Turning right from a single lane to a multilane in Canberra?

Hazel said :

I was talking about turning right on the traffic lights from Dalrymple Street to Hindmarsh Drive. The safest thing i understand is to follow the marked lines and turn into the right lane, then indicate left and move when possible.

This is the most courteous option and is the best habit to get into. By doing this, you are allowing any vehicles turning left from Mugga Lane into Hindmarsh Drive, to continue without coming to a complete stop. They can continue their manoeuvre at the same time as you are making your right turn. Another good piece of advice, in this situation, make eye contact with the other driver to guage their intent and be more certain that they know you are there.

Thanks for the comments guys. I was talking about turning right on the traffic lights from Dalrymple Street to Hindmarsh Drive. It’s sad that the road rules do not have precise advice for such a common case! The safest thing i understand is to follow the marked lines and turn into the right lane, then indicate left and move when possible. I have never ever seen any driver do this! Some posts say it is not an offence to go directly to the 3rd lane, that would be the direct simple way, if safe. I wish there was just one way to do this. But thanks a lot everyone, this has been very helpful!

You’re a Canberran mate, do whatever you feel like.

Wanon said :

Keep within the lines that are painted on the road. A dashed line is a give way line and a solid line cannot be crossed except for emergencies. A wide solid line is a stop line.

They will typically turn you into the right most lane. This will allow cars (on the opposite side of the intersection) to turn left into the left lane at the same time you turn right into the right lane.

Your advice to keep within the lines doesn’t actually help in the situation the OP described because there is normally only 1 line on a single turn and that will be on the right. So by following just the lines the driver could end up in any of the lanes on the multilane road. Guess the OP knows this hence the question in the first place.

I was always told, in the situation to turn into the right hand lane, but reading the rules it is clear that the rule isn’t clear. So typical of them. The reason being of course is to give cars coming the other way the chance to make a left hand turn if they wish.

It also shits me seeing cars making a left hand turns straight away going to the right, especially at the intersection of Bindubi Street and Belconnen way where the left turn from Bindubi funnels into the left hand lane which has a solid white seperating from the middle lane on Belconnen Way. See the map here:

http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-35.25018,149.075542&z=20&t=k&nmd=20100707

Wanon said :

Keep within the lines that are painted on the road. A dashed line is a give way line and a solid line cannot be crossed except for emergencies. A wide solid line is a stop line.

They will typically turn you into the right most lane. This will allow cars (on the opposite side of the intersection) to turn left into the left lane at the same time you turn right into the right lane.

While this is what should happen, If you ignored this advice you’d be on par with 90% of all Canberra drivers. Part 2 of your question – traffic turning left from a slip lane is required to give way to cars turning right. While technically the 2 cars should be able to happily go together, most people will wait in the slip lane if lights have gone for right turns on the assumption that half the traffic will do a wide turn straight into the left lane.

A lot of the posts here have missed the point… the OP said turning from a single lane road into a multi lane one. A good example would be coming into Limestone Ave from one of the single lane side streets such as Farrer Street. If the road is clear, you can select whichever lane suits your purpose. If you’re turning left and a car is coming along in the right lane, you can carefully turn into the left lane if turning left, and similarly turn into the right lane if turning right and a car is coming along in the left lane. (Read it slowly it does make sense believe it or not). Other intersections will generally have road markings or layouts that indicate and guide you into the closest lane, such as a single lane street turning into Northbourne Ave will make it obvious you should be turning into the nearest lane (Greenway St turning left is a good example). Multi lane intersections are always clearly marked.

As for the astrojax Limestone Ave into Anzac Parade example quoted above… the writer obviously hasn’t studied the road markings enough to understand their purpose. There’s nothing to stop you exiting the roundabout directly into the left lane of Anzac Parade. The unbroken white line is simple there to prevent vehicles that have chosen the right hand lane and entered it, from crossing over immediately into the left lanes. I always exit into the left lane, as it is far safer to do that when I am in a position to choose it unhindered, than have to cross over a bit further down using rear view mirrors to get across to turn left at Blamey Cres.

“am sick of cars zooming across the unbroken lane from behind me as I navigate this intersection; they’re in the wrong but faster than me so i let them go, but bridle at their discourtsey and brazen flaunting of the road rules…”

If they cross the unbroken white line, they are in the wrong, however if they correctly choose the left hand lane as they exit the roundabout, they are perfectly entitled to gather pace to the allowed 60km/hr with nary a care what you are doing in your chosen right lane. Sir. (If you doubt the layout, Google Earth is a good place to get an education).

