Right hand rule

Guess who I met again today.

Michael the taxi driver.

Maybe it's no coincidence as he has a few favourite waiting spots that I visit often, one of which is at the front of my office, the corner of Manners and Taranaki Street.

I spared a few minutes chatting with him (was on the way to a lunchtime haircut), and the conversation somehow arrived to the topic of driving in NZ. Mike then tells me about the Right hand rule.

Right hand rule? Use your right hand while driving?

Nope. Lemme try to explain based on my understanding and without using any diagram whatsover:

Right hand rule is a traffic law practiced in a situation where two cars from opposite directions approach a common turning. The driver of the car which is making a right turn gets the right of way, ahead of the other person who is making the left turn (and therefore closer to the turning). This rule was enacted 20 years ago according to Mike.

NZ happens to be the only country using this baffling rule. So if you don't understand what I was blabbering about upstairs, here's an explanation from the NZ AA website.

Clearly, the website does a better job (and includes any interesting discussion of the dilemma faced by NZ drivers)

Just so you know :)