn't.

This means that many of these places might be very much on the "actually pretty safe" side of the story; after all - someone has decided enough people will try passing there, to bother putting the yellows down.

When that someone somewhere has decided to put those yellows there, who did he or she have in mind? The average driver of the average car? Possibly. They certainly were not thinking of a bike that can quickly zip 'round someone and be quickly back in their own lane.

Last week I was heading West on SH58, past the house-movers. In front was a car, and in turn that was held up by a RAV4 doing 80 km/hr in the 100 km/hr zone.

We get to the passing lanes. They are uphill (the wrong way for me). There used to be no yellows here, but a year or so back double yellows were put in to stop folk in the one lane downhill going into any of the uphill two lanes.

I had clear visibility, knew I'd be back in my lane before a car could come 'round the approaching corner, and there was only one car already coming the other way, firmly planted in (his) left lane.

Did I wait?


(And no, I'm not saying that all yellows are "safe" to cross. You'd be nuts to ignore them on an unfamiliar road, for example.)

[Jonathan]

(And no, I'm not saying that all yellows are "safe" to cross. You'd be nuts to ignore them on an unfamiliar road, for example.)

Like all the road rules eh - use your good judgement. If it is early in the morning and there is a red light on an empty intersection I wouldn't be bothered waiting. If there is double yellow lines on a long straight with no oncoming traffic for at least 100 meters, I would say you are safe to pass the the car going 80 you are stuck behind.

Just got to remember, if you do cross the double yellow line, no matter how safe it is, it is against the law so you can expect to be ticketed if a cop sees you do it. Also, it is more dangerous anyway because all other road users are not expecting you to do it.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Well the yellow lines are not there to say "you are not allowed to pass", they are there as a warning not "to cross them" because technically you are allowed to pass if you do not leave your lane and do not cross the yellow line... however it is not advisable unless the vehicle you are passing has pulled over to give you room, even then be weary.

The average bike sitting position is higher than the average car sitting position (the average car drivers most likely don't know this) so on average bikers do see further than the car a head of you. (yes there are mor SUV's on the road now etc who are siting higher than the biker, and trucks get a clear view over the many brows way before cars and bikes as well as and some bikes are just as low if not lower than cars).

The yellow lines are designed around the lowest comman demoninator on the road (the average car) and "are there as a warning that there is a possible spot in the road that could easily hide an on coming vehicle" for the average vehicle on the road for what ever reason. It may look flat stright piece of the road but may not be the case, humps in the road can easily hide on coming vehicles.

Now remember you are suppose to have 100 odd metres clear space once you return to your side of the road and technically you are not allowed to go over 100kph even in a passing manouver (yes I know, but...) on a vehicle doing 90kph so do the math how long and far that would take to complete the manover and then add 100 metre for you clear view and space. So a lot of the shorter straight pieces of road are most likely no long enough to do this manouver, so as guide the yellow paint comes out.

[Pixie]

I think people refer to "double yellow ines" so often because, since the Insane Yellow Paint Maniac got loose from the asylum, mostly they are doubles. The single yellow is fairly rare up here, and usually the single ones are older ones. The new ones painted by the IYPM are almost always doubles.

That explains it.The Insane Yellow Paint Maniac is the guy that paints lines along the straight bits of road and ends them just prior to blind corners,like on Peak rd and SH 16.
I always wondered about that

[Berries]

I guess this thread started as a reaction to some of the comments about the cop doing a u-turn where there were single or double yellow lines. As far as I know, yellow solid lines are solely to say do not cross when passing another vehicle, see Section 2.9 of the Road User Rule. Section 2.5 refers to turning and there is no mention there of yellow lines at all.

Maybe a cop will chime in if there is a Precedent Code for turning right across a yellow line on your side, or double yellows, but I don’t think there will be one. I am occasionally the Insane Yellow Paint Maniac and have to say, the location of driveways for instance has no bearing on their application. If you have to paint 330m of yellow from the point where visibility is lost then you do so. I can think of scores of examples where people are forced to turn right over yellow lines and I don’t believe they would get done for it. It is not crossing them per se that is an offence, it is crossing them whilst overtaking other traffic that is the issue.