Keep within the lines that are painted on the road. A dashed line is a give way line and a solid line cannot be crossed except for emergencies. A wide solid line is a stop line.

They will typically turn you into the right most lane. This will allow cars (on the opposite side of the intersection) to turn left into the left lane at the same time you turn right into the right lane.

You should follow the turn line and turn into the lane it indicates, then signal and move over if you need to be in a different lane. They covered this on Traffic Talkback on ABC radio a couple of weeks ago. Also, pretty sure the officer stated that if you were to turn into whatever lane you wanted, there is no specific offense for that, but if it caused an accident you could be charged with something else like negligent driving.

s’like turning right from limestone into anzac in front of the war memorial – there is one lane on the roundabout so it should turn into the lane nearest to the road from which you’re turning, hence the far right lane of anzac; then indicate when the unbroken lane has finished and move into a left lane in a conventional lane moving manouevre if you need to be left, to tuen up into campbell, for instance, on blamey crescent at [now] lights – am sick of cars zooming across the unbroken lane from behind me as I navigate this intersection; they’re in the wrong but faster than me so i let them go, but bridle at their discourtsey and brazen flaunting of the road rules…

Very Busy said :

To avoid any confusion you should move off without dawdling and just before completing the right hand turn, signal left. Then, upon entering the right hand lane, move over to the left while keeping a close eye on your mirrors. By indicating early you will let drivers who want to fly down your left hand side know what your intentions are before they make their move. By not dawdling when you move off you will reduce the number of drivers that want to fly down your left hand side.

Exactly. Get into the lane you need as quickly as possible, and make sure everyone around you knows what your intentions are.

Use of indicators and common sense is the key here regardless of the law.

If you need to make a left turn soon after entering the multi lane road you should be very aware of what is happening around you. To avoid any confusion you should move off without dawdling and just before completing the right hand turn, signal left. Then, upon entering the right hand lane, move over to the left while keeping a close eye on your mirrors. By indicating early you will let drivers who want to fly down your left hand side know what your intentions are before they make their move. By not dawdling when you move off you will reduce the number of drivers that want to fly down your left hand side.

If you don’t need to turn left soon after entering the multi lane road just stay in the right lane and move over to let faster vehicles past when an appropriate opportunity arises.

Australian Road Rules:
33 Making a right turn
(1) A driver turning right at an intersection must make the turn
in accordance with this rule…
(2) If there is a turn line indicating how the turn is required to
be made, the driver must make the turn as indicated by the
turn line.

turn line means a road marking, at an intersection, consisting of a line
(whether broken or continuous) that is designed to indicate how a turn
is to be made at the intersection.

Pretty simple and, I would have thought, obvious. The general rule is that you enter the next road in the same lane that you left the previous road, unless the turn lines indicate otherwise.

carnardly said :

Don’t just swerve out to get where you want to end up.

This is good general advice I think.

On the other hand, don’t expect anyone else to be so thoughtful as to stay in their own lane. Not on Flemington Road or anywhere else.

But stopping to check for an opening on the left turn to State Circle from Kings Ave is probably a bit excessive. One of you jerks is likely to get my hatchback in your tail if you keep doing that!

ACT Road Rules Handbook, page 31

The hold line (A) and turn line (B) are for your guidance when turning at an intersection. Stay to the left of the turn line.

ACT Road Rules Handbook, page 56.

When right turns are allowed from more than one lane, you must keep in the equivalent lane as you turn from one road into another.

When turning from a road that is not a multi-lane road, you must approach and enter the intersection from as near as practicable to, but to the left of, the middle of the road. When turning right from a one way road, you must approach and enter the intersection from as near as practicable to the right edge of the road that you are leaving.

==

Agree there is not a lot of emphasis in the rules on how to leave the intersection, but I think the safest way to read it is follow (to the left of) the turn line, and since the first lane you are “entering” is the right hand lane of the road you are turning on to, you must keep to that lane (as the “equivalent lane”) as you complete your turn, only making any move out of that lane after joining the new road.

Of course, brace yourself for the inevitable impatient asshat behind you undertaking you on your left as you try to obey the rules.

if you turn into a two lane road – you will be required to turn into the inside lane

use as an example flemington road turning right onto Northbourne Ave near the showgrounds. You will end up in the right hand lane. Then you indicate and move over.

Don’t just swerve out to get where you want to end up.

If the turn line is marked, then you are obliged to follow the line marking. This is a quote from the Victorian road rules, which are aligned with the Australian road rules :

“Multi lane turns
On some multi-lane roads, arrows painted on the road will show you if turns can be made from more than one lane. If road markings indicate how a turn is to be made, you must make a turn as indicated by the road markings.”