Driving rules in New Zealand

Traffic rules around intersections

• Be careful at intersections and always watch out if other cars also get a green light when you do.
• You can’t turn left at red traffic lights as in some other countries.
• A yellow traffic light means you MUST stop, unless you are so close that you can't stop safely.
• A green signal means you can go, provided it is safe and - this is puzzling to many visitors - if you are turning right, you give way to vehicles coming towards you that are going straight through, or vehicles turning left, as they can equally have a green signal to do this!
• Don’t confuse drivers with wrong signals on roundabouts. If going straight: only signal left before you leave the roundabout. If going left: signal left. If going right: signal right and then left before you leave the roundabout.

General give way regulations

• If you are turning, give way to all traffic that is not turning.

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  If you are turning right and the opposing vehicle is turning left, you must give way.
• Give way rules in New Zealand have changed on March 25 2012: they are the same as elsewhere now. If you see a weird rule about right turns then it's the old rule now out of effect.

Speed limits

• Speed limits are usually 50 km/h in towns and 100 km/h on open roads and motorways. Some stretches of motorways will experiment with higher speeds from 2019 onwards.
• Along construction sites the speed limit is usually only 30 km/h - sometimes these restrictions seem to come at random and no one adheres to the limit, but do so at your own risk.
• Don’t hurry truck drivers, heavy vehicles have a maximum speed limit of 90 km/h.

General rules when driving

• Always drive on the left side of the road. The most dangerous moments are when you start driving, when you leave a car park or when you approach a roundabout, especially when there is little traffic and when you’re tired.
• Never park on the right-hand side of the road except in a one-way-street.

• Seat belts are compulsory.
• Careful overtaking on the left is permitted if there are two or more lanes in one direction.
• No passing lanes are not completely off-limits, they can be crossed if it is safe enough, but for overtaking you need to have 100 metres of clear road ahead at any time.
• It is generally not allowed to cut corners, however inviting the situation may be. Of course it's another question if road police would ever pull you over for that.
• Use of hand-held mobile phones is not permitted, neither is reading text messages.
• All children under seven years of age must use an approved child restraint appropriate for their age and size (that can be a booster seat for taller children). Children aged seven must be secured in a restraint if one is available in the vehicle.