10 December, 2008

That right hand rule

If you are going straight ahead at an intersection, give way to all vehicles coming straight through from your right.
If you are turning left at an intersection, give way to vehicles coming towards you that are turning right.
If you are turning right at an intersection, give way to vehicles on your right that are turning right.


That is what we have supposed to be doing for the last 30 years.

However I have noticed one situation where nearly everyone breaks the rule.

In theory when turning left at a T junction you are supposed to give way to anyone turning right into the same street unless it is double laned.
In practice nearly everyone checks the rear vision mirror for a car heading up the tail pipe intending to go straight though, and if there is turns left regardless. Not turning blocks up the traffic and the guy waiting to turn right will wait anyway because there is a good chance that car going straight though will pull out and do just that.

If that sounds confusing you should see the traffic mess down near a popular fruit shop in Northcote. Dithering over the right hand rule blocks up the nearby roundabout regularly.

Time to consign this one to the history books and go with the international flow I think.

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