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shazzasmith

Can you please advise who has the right to take a car park space. The car on the correct side of the road or a car that is on the opposite side of the road and has to turn right to park into the car park space. The road is a two way road.

Anon

Hi there,
There is no rule that I can see for this specific parking situation. However courtesy would suggest that the car who was waiting first would have right to the space. But road rules state that the way must be clear for the duration of a manoeuvre, and for turning or entering a roadway contrary to traffic flow/path- you must give way to those already on the road travelling in the direction of traffic flow.

shazzasmith

This is from the NZ road code:

You must not park or stop your vehicle:-
on the right-hand side of the road, except in a one-way street

The car on the opposite side of the road would not be entitled to this space as they would have to turn right to park their car?

Would the car on the closest side of the road to the park be entitled?

Anon

The rule you mentioned is referring to parallel parking with the front of the car pointing the opposite way to traffic flow on a two-way street- which is why they mention the exception of a one way street where the front of the car would face the same way if you parallel parked on either side of the road. There is no rule to say you can't safely cross the road in order to park on the opposite side- no different to turning onto a driveway from both sides of the road- give way rules apply to others already on the road. But if two cars are wanting the same park- I can't see a rule that states who is entitled to it. This would also be the same on a smaller scale if you were in a shopping centre carpark- people wait to park from both sides, and courtesy would dictate that the car arriving first should get the space- regardless of which side they come from.