COLUMN: U turn on give way rules spells confusion

FOR THE RECORD
Great. Just great.
It took me long enough to figure out this country's give-way rules when I was sitting my driver's licence and now the Government's seen fit to get all revolutionary and go changing them.
Under the new rules, which will come into effect in early 2012, left-turning traffic will have the right of way over right-turning traffic coming towards it.
There will also be changes to T-intersections where there were two cars making conflicting right turns. Thanks to the changes, the car turning off the main road would have the right of way.
Announcing the changes this week, Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the current give-way rules were "confusing" and needed changing.
This coming from a man who spends a good part of his day being ferried around in ministerial BMWs. I'm guessing it's probably a fair while since Mr Joyce regularly negotiated a T-intersection (and no, the hallways of Parliament don't count).
Mr Joyce makes the point that New Zealand is the only country in the world that uses our current give-way system.
Essentially, the changes are being made to bring us in line with the rest of the world and presumably this will make it easier for tourists to drive while they're visiting our shores.
Foreign ownership of our give-way rules? I can just hear Winston Peters grumbling now.
There are enough people who can't figure out the give-way rules as they are now - anyone remember what happened when the rules for indicating at roundabouts got changed a few years back?
Even now, there's probably still people on our roads who think the appropriate indicator pattern for making a right turn at a roundabout is left-left-right-right-right, a quick flash of the headlights and then right again.
Actually, roundabouts can be notoriously tricky for some people. I remember one person, who while learning to drive, proceeded to indicate and then drive around the roundabout the wrong way.
I believe the driving instructor is doing fine now, with the help of medication.
According to reports, Mr Joyce claims "research" shows that changing the give-way rules could reduce intersection crashes by 7 per cent.
I'd like to know how they test this.
Do they just put a bunch of drivers in cars, direct them at random intersections and then tell them what set of rules to follow, before sitting back and watching the carnage?
And what happens to a driver after they "fail" a test? Chances are they won't be in any shape to be conducting any further testing, let alone the poor sod they collided with.
Despite concerns over crashes at intersections, drink-driving is still a bigger problem on our roads and it's difficult to see how changing the give-way rules are going to make any difference to this.
If anything, it'll only make things more confusing for your average drunk.
Anyone who's had a few too many at the pub and made the stupid decision to drive home drunk is more likely to approach an intersection, brain befuddled by booze and not sure whether the give-way rules had been changed, or if he's just imagining it.
Unable to remember, he'll probably just take a guess. That'll work out well.
And what about our elderly drivers?
Already subjected to regular licence reviews, they now have to unlearn the habits of a lifetime in order to safely negotiate intersections.
The oft-repeated road safety mantra "If You Drink And Drive, You're a Bloody Idiot" may need to be changed.
"If You Can Figure Out Our Give-way Rules, You're a Bloody Genius" has a nice ring to it.
Reon Suddaby is the Bay of Plenty Times chief reporter and is writing a column while Tom Scott is on leave.