Will NZ roads be safer after the give way rule change?
9:39 AM Friday Mar 9, 2012
Digital image / P.K. Stowers
Changes to turning at intersections take effect in just over two weeks.
And despite fears about confusion reigning on the roads, a survey of 6000 Automobile Association members shows the changes to make driving safer have support. When similar changes were adopted in Victoria, Australia, in 1993, they resulted in a 7.1 per cent drop in crashes at intersections.
The AA survey found that most respondents felt police should not start issuing tickets for one to threemonths after the new rules were introduced.
The new rules start from 5am on Sunday, March 25.
Will NZ roads be safer after the give way rule change? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
Herald censors opinion to isolate viewpoints (Auckland Central) |
11:02AM Friday, 09 Mar 2012
I haven't seen any real publicity on the changes but assume they are to revert to the system where those turning right give way to those turning left. For me it will mean changing the way I get to certain places, adding distance to the trip, as turning right will become impossible. I beleive if people from overseas don't know our road code they shouldn't drive here - they are still going to kill us driving on the wrong side of the road.
If the change is so we can become part of Australia lets just do it and get the benefits of one market rather than bit by bit with only frustration and down sides.
DBD (Dannemora) |
11:02AM Friday, 09 Mar 2012
If you fail to give way a crash occurs. What difference does a change of give way rule do to those that fail to give way by intention or mistake?
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It is a zero-sum game and you cannot possibly squeeze better traffic flows by introducing a rule that requires left-turning traffic to look ahead, to look behind for oncoming traffic that will block the right-turner, and to look at the right-turner all at the same time!
Presumably the idiot bureaucrats who introduced the stupid law 30 years ago, and who stubbornly refused to correct or even admit their error, have all moved on to greener taxpayer-funded pastures. Good riddance! Now all we need to do is get rid of multi-laned roundabouts at major intersections, and put some markings on the road where lanes suddenly evaporate into thin air.