Vicroads - New Rules From 9th November 2009...

[Samon]

Hey all,

Just thought I'd post a little heads-up on some new VicRoads rules coming in on the 9th of November...

Here's their site on the changes... http://roadrules.vicroads.vic.gov.au/

Points of notable interest:

Using mobile phones and visual display units:

Mobile phones:

Using a mobile phone to make or receive a phone call while driving is prohibited except if the phone:

• is secured in a commercially designed holder fixed to the vehicle,
  or
  
• can be operated by the driver without touching any part of the phone.
  

All other functions (including video calls, texting and emailing) are prohibited.

Holding the phone (whether or not engaged in a phone call) is also prohibited. Holding includes resting the mobile on the driver’s lap.

Visual display units:

A driver must not drive a vehicle that has a television receiver or a visual display unit operating if any part of the screen is visible to the driver or is likely to distract another driver.

A driver can use a driver’s aid such as a navigation device but it must be an integrated part of the vehicle design, or secured in a commercially designed holder, which is fixed to the vehicle.

U-turns and overtaking

Centre dividing line:

A driver will not be able to overtake, or do a U-turn across a single continuous centre line, or a single continuous line to the left of a broken line.

However a driver can cross over a centre dividing line (except a double continuous centre dividing line) when entering or leaving the road.

Lane lines:

A driver must not change lanes over a single continuous lane line.

Painted islands:

A driver must not drive over a painted island that is surrounded by a single continuous line. However a driver can drive over the island if they are entering or leaving the road, or entering a turning lane that begins immediately after the painted island.

A driver must not drive over a painted island at a freeway on-ramp. It is also illegal to drive on a painted island that is surrounded by a double line.

Parking

Moving parked vehicles:

When moving a parked vehicle to another parking spot, the driver must move the vehicle off the length of road, or out of the area, to which the parking sign applies.

[Ruffels]

Lane lines:

A driver must not change lanes over a single continuous lane line.

... i guess this is aimed at our tunnels .. which is a good thing, soo dangerous changing lanes in those tunnels!

i dont entirely agree with all of those changes, but its the law now... nothing i can do about it.

[BeEnAr]

Yeah but the tunnels and the WG Bridge lines are broken by cats eyes so "technically" they are a broken line. The phone one is more indepth too, you are only to use your phone as a phone apparently, this is aimed at the SAT NAV apps for iPhone and the nokia mobiles. Only way you are allowed to use them is if it's mounted to the car and you are not allowed to use them while driving, so to change a setting or re-route your trip you need to have a passenger or pull over.

Interesting one about the video screens though, "cannot distract other drivers" this would also include the massive roof mounted rear screens and rear headrest screens, they are visible to other drivers so unless your car has 5% tints all round you won't be able to use those either.

New number plate slogan for Victoria.... Victoria - The Nanny State, or Victoria - If it's entertaining or fun you can't do it here!!

[rs73]

no they're not. cat eye is just a night visual aid - u have to choose your lane early on WG before the lines become continuous under the new law...

[sneakey pete]

Interesting, qld's getting that centre line rule aswell, not a country wide change is it?

[W0rp3D]

soo dangerous changing lanes in those tunnels!

Why is it so hard to change lanes in a tunnel, there is no difference to any other road that has 2 or more lanes and cars moving between them.

I may be wrong but as far as i know they are broken lines in the tunnel any way, the unbroken line rule is more aimed at country roads with one lane each way and a solid white line down the middle.

[Jap_Muscle]

Visual display units:

A driver must not drive a vehicle that has a television receiver or a visual display unit operating if any part of the screen is visible to the driver or is likely to distract another driver.

A driver can use a driver’s aid such as a navigation device but it must be an integrated part of the vehicle design, or secured in a commercially designed holder, which is fixed to the vehicle.

this is horse shit

my car has a the nismo mfd and another 2din dvd player.

so both screens are not allowed because they dont display maps? so what? if they are judging screens but what they display thats utter bs.

does this count towards factory equipped visual screens like the bnr34?

[Samon]

this is horse shit

my car has a the nismo mfd and another 2din dvd player.

so both screens are not allowed because they dont display maps? so what? if they are judging screens but what they display thats utter bs.

does this count towards factory equipped visual screens like the bnr34?

Hmmm... so I *could* be in trouble with this?

Already I always hit the GPS button when I get pulled over, just to be safe...

[adznight]

Lane lines:

A driver must not change lanes over a single continuous lane line.

... i guess this is aimed at our tunnels .. which is a good thing, soo dangerous changing lanes in those tunnels!

i dont entirely agree with all of those changes, but its the law now... nothing i can do about it.

I don't see how it's any more dangerous that changing lanes on a road. If drivers can't change lanes without hitting each other they should have their licence taken away.

[R31Nismoid]

Hmmm... so I *could* be in trouble with this?

Already I always hit the GPS button when I get pulled over, just to be safe...

If it is not showing a map etc, then ye you technically could.

Not really a major issue though. How is an officer going to see something like that anyway?

Just make sure you turn it off if you are pulled over

Nothing wrong with it displaying track information though i wouldn't think, being almost EVERY head unit these days has a scrolling display

[R31Nismoid]

But ye - i dont agree with the lane changing rule, fken annoying.

It should be all TRUCKS are to be in the left hand lane in bridged & tunnels. That is the proper solution. Not some bullshit no changing over a solid line.

[W0rp3D]

It should be all TRUCKS are to be in the left hand lane in bridged & tunnels. That is the proper solution.

Well before you do that why dont you go and teach every f**king car driver that untill you enter or leave the left hand lane of the freeway you should be doing the speed limit, whilst your at it make it a law that EVERY speedo should be reading 100% correct, most of the trucks i have driven have speedo's that are 100% accurate, a lot of cars on the other hand are doing 90-95 when there speedo says 100, maybe we should make it a rule that any one that has not had there speedo checked and calibrated should be in the left lane and the other lanes for people who have an accurate speedo and know exactly what speed they are doing, maybe then more people would be doing the same speed and there would be less need for over taking.

Also another reason why i wont use the left lane is the tunnel leading onto the monash, just at the end of the tunnel the lane ends, why when im loaded and crawling out of the tunnel would i put my self in the position where i have merge out of the left hand lane that ends into a stream of traffic that is doing 20-30k's more than me and do not want to let me in, if you expect me to stop then think again, im just going to move over if no one is going to let me in which is even more of a danger so why would i do it?

Maybe next time you put forward a solution you should look at the problem from all angles.

[nice 28]

What's with the parking one?

So technically we are still exceeding the parking limit (time wise) if we just move the car to another parking space within the same car park for example?

Looks like another way for local councils to raise revenue.

[W0rp3D]

What's with the parking one?

So technically we are still exceeding the parking limit (time wise) if we just move the car to another parking space within the same car park for example?

Looks like another way for local councils to raise revenue.

Thats the impression i got from it as well, im guessing only applies to free parking, only reason i can see for it is that you have to leave that spot so some one else can use it, then you just take another one around the corner.....

[R31Nismoid]

Well before you do that why dont you go and teach every f**king car driver that untill you enter or leave the left hand lane of the freeway you should be doing the speed limit, whilst your at it make it a law that EVERY speedo should be reading 100% correct, most of the trucks i have driven have speedo's that are 100% accurate, a lot of cars on the other hand are doing 90-95 when there speedo says 100, maybe we should make it a rule that any one that has not had there speedo checked and calibrated should be in the left lane and the other lanes for people who have an accurate speedo and know exactly what speed they are doing, maybe then more people would be doing the same speed and there would be less need for over taking.

Also another reason why i wont use the left lane is the tunnel leading onto the monash, just at the end of the tunnel the lane ends, why when im loaded and crawling out of the tunnel would i put my self in the position where i have merge out of the left hand lane that ends into a stream of traffic that is doing 20-30k's more than me and do not want to let me in, if you expect me to stop then think again, im just going to move over if no one is going to let me in which is even more of a danger so why would i do it?

Maybe next time you put forward a solution you should look at the problem from all angles.

Fact is however trucks impede the flow of smaller/lighter traffic. Always have, always will.

It is nothing more than simply splitting the big things from the small things to ensure traffic flow.

I have no issues with trucks on the road, however having trucks 3 lanes wide over the westgate, all of them doing 40-50km/h in 80 zones on the incline is stupid. Banks traffic up all the time to higher levels of congestion.