To touch on a couple of other points, Nighthawk is correct, these lines are set out based on a drivers eye height and are only supposed to be used for issues with vertical geometry, where it may not be obvious that there is a hidden dip (and where there are passing lanes and flush medians etc). NZ does not do no passing lines for horizontal geometry because you are supposed to know how much visibility you have in front of you. Great on a bike as you can wazz past someone and get back in very quickly, but no passing lines on the approach to corners may stop some of the really dodgy overtaking manoeuvres that we see. How far is 100m anyway ? I haven’t got a clue. If I can get round I can get round.

There is a now a push to put double yellows on sections of road that don’t have visibility problems related to vertical geometry. There is a great set of bends on the way to Queenstown where you can see quite clearly that nobody is coming and so can cut the corner safely. The Police have been known to sit and take photos of people who do this and ticket them, on the basis that if you cut the corners here you will cut the corners where you can’t see round and potentially have a head on. I don’t see the link myself. Anyway, they have now painted double yellows through the bends to save further arguments. Another good overtaking opportunity lost.

Anyway, I don’t often refer to the Road Code because it is not a legal document unlike the two Rules I mention above. Just had a look at it and found this -

Making a turn over a no-passing line

You can cross over the solid yellow no-passing line (if it is safe to do so) when making a turn to enter a driveway or side road.

However, bear in mind that no-passing lines are often marked where visibility is limited, so special care is required. It may be safer to turn further along the road, where visibility is better.

[Morepower]

In the good old days a yellow line meant that you had less than 100m of clear road ahead. Now they are meaningless , just means that some bureaucrat thinks that you should not overtake there. Another attempt to legislate for the lowest common denominator on the road ( and there is a few ) which leads to frustration for the reasonably competent drivers.

[quickbuck]

How far is 100m anyway ? I haven’t got a clue.

It is just a gnats over 3 and a half bananas at 100 km/hr.
It is actually quite short.... and in some cases when I ask myself was that too close... I find I have gaped the car i just passed by about 3 bananas....
Then think if i had to ask.. then chances are it was on MY limit...

As for all that paint... Well, yup, as long as you don't cross the line.. On a bike that opens you up for more opportunities... Especially if the cage drivers play nice.

The bit you found in the Road Code is VERY timely, considering the events of Sunday.

[MacD]

The yellow lines are designed around the lowest comman demoninator on the road (the average car) and "are there as a warning that there is a possible spot in the road that could easily hide an on coming vehicle" for the average vehicle on the road for what ever reason. It may look flat stright piece of the road but may not be the case, humps in the road can easily hide on coming vehicles.

That used to be the case, and may still be so in Dunedin. However, as others have noted, yellow lines have appeared everywhere on the roads north of Auckland. They no longer indicate the presence of an unseen or unexpected hazard but are being used to manage traffic behaviour by stopping people overtaking on perfectly straight roads with clear visibility.

[TimeOut]

And the worst part if you get caught (even if the passing manoeuvre was perfectly safe) is 50 DEMERITS

[davebullet]

Yer dont cross the yellows.......

Fark me. That White Toyota is amazing... how can it do 100kph backwards.? I gotta get me one of them.

[davereid]

They no longer indicate the presence of an unseen or unexpected hazard but are being used to manage traffic behaviour by stopping people overtaking on perfectly straight roads with clear visibility.

Same down here. In fact virtually all of the roads from Levin to Otaki, even to Waikanae, are now yellowed as a "traffic calming" measure. This includes places where the view ahead is entirely adequate to pass in full safety.

The same experts put a two lane roundabout in at Otaki, when there is only one lane in and one out.. with a pedestrian crossing right on the out.. and now they express surprise when there are delays !

[MSTRS:Me]

This thread was sort of sparked by comments in the 'killer cop' thread, but has nothing to do with turning across the yellow/s.
Yes, we've always been able to turn in/out of a driveway and cross the yellow/s to do that. And yes, we've always been able to overtake if there's room without crossing the yellow/s.
I say again, there are a lot of people out there who seem to think that a double yellow is somehow more important than a single, and they do go on about crossing a double yellow as somehow the worse thing you can do...much worse than crossing a single yellow on your side.
If you are to ride/drive within the law, the only yellow you NEED to take note of is the one on your side of the median. The other one...that one...over there...belongs to the opposing lane and is for them to obey.
As for the need for yellows...the original intent has been well and truly highjacked by the traffic nazis, that's for sure. Which brings us to the frustration that causes. A whole other argument.