A potential boon for panel beaters and nightmare for insurance companies has been announced in the form of much heralded changes to New Zealand's give way rules.Transport Minister Steve Joyce said the current give way rules for turning vehicles were confu
A potential boon for panel beaters and nightmare for insurance companies has been announced in the form of much heralded changes to New Zealand’s give way rules.
Transport Minister Steve Joyce said the current give way rules for turning vehicles were confusing and out of step with the rest of the world so they will be changed in early 2012.
“Research shows changing the rules could reduce relevant intersection crashes by 7%,” he said.
The changes:
Currently, if you’re turning left, you must give way to right turning traffic coming towards you. The change reverses this, so the left turning vehicle would have the right of way.
For T-intersections, the rule also applies when there are conflicting right turns. Currently, the right-turning vehicle on the terminating road (the base of the T) has priority over the right turning vehicle on the through road (the top of the T).
The change requires traffic from an uncontrolled terminating road to give way.
Expecting lots of prangs? Fear not, an extensive education campaign is planned to ensure drivers are aware of the new rules, just as they are of the current rules, before changes come into force.
