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So nearly every morning coming to work my last turn into work is at a major intersection - Its a total for four lanes each way. I usually get a left turn arrow into my street as the cross traffic have right turn arrows to turn into the road i'm exiting. If we both have a green arrow who gives way? I take the attitude that when I'm performing a U-turn:

A) I won't normally do it in such a big/busy intersection, I'll drive on and turn at a side street and inconvenience myself before everyone else.

B) There is massive ambiguity in my mind as they have an arrow but that's to turn, not to u-turn. Although they end up coming from my right they are not at my right when we both begin the process if we start at nearly the same time - I tend to just fly through obviously giving care and generally I'm ahead in the process anyway or they would already be in my lanes. If they are further round I'll make eye contact and decide on the safe option.

Then there is the issue of dual lanes - If they were normally turning into the same street as me they are legally required to take the further lane and I would take the close one so we both go under that interpretation but obviously its impossible to turn that tight in a car for them so again I feel that puts the impetus on them to give way during the procedure.

Its a very ambiguous law and I keep hearing answers of split blame in the event of an accident. My daughter failed an otherwise perfect road test for her restricted as she was turning left, had a car ahead that to all appearances was turning right into the street she was leaving but he did a u-turn and the instructor felt "they had to take evasive action" which meant they braked slightly and gave way and so my daughter was immediately told to return to the testing centre and was failed and that really knocked her confidence. It seemed like a bit of an over reaction as my reading of what rules there are it was more the u-turning drivers fault as they weren't taking adequate care. That case really annoyed me and I rang LTSA at the time to enquire and they gave me the same split blame in an accident but she was personally surprised that alone was enough to fail - It seemed to me it was a teaching opportunity as you wouldn't normally make that mistake again, it was just something that hadn't occurred during practice and neither I nor the AA instructor had discussed it.

I think this really needs looking at from the road code sense and making a more cut and dry law regarding u-turns. A) The person completing the u-turn gives way to everyone during the procedure and if its too busy then its plainly not safe to do so and possibly B) No u-turns in intersections or on multi-lane roads as that would help cover the fact its obviously a busy road or there wouldn't be multiple lanes.

Is it not the AA's job to lobby for this sort of issue with road safety as I see situations generally multiple times per week as my office sits on said road with a traffic island down the middle so people constantly take the shortest route which is a u-turn in a very busy intersection. Considering when searching the forum before posting it appears many of the AA experts struggle to give a cut and dry answer to these questions?

My other road law situation would be the issue of used car dealers selling imported Japanese vehicles with Snow Tyres as again the same daughter went on holiday with her boyfriend in his "new" car a very tidy and safe seeming Subaru but could have had a catastrophic accident on a major state highway when one of the Japanese snow tyres failed and completely lost shape and structure while driving at highway speed - Luckily he handled the situation well and eased off on the speed and then drove slowly and carefully (pulling over to allow cars to pass constantly) to the nearest town to a tyre shop and nearly bankrupted himself getting a full set of tyres changed. I was impressed as often a young driver would be a bit gun-ho but at least he had the sense to take it easy. I also know this has caused loss of life and been raised in parliament but I don't think its gone anywhere. A law for the dealers would be easy enough to make them have to provide road legal tyres and arguing a snow tyre is road legal is pretty pedantic when there are very few situations in NZ that would warrant having a snow tyre fitted even in winter. Whats the AA's standing on this issue as I imagine you already have one for this?

(PS Apologies but somehow I added this on a reply to a completely different post?)

Hi there,
The NZ Road User rule might shed some light on your turning questions.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2004/0427/latest/DLM303076.html
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/general-road-code/road-code/about-driving/key-driving-skills/turning/- this link specifies use of lanes when turning.
It also states: Making a U-turn
You are normally allowed to make U-turns, as long as the road is clear in both directions and it is safe to do so. Make sure you have enough room to complete the turn and don’t create a hazard for oncoming vehicles.
You aren’t allowed to make U-turns on a motorway or if a ‘No U-turn’ sign is displayed.
I don't have any new information on the ban/use of Mud and Snow tyres.

Still to much ambiguity for me though :

A driver approaching or crossing an intersection must give way to any vehicle approaching or crossing the intersection from his or her right unless subclause (2) or (4) applies.

If I am about to start a U-turn the the car making the left turn into the street I'm about to u-turn into is currently on my right - Once I'm part way through the process then you can say I am coming from the car turning lefts right.

It is just a set of laws open to so much ambiguity its no suprise no-one seems to be sure. As I've started the main thing I do is observe and continue safely, generally if we get the arrow at the same time I can safely shoot left long before the other driver has completed the 180 degree turn so its a non-issue, otherwise I prepare to give way unless the other drive indicates they are giving way to me.

I guess we just have to continue with the legal / insurance crap shoot when an accident happens that both drivers were at fault and when it comes to defensive driving that's true - Regardless of your interpretation of the law if it looks like someone might be about to collide with you - Give way.