Learning to drive in New Zealand has been pretty easy. Once you get over the initial fear of "I'm driving on the wrong side of the road", it becomes pretty easy. What makes it challenging are the small differences in driving styles and driving rules. I'll outline the ones that seem to affect us the most.
1.
Pedestrians do not have the right of way.
This is challenging for us both as drivers and pedestrians. As a pedestrian I am used to walking along the sidewalk and not having to really pay attention to traffic until I come to an intersection. Here you need to be alert at all times. If you are crossing a driveway and a car comes up wanting to pull into that drive way, they have the right of way (or so it seems...haven't done a fact check on that) and will pull directly in front you or honk if you are already half way across and they have to pause for a moment. Also, in parking lots you have to keep your head on a swivel as cars go unsafely fast and will run you down if you happen to be crossing the lane to get to your car. As a driver, I always stop to let pedestrians cross. I know what it's like to be walking in the rain and it stinks! But when I stop to let a pedestrian cross in front of me, I get honked at. For as laid back as kiwis are about many other things, they are NOT laid back about driving. So if you come to visit us. remember cars #1, pedestrians #2.
2.
No signs indicating turn only lanes.
When you pull up to an intersection there are these lovely white signs with black arrows over each lane indicating if it is a straight only, turn plus straight or straight only lanes, right? Wrong. Here they feel it makes more sense to put this information in white paint in the road. Two major problems come from that. Firstly, the arrows are painted about 2 car lengths back from the light. So if there are cars on the road, you cannot see the arrows until you are about to go through the intersection. There seems to be a lot of last minute lane switching, creating congestion and confusion. Secondly Auckland is a bit like Seattle in that in rains almost every day and when it is raining it is quite hard to see the paint as the entire road is a bit shiny. I really don't see the point of this. We shouldn't be looking at the road as we drive, we should be looking all around for safety. If your focus is on the road trying to figure out if the lane you are in is the correct lane, you cannot be looking for bicyclists or pedestrians or other cars.
3. Left lane/right lane don't seem to mean slow lane/fast lane.
While cruising along the motorway (interstate) you can normally select the speed you want to go and stick in the slow, medium, fast lanes and minus the occasional boob in driving slow in the fast lane, you can proceed at your desired speed. Here the lanes seem to be a free for all. Left lane, middle lane, right lane all become the slow lane because you have people driving under the limit in each lane and thus to pass them you have to weave in and out of lanes. Again, just not as orderly as it can be!
4.
Red arrows galore.
We are used to having red arrows at major intersections where it is a necessity to have individual turns of straight and left to help traffic flow. Here they feel a need to have a right, and left arrow at every stoplight, even in less crowded areas. So only one lane of traffic goes at a time (right turn, straight, left turn). Too much regulation of traffic! Shouldn't people just know that if someone is in the crosswalk, you can't turn until they cross? Do we really need a red arrow to tell us this? And what about when there are no pedestrians? I still must sit and wait while others drive through the light past me as I wait for my arrow so I can make the easy left turn.
