The right hand rule

[KATWYN]

Why is it,whenever i'm in a car and give
way to my right, and wait for the other driver to go first, or with
courtesy I motion them to go first.....I get daggers or a shaking head from the other drivers, like I don't know the road rules or something . (thats what I feel like doing sometimes!) cos its them that should go home and read the road code not me

It happens so often.

I bet all the motorcyclists in NZ on this forum are fully
aware of the right hand rule but come across this problem regulary.

Or maybe its me thats the arrogant driver

[Milky]

I had that problem during my driving test... took a fair while before the guy realised that he had right of way... The situation I have found most people dont know well is if you have two right turning cars at an uncontrolled intersection - standard give way to your right rule but so many peole dont know it

[Hitcher]

But when you're pushing a shopping trolley around in a supermarket people generally instinctively apply the right-hand rule! Go figure...

[Ms Piggy]

But when you're pushing a shopping trolley around in a supermarket people generally instinctively apply the right-hand rule! Go figure...

Yeah but it seems that if you are driving or riding in a super market no road rules apply! :eyepoke:

I reckon in general lotsa people don't know or don't understand the RH rule.

[madandy]

They dont understand the clause about ..."when the other car is on your left, turning right..." It is too detailed a law for some to comprehend...

[BritStorm]

When I arrived from the UK over a year ago i made a real effort to learn the give way rules. There is always that split second of recognition between me and another driver that determins weather they are going to abide by the rule or not and that hesitancy is usually enough to get things moving - in line with the rules or otherwise.

One rule I've always had on the bike though is be ready to give way to anything at anytime. The other thing is that on one lane bridges, the rule seems to be do as the signs say unless a bike is approaching or on the bridge in which case drive straight on over and damm the bike!

[James Deuce]

I much prefer the UK sitiuation where there is no right hand rule. Traffic flows heaps better IMO.

Anyone know the situation at the bottom of the Petone - Hutt Road intersection?

That's a situation that no one seems to understand. People coming off SH2 don't have to give way or stop there as there is no sign demanding either action, apart from the right hand rule, and the "don't pull out into traffic you idiot" rule my Dad taught me. However there is a Give Way for people heading up onto the SH2 on ramp. Which they don't give way at. Theoretically they SHOULD be giving way to the right there anyway! On the bike I always have to let people go there. When I'm in the FIAT they get a car shoved at them. I STILL get abused.

[MD]

Whow !THERE ARE ROAD RULES? Get out of here. Why don't they put them in a book or something and give it a cool name like, umm, Road Code. Mind you no one reads anymore. I'll wait for the video release.
MD

[Wonko]

Yeah, on the bike I abide by the rule
"If it's bigger than you, be prepared to give way to it"

[Motu]

Be kind - some of us old farts learned to drive under a different right hand rule,the old one still makes more sence....that was where if you were turning right into a side street across a main road,you gave way to the oncoming vehicle turning left into the same road.Now that car stops,the car behind swerves out to pass,or they all stack up behind.

Uncontroled intersections are a pain too - at one place I worked we had 2 road exits either side of a store....one was a give way,the other was uncontroled.So on one road you could pull out,on the other you had to stop and give way to turning traffic - lots of fist shaking as everyone thought you had it wrong,no matter which road you came out on.

[dangerous]

Be kind - some of us old farts learned to drive under a different right hand rule,the old one still makes more sence....that was where if you were turning right into a side street across a main road,you gave way to the oncoming vehicle turning left into the same road.Now that car stops,the car behind swerves out to pass,or they all stack up behind.

Old / New???? whats the diff? nothings changed in my 21yrs behind the wheel

The situation you give above is reversed in Oz.... much better (car turning left gives way)

[wkid_one]

I believe it was 1972/1976 somewhere around there that NZ changed a whole bunch of its road rules pertaining to the right hand rule....some drivers still drive under the old rules thinking they are in the road.

Take for example the "Shadow Turn" rule - very few people know this rule at all. This rule states if you are turning left in to an side street and the person on the other side of the road is turning across to the same side street. You are permitted to turn ahead of the other car if there is someone behind you travelling straight ahead as you are deemed to be turning in the 'shadow' of this driver. This overrules the right hand rule.

[MikeL]

Be kind - some of us old farts learned to drive under a different right hand rule,the old one still makes more sence....that was where if you were turning right into a side street across a main road,you gave way to the oncoming vehicle turning left into the same road.Now that car stops,the car behind swerves out to pass,or they all stack up behind.

I can still remember the incredulous reaction to the announcement of that rule change (although I can't for the life of me remember when it happened - sometime in the late 70s??). It just seemed crazy, and the explanation, which I think was something to do with consistency about giving way to the right, was utterly unconvincing. To many of us at the time it seemed that the rule about vehicles turning across on-coming traffic having to give way was more fundamental and more logical. I seem to recall that quite recently someone in the police or LTSA admitted that the rule change was a mistake, but said that it would cause even more confusion if we reverted to the old rule now!
Why do we tolerate such bumbling incompetence?

[MacD]

I'm pretty sure the right-hand turn rule changed in early 1977. I sat my car licence under the old rule and my bike licence under the new rule six months later. Of course it didn't really make much difference as all I did was a figure 8 in the carpark

I think the "new" rule was copied from Victoria (where the LTSA seems to get all its ideas from), but has since been abandoned there. In one way, it is a logical extension of the give way to your right rule - the only problem is it doesn't work in practice! Particularly because of the "shadow" issue Wkid mentions.

[sAsLEX]

I think the "new" rule was copied from Victoria (where the LTSA seems to get all its ideas from), but has since been abandoned there.

They copy them an awful lot which is disturbing! Soon we could have 3km/h speeding tolerances and the like! Who cares that our speedos are only like 7% accurate or something at the best of times( heard this somewhere so could be wrong)