Four More Things About The Road Code That Are Stupid and Dangerous

Thankfully New Zealand has recently dropped two of the silliest give way rules in our Road Code.  Maybe a few more could be looked at in the future.

1.   Hand Signals for Cyclists

Imagine you are driving your car and you need to turn right into a side road.  What if the Road Code says that you have to take your right foot off the brake and put it out the window?  You've still got your hand brake to slow down but you only have one hand on the wheel.  Sound safe?  Well that's what the Road Code says cyclists have to do.  You have to take your hand off the front brake (the one that does most of the work) and steer and brake with the other hand while sticking a limb in the air for three seconds before you make your turn.

Use hand signals

Hand signals must be used at least three seconds before:

• moving into traffic
• stopping
• turning left
• turning right
• moving from a lane.

Turning left

Slowing down or stopping

Turning right, passing or pulling out

 (NZ Road Code)

The law should say 'where safe to do so' and leave it to common sense as is generally (but not always) employed by the cycling public.

2.   The 20km/h Rule When Passing a Stopped Rural School Bus



School bus signs

The signs below will be displayed on school buses. If a school bus has stopped to let children on or off, you must slow down and drive at 20km/h or less until you are well past the bus, no matter what direction you are coming from.

(NZ Road Code)

Seriously?  You round a bend at 80km/h on a rural road to see a school bus stopped on the side of the road.  You hit the brakes to achieve the required 20km/h.  Unfortunately, the car behind you thinks you are stopping and so veers out to overtake you right at the most dangerous point when you are overtaking the stopped bus and there are children stepping off.

Either the law should require vehicles to come to a complete stop as is the case in the US or we should ditch this singly low speed limit and replace it with the same limit in urban areas outside schools (50km/h).

3.   The 100km/h Rural Speed Limit



It is ridiculous to impose the same speed limit on a divided motorway with a wide shoulder, no side roads, driveways or wandering stock as is generally specified on most rural roads in New Zealand.

The open road speed limit was raised from 80 to 100km/h in the 1980's after the oil shock came to an end but it was back in the day when we only really had two settings: 50km/h on urban streets and the open road limit for the rest.  

Now we have 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100km/h limits imposed on many city roads and highways, but not generally on our rural roads.  Sure, there are plenty of rural arterial roads where the conditions would allow a safe 100km/h limit, but the default should be a more realistic 80km/h unless someone can explain to me how a rural road is as safe as a motorway. 

4.   The 100km/h Motorway Speed Limit



Most of our motorways are not up to the standard of their counterparts in Europe and the US, so the 100km/h limit is probably about right.

There are some notable exceptions though, such as SH1 Orewa to Puhoi and Manurewa to the Bombay Hills where a 110km/h limit would be appropriate and would give the right message about 'driving to the conditions' rather than just blindly sticking to (or exceeding) the limit.  This has been reported in some detail previously by Stuff, the AA and others but I think it is still valid.