Lanes Turning

This page has been put together using Qld road rules legislation as of 2009.
It is in no way purposed or designed to be used for legal defence or legal advice!
It is designed to help you know and obey the road rules.
Not to justify bad driving behaviours.

When you are turning right into a road with two or more lanes there are things which determine which lane you should turn into.

In this article we will look at which lane(s) you can choose from and how to know when that changes.

One Lane Turning

In this image you can see there is only one lane allowed to turn right.

First the Green car, which in indicating to turn right, must Give Way to all oncoming traffic. This includes any vehicles turning Left into the same road. Once clear the Green car can choose which ever lane they prefer to use as shown by the ghost cars.

You can see the guide line that directs you round the corner, you are not supposed to cross this line, but as you can see, you can enter either lane without crossing the line.

Two Lanes Turning

This time there are two lanes allowed to turn right.

This changes the choices you can make. Both the Green car and the Yellow car, both indicating their intent to turn right, must Give Way to all oncoming vehicles, including those turning Left into the same road. Once clear the Green car MUST turn into the Right lane (the same lane they are turning from) and the Yellow car MUST turn into the Left Lane (again the same lane they are turning from).
You can see in the image that there are "guiding lines" making the route the cars should take. You expected to stay within these lines as they will guide you to the lane you are legally required to enter. Once you have made the turn you can change lanes as normal. If there were three lanes in the new road and only two turning lanes, one of the cars would be able to choose between two of the lanes, this is simply shown by the guiding lines, if you can enter a lane WITHOUT crossing the guiding line, then you are allowed into that lane.

Road Rules are always under review and are often changed or updated. This page was accurate at time of publishing, while we endeavour to keep these pages up to date we may occasionally miss something. You as a road user are expected to keep up to date with the Road Rules.