Doing the 'Right Thing'

One of the things I remember from my last trip to New Zealand was the utter panic that took hold when my passenger suddenly informed me that in order to make the right hand turn I wanted to make I should be over on the left-hand side of the road.

What the!?!!!

Yup, it confused me to say the least - turning right from the left hand lane did not seem like the sane option to a teenager taught to drive on Brisbane's roads.

Now I understand the rationale - you go right but give way to EVERYONE else to do so - even the traffic behind you, and this is quite logical when you have cities with narrow roads and few right-turn lanes as you need to keep the traffic flowing.



From what I can see this is now the basic rule - it it will block the road to turn right then you wait on the left till traffic clears, but in most other circumstances you can turn right FROM the right lane.

Still trying to figure out why people turning left have to give way to people turning right though. . .