You may have noticed that some intersection markings, including pedestrian crossings, are changing. Solid white lines are becoming dashed white lines. Ditto turning lines at intersections. This change brings Victorian practice into line with the Australian standard. NSW (and probably other states) used to have solid lines too, but sometime in the last few decades ... [More]
Remember the Dingley Bypass? The western end was built as the “South Road Extension” as two lanes (one each way) just last decade. It mostly wasn’t dual carriageway, but it was otherwise suspiciously freeway-like. Having appeared in the 1969 freeway plan, it wasn’t difficult to see that it would be expanded. (Dingley Arterial 2015 – ... [More]
Lots of cars still seem to have rego stickers on them, even though they are being phased-out — you haven’t needed to have one on your car since the end of last year. …from 1 January 2014, Victoria will abolish registration labels for light vehicles, including passenger cars. … How will people know when they ... [More]
Say what you like about VicRoads, they know how to do forward planning. For example, there’s a stretch of Ballarat Road in Footscray, just west of where the dual carriageway ends, where this is a common sight: Lovely, isn’t it. Derelict wasteland, left to rot. A look at Google’s aerial view reveals quite a few ... [More]
The Wikipedia article on Australian licence plates highlights some special prefixes, but here’s a list I’ve tried to come up with that includes others they don’t show, from personal observations and gleaning information from the VicRoads web site. Some of them are clearly abbreviations for what they are… some not so much. AO (suffix) – ... [More]
I’ve written about this before, but just so it’s absolutely clear, I’m going to include a picture[1] with the text: When turning left or right at any intersection (except a roundabout) you must give way to any pedestrians crossing the road you are turning into. — source: VicRoads: Driving in Victoria — Rules and Responsibilities, ... [More]
For a while now, VicRoads has been working on a plan to allocate different priorities to different roads around Melbourne. Rather than the free-for-all we sometimes see now, some roads would be setup to emphasise pedestrian priority, some bus, some tram, and some would be “preferred traffic routes” and lesser “other traffic routes”. I suspect ... [More]
Cynics have described carpooling as “a transit system with one round trip a day” — which means that while the trip itself may be faster and more comfortable, in terms of scheduling it’s less convenient than all but the very very worst public transport. Even if you don’t believe that, it would appear that any ... [More]
When I’m out walking, I actively (but not foolishly, I hope) defend my rights as a pedestrian. If I have an opportunity to walk safely and legally before a car goes, I will take it. The main rules are not difficult to comprehend, but some motorists just don’t seem to understand them. [Page references are ... [More]