Do you know if you can legally drive over these road markings?
Australian motorists have been surprised by the ruling on whether they can drive over painted road markings found approaching a turning lane.
RACQ tasked drivers with a Facebook quiz on Wednesday. It posted a graphic and the question: “Is it legal for the blue car to drive on/over the painted island?”
The image showed a blue car travelling over a painted traffic island just metres before turning left.
Hundreds assumed the lines were there to indicate vehicles to keep their distance from the markings, however this was not the case.
“I suspect they exist for a reason, so I'd say no in most circumstances,” one person guessed.
Some confessed they weren’t sure, but admitted to driving over them anyway.
“I drive over these all the time... Would be definitely like to know if it’s legal or not, and what their purpose is,” one driver wrote.
Can you drive over painted traffic islands?
Later in the day RACQ provided the bombshell response.
“#QuizAnswer - Yes! You may drive on a painted island with a single continuous line around it for up to 50m to immediately enter a turn lane and/or enter or leave the road,” it updated on the post,” it wrote.
“In the image, the blue vehicle would give way to any vehicle entering the turning lane from the marked lane beside the turning lane.”
Some queried why the markings were there at all, to which RACQ explained the purpose of painted traffic islands were to manage traffic flow.
“In this case the island is there to move traffic out of the left lane, which must turn, unless they're going to turn left,” it wrote.
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“They can be used for other reasons, generally situations where most vehicles need to move out of that lane, but some may want to stay in it. These islands are only introduced where needed to assist with traffic flow.”
One woman rejoiced in the revelation, after a recent argument with her hubby over the rule.
“Woo hoo, won the argument with my know it all Husband... I actually drove over an island like this the other day, with Hubby in the car, and for the rest of the drive home he lectured me,” she wrote.
Painted traffic island rules explained
The laws elsewhere in the country also permit it, as long as the motorist is about to enter a turning lane that begins immediately after the painted island, or to avoid a road obstruction.
Drivers entering a turning lane from a painted island must also give way to any vehicle already in the turning lane or entering the turning lane from another marked lane.
Northern Territory laws also specify motorists must not stop on a painted island.
A similar Facebook quiz shared by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (Queensland) late last year asked the same question.
In its response, the transport department added: ”You mustn't drive on a painted traffic island if the island separates traffic flowing in the same direction – like where an on-ramp merges onto a motorway.”
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