Ask an expert

I have been wondering about who gives way in this scenario: A car on a main road doing a u-turn but doing it by sitting in a gap in the large centre-island (with no give way sign) or the car turning left onto the main road that has a give way sign. This is a T intersection, not a crossroads and at this point the cars are sitting facing each other. At rush hour when there is a gap in the oncoming straight through traffic, this can lead to both cars thinking they have right of way. Does the left turner at the give way sign give way to the u-turner on the main road? Or does the left turner have “right of way” as the u-turner is turning right (so to speak).

Hi there,
This is one of the tricky scenarios to be in and figure out who actually gives way to who.
The road code doesn't cover this type of manoeuvre in full.
I think that because the left turner is governed by a give way sign, this would rule over the fact that the other tuning vehicle is performing a U-turn. It would be a different story if both vehicle had no signs of instruction.

I agree the Road Code is not very clear on this. A family member who was a senior Police
Officer tells me that in case of an accident the U turning motorist was deemed to be at fault. I have confirmed this with the NZTA who also say that when U turning you give
way to all other traffic including ones going through a stop or give way sign. NZTA sent me
an email to this effect.