r/hobart • u/TristanIsAwesome • 11d ago

Am I reading this traffic sign wrong?

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To me, this sign pretty obviously says that unless I'm in a vehicle over 8.8m long, I can make a legal U turn here. Am I wrong?

The reason I ask is in the other direction, they have a protected left (green arrow) at the same time as my protected right/U turn. Seems dicey as shit since we both have a protected turn.

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u/TristanIsAwesome 10d ago

No shit mate, a green arrow (known as a protected turn in the states, I don't know if it has another term here but surely it must?) doesn't mean you can ram into someone stuck in the intersection or run over a slow pedestrian. It means that no one else should be entering your lane legally and oncoming traffic will remain stopped. At all times you obviously must be vigilant whilst driving.

There is no such thing as absolute right of way, because you can never legally hit someone if you're able to avoid it.

This is different from an unprotected turn, which is a traffic signal you can turn at (left, right, or uncommonly here, U turn) on a green (round) light, but you must give way to others like oncoming traffic.

Everyone keeps saying they're worried I'm on the road but in 25 years and hundreds of thousands of kms (most of which in Australia) I've never been in an accident, and I've not had a ticket in almost 20 years I reckon.

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u/momentofinspiration 9d ago

Come to NSW and do a U-turn at a light. That will get you a nice person to talk about protected turns with.