The good oil: Bus lane confusion

This column said last week that many Aucklanders are confused about the use of bus, or special vehicle, lanes, judging by the letters to this newspaper. An Auckland woman wrote to say city council was "reviewing" the $150 fine she got for driving in a bus lane. "Under the circumstances I don't know what else I could have done," she said. Writes Peter from the North Shore: "The other Saturday I travelled down Constellation Drive towards the motorway in the inside lane, which for a couple of hours during weekdays is a transit lane. I was the only one in that lane. When I got near the lights, there was a queue in the outside lane trying to turn left to the motorway. Are they all so confused they don't know what day it is, or is it just the usual refusal to use the inside lane?"

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Yes, Aucklanders are confused. The law says, "you must not drive in a special vehicle lane unless you are operating a vehicle of a type that is permitted to use that lane". Elsewhere it says, "you can cross the (bus) lane in order to turn or park clear of the lane". The Good Oil watched a driver enter a bus lane in Quay St to turn left, than quickly go back where he'd come from, perhaps intimidated by a city council camera operator up ahead. That's confusion. To date, more than 90 per cent of Auckland motorists fined $150 for travelling in a bus lane have been convicted. Michael, from Westmere, paid his fine. He writes: "It annoyed me. I was turning left ... I thought what I was doing was within the law."

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Wendy wrote last week that her partner stopped on a broken yellow line in Newmarket to let her disabled 79-year-old mother get out of the car. "The disabled car space on the street was occupied, so he stopped behind it to let Mum out. He didn't get out of the car - and he didn't see the parking warden." The fine arrived in the mail - $60 for parking on a broken yellow line for 26 seconds, says Wendy. She rang council to protest. "Their response was that this type of offence is of serious concern and that the $60 fine would stand," she said. Wendy writes again this week: "More news on our 26-second ticket ... the person who revises the reviewed decisions on parking tickets at the council (yes, they have these people) has waived the ticket in this instance. Nice to know that common sense does prevail at times."

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Everyone seems to be doing U-turns: at lights, in congested traffic, on corners - even when the vehicle they're driving can't even come close to completing a U-turn. Anti-social morons add to the already maddening congestion. The road code says: "You are normally allowed to make U-turns, as long as the road is clear in both directions and it is safe to do so. Make sure you have enough room to complete the turn and don't create a hazard for oncoming vehicles." The road code doesn't mean much anymore.

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About 90 per cent of submissions to a parliamentary committee a few years ago wanted specific changes to New Zealand's confusing give-way road rules. But MPs, Land Transport and the insurance industry decided that "Nanny State" New Zealanders might hurt themselves in the transition. We now hear that a group of road-safety specialists from here and overseas appealed for change, saying the NZ road rule requiring traffic turning left to give way to traffic turning right "leads to overly aggressive driving behaviour".

alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz