The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1972. Driving in lanes

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32847, 22 February 1972, Page 16

The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1972. Driving in lanes

The Ministry of Transport has apparently given up its unequal struggle against common sense and the courts over the enforcement of the road code on multi-lane roads. The proposals put before the National Roads Beard by the Ministry appear to sanction the use of the right-hand lane of a multi-lane motorway or highway in the manner in which it is used overseas and in which most motorists have used it in this country. But it took one magisterial and two Supreme Court decisions to persuade the Ministry of the unreasonableness of its earlier interpretation of the regulations. If the board approves the Ministry’s suggestions the regulations will probably be amended to make explicit the interpretation already placed on them by the courts. In other countries, with higher traffic densities and with many more years of experience than New Zealand of multi-lane highways, the “ keep-to-the- “ left ” rule (“ keep to the right ” on the Continent and in North America) does not apply on multi-lane highways. Drivers cross freely from one lane to another, wherever it is safe to do so, to overtake slower traffic or to get into the correct lane in good time for their next change of direction. When multi-lane highways were built in New Zealand local drivers, particularly those who had driven overseas, readily adopted this practice, which ensures that best use is made of expensive highways.

The Ministry of Transport, however, maintained that drivers should still keep “ as near as practicable “ to the left of the roadway ”, even when driving on a multi-lane highway, unless the left lane was “full”. The Ministry brought two test cases in Christchurch: one against the driver of a loader on the northern motorway, and another against a truck driver on Memorial Avenue. In each case the left lane was clear, or almost clear, of traffic, and the driver, having overtaken a vehicle travelling in the left lane, had remained in the next lane after the overtaking move. The motorway driver was convicted by one magistrate, but this decision was reversed on appeal; the case against the other driver was dismissed in the Magistrate’s Court, and the appeal was also dismissed. Mr Justice Wilson, who heard both appeals in the Supreme Court, found unequivocally against the Ministry. In a judgment which must commend itself as much to the motorist as the jurist he said:

A careful driver normally selects the lane which will take him on his course with a minimum of lane-changing, with its potential hazards. He thereby avoids possible danger and causes the minimum of interference with other drivers.

The Ministry now suggests that the regulations be amended to give effect to the following proposal: Where there are two or more lanes for one direction, vehicles are not to use the right-hand lane if they impede the normal movement of traffic in that lane (unless they are overtaking, preparing to turn right in accordance with lane arrows, or unless the left lane or lanes are already full).

A regulation along these lines will allow a driver who has overtaken a vehicle in the left lane to remain in the right-hand lane, provided he is not holding up other vehicles travelling behind him in the same lane. The clarification of this point will be specially appreciated in Christchurch, where the developing system of one-way streets requires the speedy, uninterrupted flow of traffic in peak hours. Anyone who has driven on this one-way system must be well aware of the hazards caused by vehicles changing from one lane to another. To drive from Moorhouse Avenue to Bealey Avenue by way of Madras Street the prudent motorist will cross to the right-hand lane as soon as practicable, after leaving Moorhouse Avenue, knowing that he must make a right turn at Hereford Street to keep in the one-way system. By getting into the right-hand lane as soon as possible he avoids the difficulty of changing his lane just before Hereford Street, where the traffic is usually heaviest.