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Hello, my daughter sat her restricted today. She was at a t-intersection, turning left onto the main road which had two lanes. There was a car turning right into what she thought looked like they were turning into the road she was coming from, from the top of the T. She turned left into the left lane, and as she did so the car at the top of the t did a U-turn into her lane, (not the closest lane to them but her lane). She was immediately failed for unsafe turn. She said she had basically done the turn before realizing they were doing a U-turn, and she didn't feel unsafe. I have two questions: does the car doing the u turn have to turn into the nearest lane or can they turn into either lane. 2. looking at the practical test guide on the NZTA site, it says an immediate failure is given if the other car had to take evasive action, which it didn't. Should she have failed immediately on this?

Hi there,
This is a little tricky, but I can't see a rule that states that a U-turn must stay in the closest lane, so would think that they can choose either lane. But because a u-turn can't be signalled or detected until they are actually performing the manoeuvre, they are the ones that must take the most care. There are snippets of information on u-turns and T-intersection rules, but nothing specific to this scenario. It might be more of a t-section give way rule to those on the straight part as to someone entering from the T. I would definitely ask for clarification on this one.

hello thanks for your reply.

My daughter obviously turned first, so didn't give way when she should have, therefore broke the giveway rule, even though it wasn't obvious the other car was doing a u turn. If the other driver didn't have to take evasive action, would that then not be an automatic failure?
then again the driving tester may have thought she hadn't looked enough, or been aware of the other driver I guess, so maybe thought that demonstrated inability to drive safely