Top Ten Most Misunderstood Road Rules – Which Ones Do You Get Wrong?

It was Road Safety Awareness Week last week and with the October long weekend almost here, it’s a good time to revisit the road rules drivers most often get wrong.

Double demerits apply from Friday 2 October to Monday 5 October 2026 for speeding, illegal mobile phone use, not wearing a seatbelt and riding without a motorcycle helmet. The fine doesn’t double, but the points do.

That adds up quickly. Illegal mobile phone use normally incurs five demerit points, but over the long weekend it’s 10.

A seatbelt offence is three points normally and six over the long weekend.

For learner and P1 drivers, a single phone offence means losing their licence.

In the Cove first published this article in 2020 and has updated it several times since. For this version, we checked every rule against Transport for NSW’s Top 10 Misunderstood Road Rules Guide (the Guide) and its current website. The Guide is available online.

Number One Misunderstood Rule: Roundabouts

The Guide has a plain English explanation on:

• approaching a roundabout
• entering a roundabout
• turning left
• going straight ahead
• turning right
• making a U-turn
• changing lanes in a roundabout
• exiting a roundabout

A common point of confusion: you don’t indicate when approaching a roundabout if you’re going straight ahead. You do need to indicate left when exiting, if it’s practical to do so.

Number Two Misunderstood Rule: Giving Way to a Pedestrian When Turning

If a driver is turning left or right at an intersection, the driver must give way to any pedestrian crossing the road the driver is entering.

This rule applies to intersections with and without traffic lights. However, this rule does NOT apply at a roundabout.

Drivers should approach all pedestrian crossings with caution.

Drivers should take particular care at the three pedestrian crossings in Lane Cove Village: the crossings at the entrance and exit of Lane Cove Plaza and the crossing near the Burns Bay Bookery/Harris Farm Markets. The Harris Farm crossing is not well-lit at night.

As ITC’s driving instructor always said, when approaching a pedestrian crossing, have your foot resting on the brake, not the accelerator.

Number Three Misunderstood Rule: Mobile Phones

This is the rule that will cost the most points this long weekend.

Full licence holders can only use a mobile phone while driving to make or receive calls or play audio (such as music or podcasts), and only if:

• the phone is in a commercially made holder fixed to the vehicle that doesn’t block your view of the road, or
• you can use it without touching it, for example via Bluetooth or voice control.

Navigation apps are allowed only if the phone is in a fixed holder. Texting, emailing, social media, taking photos and video calls are all banned while driving. This includes when you’re stopped at traffic lights or stuck in traffic.

You can’t hold your phone at all while driving. That includes in your hand, on your lap or between your shoulder and ear.

If you want to use your phone for anything else, you need to be parked out of the line of traffic.

Learner, P1 and P2 drivers cannot use any function of a phone while driving, even when stopped at lights or in traffic. That includes music, maps, calls and Apple CarPlay. This applies whether the phone is handheld, in a holder or connected via Bluetooth.

ITC has spoken to several L and P platers who didn’t know that using CarPlay is not allowed.

The cameras are watching for more than phones. Mobile phone detection cameras operate across NSW, including in Lane Cove. Since July 2024, they have also been catching seatbelt offences, including passengers who aren’t wearing a seatbelt and seatbelts worn incorrectly. In the first three weeks of seatbelt enforcement, about three-quarters of fines were for wearing a seatbelt incorrectly, such as with the sash tucked under the arm. Incorrect use attracts the same penalty as not wearing a seatbelt at all.

Number Four Misunderstood Rule: Merging

The Guide covers two situations.

When a marked lane ends: If you’re in a marked lane that is ending and you need to cross a broken painted line into the next lane, you must give way to traffic already in that lane. Some drivers on River Road West, where a merge lane was created a few years ago, need to know this rule.

When lanes merge with no markings: If the number of lanes reduces on a road without lane markings, you must give way to any vehicle ahead of you. This is known as a “zipper merge”.

Number Five Misunderstood Rule: Keeping Left

On multi-lane roads with a speed limit of more than 80 km/h, motorists must not drive in the right-hand lane unless they are:

• overtaking
• turning right or making a U-turn
• avoiding an obstacle
• driving in congested traffic
• driving in a special purpose lane
• driving where there is a “Left Lane Must Turn Left” sign or a left traffic arrow and the driver is not turning left.

If a “Keep Left Unless Overtaking” sign is displayed, the rule applies regardless of the speed limit.

Number Six Misunderstood Rule: Headlights and Fog Lights

You must not use high beam when you are within 200 metres of a vehicle ahead of you travelling in the same direction, or within 200 metres of an oncoming vehicle. You may briefly flash your high beam just before overtaking.

A driver must not use any light that may dazzle another road user.

On cold winter mornings, fog can hang around Lane Cove. Fog lights may only be used in fog, mist or other conditions that restrict visibility. Switch them off once visibility improves.

Number Seven Misunderstood Rule: U-Turns

Drivers are not permitted to make a U-turn at traffic lights unless a “U-Turn Permitted” sign or a green U-turn traffic light is displayed.

Number Eight Misunderstood Rule: Safe Following Distances

As a general rule, stay three seconds behind the vehicle in front. To check your gap:

1. Pick a fixed object on the left side of the road, such as a sign or power pole.
2. When the car ahead passes it, count “one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three”.
3. If you reach the object before you finish counting, you’re too close.

In rain, on gravel roads or in dim light, increase the gap to four seconds. This is worth remembering if the long weekend brings wet weather.

Number Nine Misunderstood Rule: School Zones

The biggest trap with school zones is the pupil-free day. Even when children aren’t at school, it is still a gazetted school day, so the 40 km/h limit applies and is enforced.

The same applies on days when a non-government school is closed but gazetted school days are still in effect. School zones still operate on those days. Remember, there are three schools on Longueville Road.

School zone hours are normally 8:00am to 9:30am and 2:30pm to 4:00pm, but a small number of schools have different times shown on their signs.

Number Ten Misunderstood Rule: Amber/Yellow Traffic Lights

An amber traffic light or arrow means stop.

A driver approaching an amber light must stop if they can do so safely before reaching the stop line or traffic lights. Keep this in mind when travelling along Centennial Avenue and Epping Road. Penalties apply for drivers who fail to stop at an amber light unless it is unsafe to stop.

What do you think is the road rule that Lane Cove motorists ignore the most?

Drive safely this coming long weekend.