They should be made to GTFO over the side and let the traffic flow past because the drivers seem to have limited logic when driving to acknowledge the fact they are hindering the flow and get out of the way themselves.

So now - with this lovely new law, if you are stuck behind a truck doing 40km/h, imagine the level of frustration now that you simply cannot change lane to get around them without a fine to go with it.

This happened to me Friday afternoon, luckily i was still legally allowed to change lanes in the end to get around.

So it comes as no surprise other motorists then become frustrated and so on. Now not being able to get around them AT ALL, just makes it worse.

[W0rp3D]

Fact is however trucks impede the flow of smaller/lighter traffic. Always have, always will.

It is nothing more than simply splitting the big things from the small things to ensure traffic flow.

I have no issues with trucks on the road, however having trucks 3 lanes wide over the westgate, all of them doing 40-50km/h in 80 zones on the incline is stupid. Banks traffic up all the time to higher levels of congestion.

They should be made to GTFO over the side and let the traffic flow past because the drivers seem to have limited logic when driving to acknowledge the fact they are hindering the flow and get out of the way themselves.

So now - with this lovely new law, if you are stuck behind a truck doing 40km/h, imagine the level of frustration now that you simply cannot change lane to get around them without a fine to go with it.

This happened to me Friday afternoon, luckily i was still legally allowed to change lanes in the end to get around.

So it comes as no surprise other motorists then become frustrated and so on. Now not being able to get around them AT ALL, just makes it worse.

Maybe one day you will do some research, i sit in a truck for 8-10 hrs a day and i can guarantee you that there is more cars holding me up than i hold up, in fact i would put it as a 7-1 ratio so does that mean that every car that is holding someone up should be forced to be in the left hand lane, going off your reasoning yes it does, dont always sit behind a truck and ASS-sume that it is the truck holding everyone up, there is a whole row of cars ahead how can you be sure that it is the truck?? there has been a lot of times that i have been going up the bridge and have had to slow down for cars doing 70 because they want to enjoy the view, there are trucks that hold things up but there are a shit load more cars that do it due to inaccurate speedos or just plane knob jockeys behind the wheel, so if your going to banish people to the left lane try looking at the bigger picture, after all i have seen a lot of bad asian drivers so why not say that the "proper solution" would be to make them use the left lane, also see a lot of bad van drivers so is making then use the left lane the "proper solution", seen lots of bad female and p plate drivers so they should be in the left hand lane because that would be the "proper solution", they all cause congestion in one way or another, everyone has/will at some time for some reason, why dont make it so one day number plates of an even number can use the road and on others odd numbers use the road, that would halve the amount of people on the road, why dont we do this? because they are all one small part of a larger problem, removing one of these pieces will not fix the problem, will not even make a dent, our traffic problems are far greater than any one on here can fix.

[Birds]

I'm gonna take this time to say the Monash freeway is just all round f***ed. They can't get that thing right and the ends are not going to justify the means when the means have been going on for so many years. I stay totally clear of the thing now and will do so until every part of that piece of shit road is restored to 100km/h across more than 1/2 bottlenecked lanes. Princes Highway ftw.

[adznight]

W0rp3D - Don't take it so personally. Fact is a certain percentage of truck drivers are cock knockers. Same can be said for all drivers though. No one's saying you are.

[Samon]

If it is not showing a map etc, then ye you technically could.

Not really a major issue though. How is an officer going to see something like that anyway?

Just make sure you turn it off if you are pulled over

Nothing wrong with it displaying track information though i wouldn't think, being almost EVERY head unit these days has a scrolling display

Not that I would of course, but seeing as it's a PC it could easily be playing a movie or have the net open while driving... I'm not really even sure if the whole music visualizations would be considered too distracting... hence I hit the GPS button (or yeah, switch it off completely, but that takes a short time for windows to shutdown/hibernate) whenever I get pulled over

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

this is horse shit

my car has a the nismo mfd and another 2din dvd player.

so both screens are not allowed because they dont display maps? so what? if they are judging screens but what they display thats utter bs.

does this count towards factory equipped visual screens like the bnr34?

I think you get away with it as your Nismo MFD is integrated, part of the vehicle design...

As long as you are not watching / playing a DVD while driving that's fine, I think...

So does this mean GPS units, the ones you buy from JB-Hi fi, auto barn etc. That stick to the windscreen are now illegal?