It's not always better to give than to receive - when road rules incite the finger...

cantanga said :

2) The person turning left having to give way is a really odd system. I don’t think I have encountered it anywhere else in Australia and so for me it feels unnatural to give way when turning left (I do give way, it just feels odd). Therefore I expect it to feel unnaturlal for others which leads me back to point 1. You can’t trust anyone with an ACT number plate on their car.

Nothing unnatural about it:
1: I see a broken line ahead of me.
2: Apply brakes and give way.

Cantanga, why would you expect it to feel unnatural for others?

if people don’t stick to the rules, it only results in collisions

True.

I’m with you cantanga – but I’m also fed up with drivers turning left at that intersection who DON’T give way – they just barrel on through (after deliberately not indicating that they are turning left).

Very Busy said :

In case your problem is occuring in morning peak hour;

This intersection gets congested in the morning peak hour for both left and right turning cars off Castleton Cres into Sternberg. This is due to the slow moving queue of cars in Sternberg Cres going from Bugden Ave all the way back to the Castleton Cres T intersection. Perhaps some of the drivers of cars who are turning right are trying to be considerate by allowing left turning cars a chance to move.

In theory this works Very Busy, however, if people don’t stick to the rules, it only results in collisions due to confusion. Follow the rules, get to work 30 seconds later and nobody gets hurt/frustrated/dinted or loses demerit points.

We’ve all been in the situation where:
1. You wave someone through when you have right of way…
2. They stay where they are and wave you through…
3. You wave them through again…
4. End result – you both go at the same time and almost have a collision anyway, and both drive away embarrassed and awkward!

Wanon said :

Disclaimer: I am a Queensland driver, the safest drivers in Australia.

A pity about the Queensland roads then.

Agree with you though. It’s quite simple. Nearly every intersection in Canberra is like this.

Seems pretty simple to me.

Turning right onto Sternberg, give way to oncoming traffic along Castleton because there is a give way line.
Turning left from Castletone, give way to cars already on Sternberg because there is a give way line.
Turning right from Sternberg onto Castleton, give way to all cars on Castleton full stop. Because there is a give way line and you are turning onto a main road.

I don’t get what the issue is?

Disclaimer: I am a Queensland driver, the safest drivers in Australia.

cantanga said :

1) You can’t trust an ACT driver to give way when they are supposed to…

Too true. But then again, being prepared for the potential of an accident and being able to read a situation is part of correct defensive driving. Another one is those double right hand turn lanes, you have to assume the driver in the rightmost lane is going to come across in the left lane. Driving in a checkerboard formation rather than beside the car in the next lane has saved me from countless accidents around Canberra the last few years.

The intersection at Uriarra crossing is a bit notorious for give way confusion as well. Never mind the road rules, assuming other drivers are even awake can cause some interesting moments.

Back when I lived in Queanbeyan, I remember going to some trouble to find out the rules for those 3-way stop signs (there’s one in Lakemba that used to give me grief too). The RTA simply denied that they existed at all, and when I rang the police, they said that they don’t know what the rules for them are either, but there’s never been an accident there because everyone’s too confused to take a risk (except for those without a stop sign).

Maybe that’s the philosophy behind the way the slip lane rules are worded: confuse drivers enough and they’ll be cautious… seems to have failed here, though…

Deano said :

The regular coverage of broken glass at this intersection would suggest that this message is not uniformly understood. I always take the right of way, but only after you have stopped.

I take the same approach to the intersection of Southbar and Donald Roads in Queanbeyan, which has stop signs on three of the four entries into the intersection. Eastbound traffic on Southbar Road has complete right of way because it has no stop sign. The right of way includes turning right into Donald Road but I always make sure that I have eye contact with any drivers stopped westbound on Southbar Road because a good number will come through the intersection despite right turning traffic having the right of way. I will only make the right turn when I’m certain the other vehicle will not come through.

cantanga said :

2) The person turning left having to give way is a really odd system. I don’t think I have encountered it anywhere else in Australia and so for me it feels unnatural to give way when turning left (I do give way, it just feels odd).

That’s strange; I have encountered slip lanes in every state I’ve driven in (which only excludes WA). Granted, elsewhere they rarely occur in suburban streets, being usually reserved for freeway entrances, but I have encountered them just about everywhere (including California), so they don’t seem odd to me. They just make it easier to turn right. Seems a small price to pay for shorter queues of right-turners (or left-turners in the US, obviously).

As niftydog pointed out, the rules are not communicated clearly, but they are very simple and straightforward in their application, and they are also much the same as the rules for slip lanes in the states (and in the States).