NSW intersection and roundabout rules

Intersections without signs or lights

When nothing controls an intersection, a few fixed rules settle the order.

• At a crossroad, give way to vehicles on your right.
• At a T-intersection, if your road stops at the junction, every vehicle on the continuing road goes first, from both sides.
• On the through road of a T-intersection, turning right into the side road, you still wait for oncoming traffic.
• Turning right, wait for oncoming vehicles going straight or turning left.
• Left turners beat oncoming right turners heading into the same street.
• Turning either way, let pedestrians crossing the street you are entering finish.
• You and an oncoming car both turning right: each of you passes in front of the other.

A car arriving from your left at an unsigned crossroad has you on its right, so it waits for you.

Signs and traffic lights at intersections

Signs and signals change who goes first, but they never remove the need to look.

• Stop sign: a full stop, then give way to everyone you would cross or join.
• Pulled up short of a stop line to let someone cross? Once they are over, you stop a second time at the line itself.
• Give way sign: slow, and stop only when there is someone to let through.
• Green circle: you may turn, after oncoming traffic and crossing pedestrians are clear.
• Already in the intersection when the light goes red: finish the turn as soon as it is safe.
• No U-turn at traffic lights unless a U-turn permitted sign is up. Wherever you U-turn, all vehicles and pedestrians go first.
• A HOOK TURN ONLY sign means turning right from the far left side: pull forward, wait, and finish once the lights on the street you are turning into go green.

Lane position and signalling for turns

Being in the right spot early makes the turn predictable for everyone around you.

• With several lanes, left turns come from the left lane and right turns from the right lane, unless arrows open up others.
• With one lane each way, position your car just left of the centre line before you turn right.
• On a one-way road, a right turn begins from the far right side.
• Switch your indicator on early enough to give other road users clear warning, and do it for every turn: from a lane with a turn arrow, from one of a pair of turn only lanes, even when the street is deserted.
• Two right turn lanes? Choose by what comes next. The left one of the pair ends on the left side of the new road, handy for a left turn soon after, and the right one ends on the right.
• Follow lane arrows wherever they are painted, including inside roundabouts.

Roundabout rules

Roundabouts keep traffic flowing, but only when everyone follows the same pattern.

• Give way to all vehicles already in the roundabout, cyclists included.
• Travel clockwise, with the centre island on your right.
• Left turn: signal left on approach and keep it on as you leave.
• Straight ahead: no signal on approach, then left before you exit if practical.
• Right turn: signal right on approach, then left before your exit if practical.
• Two lanes and no arrows: left from the left lane, right from the right lane, straight from either. To change lanes inside, signal and wait for a gap.
• Inside a two-lane roundabout, keep to the lane you entered: a left turn goes in and out on the left, straight ahead leaves from your entry lane, and going right round uses the right lane signalled as a right turn. Expect cars beside or ahead of you to cut across your path to exit.

The exit signal is the one learners forget. Signalling left as you leave tells drivers waiting to enter that you are getting out.

Railway level crossings

Trains cannot swerve or pull up quickly, so crossings carry some of the strictest rules on the road.

• At a stop sign on a crossing, stop and look both ways for trains every time.
• Flashing red lights mean a train is coming. Stay stopped until they go off, even if no train is in sight.
• Gates lifting while the lights still flash can mean a second train, so keep waiting.
• Only drive onto the tracks when there is room to clear them completely on the far side.