Code 1st Driving School

29/07/2026

You must signal for at least 3 seconds before moving left or right. It's the law.

That means signalling for at least 3 seconds before turning, changing lanes, pulling out from a kerb or parking space, or otherwise changing direction.

This is especially important in winter. Visibility is reduced in bad weather. People around you need to understand what you’re doing so they have time to adjust their speed – especially on slippery roads.

Signalling around roundabouts is different. As you can see in section 3.10(5), the law doesn't state a minimum time you must signal at roundabouts. That's because some roundabouts are small. But the law still requires you to at least show a signal so everyone else knows the direction you’re travelling.

When the weather is bad, always check our pages to see if state highways are affected before you travel. Follow us if you aren’t already. You can find more information in this post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CmQR6EXxn/

26/07/2026

17/07/2026

You’ll all be familiar with this light on a car – you must turn it on for at least 3 seconds before turning or changing lanes.

It’s your indicator, of course – or if you want to get technical, your “direction indicator lamp”. There’s 2 of them on the front, 2 of them on the back, and 2 of them on the side of your vehicle.

By law you must signal for at least 3 seconds before moving left or right. As we said above, that means turning or changing lanes, and it also includes pulling out from a kerb or parking space, or otherwise changing direction.

This is especially important in winter. Visibility is reduced in bad weather. People around you need to understand what you’re doing so they have time to adjust their speed – especially on slippery roads.

We always get asked about roundabouts when we talk about signalling, and often you won’t be able to signal for 3 seconds as you’re travelling around a roundabout. That’s why the law is different for roundabouts – there’s no minimum time you must signal at roundabouts, but you must always do your best to signal so everyone else knows the direction you’re travelling.

When the weather is bad, always check our pages to see if state highways are affected before you travel. Follow us if you aren’t already. You can find more information in this post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CmQR6EXxn/

30/06/2026

With School Holidays approaching you may like to consider doing some driving lessons.
You can book your appointments online so you can choose the dates and times that suit.

https://www.code1st.net/booking.html
Regards Tony

www.code1st.net

tony@code1st. net

South Auckland Professional Driving Lessons, auto or manual, including FREE Lesson. Online Booking available

30/06/2026

With School Holidays approaching you may like to consider doing some driving lessons.
You can book your appointments online so you can choose the dates and times that suit.

https://www.code1st.net/booking.html
Regards Tony

www.code1st.net

tony@code1st. net

Book your driving lessons online with Code 1st Driving School's qualified Driving Instructor

12/06/2026

It’s the law: You must drive far enough behind the person in front of you so that you can stop safely if they suddenly stop.

This is your responsibility. You must keep a safe following distance behind the person in front of you.

Practically, that means in good conditions you should keep a 2-second following distance between you and someone in front of you.

In bad weather you need to increase your following distance. This is especially important in winter – it takes longer to stop on slippery roads such as when it’s raining, and even more so in icy or snowy conditions. For that reason, in bad weather you should increase your following distance to 4 seconds.

There’s never an acceptable reason to tailgate, regardless of what people in front of you are doing. It’s illegal.

Yes, people travelling slowly must keep left and must pull over to let people pass – that's the law as well – but following too closely isn’t acceptable. The law is clear on this.

The best way to measure your following distance is to watch the person in front of you as they pass a landmark such as a sign or tree, and count “one-thousand-and-one, one-thousand-and-two” (and on to “-four” in bad weather). If you pass the landmark before you finish counting, you’re following too closely.

When the weather is bad, always check our pages to see if state highways are affected before you travel. Follow us if you aren’t already. You can find more information in this post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HJqwn4Sxa/

31/05/2026

It’s the law: You must make space for emergency vehicles that have their sirens or lights on.

If you're on a road with one lane in each direction, pull over when it’s safe. If it’s not safe to stop, slow down and continue until it’s safe – such as a wider piece of road, or break in traffic.

If you’re on a road with multiple lanes in the same direction, slow down and get into the left-most lane so the emergency vehicle can pass you. If traffic is congested and you’re in the right-most lane, pull over as far to the right as possible. This’ll create a gap in the middle for the emergency vehicle.

Never move onto a footpath to make space for an emergency vehicle. This puts people walking at risk.

If you’re travelling through an intersection, don’t stop in the intersection – wait until you're through the intersection to pull over and make space. If you’re stopped at an intersection (such as at a red light), don’t enter the intersection to make space. Stopping in the middle of an intersection or going through a red light can put you and other people in danger.

Emergency vehicle drivers are trained to navigate around traffic, so by slowing and stopping safely and, most importantly, being predictable, you help them pass you safely.

One emergency vehicle can be followed by another, so wait, check your mirrors, and only continue when it’s safe.

18/05/2026

It's the law: You can't use full beam headlights when you're around other people. Your headlights must be dipped.

That means you should only have your headlights on full beam when you're not around other people and driving on an unlit or poorly-lit road.

To state the obvious, full beam headlights make it hard for other people to see.

Full beam can blind a person driving towards you. When you're following another person, they can be blinded by full beam headlights in their rear-view mirror. That's why you need to have headlights dipped around people.

By contrast, dipped headlights are perfect for virtually all conditions – and with winter around the corner, daylight hours decreasing, and wet weather on its way, you should be using your dipped headlights more proactively.

Conditions can change quickly. Turn your headlights on dipped if it's raining, icy, snowing, or foggy. Many of us have silver, grey, or white vehicles which easily blend into the road, grey sky, and snow. Having your headlights on dipped activates your rear position lights. Together your lights make you much more visible to people behind you and people coming towards you.

When the weather is bad, always check our pages to see if state highways are affected before you travel. Follow us if you aren’t already. You can find more information in this post: https://www.facebook.com/nztransportagency/posts/pfbid0214iPSqhZ5STpDvY1vrDadCwHXhKVSWpRZWBAxcGALDCbQFFDi7gRAqurn3u54Doul