Where road rules apply
A public road is a road, street, thoroughfare or other place to which the public, or a section of the public, has a right of access. Its legal boundary is wider than the strip used by cars. It includes the verge, bridges, ferries and connected works. A road can therefore be subject to traffic rules even though the land is privately owned.
The manual uses “driver” to include a person riding a pedal cycle or driving animals. “Operate” is wider than personally driving: it includes using a vehicle, permitting its use, or having it present on a public road. An owner cannot avoid vehicle duties merely by giving the keys to someone else.
Roadway, shoulder, verge and sidewalk
Think of the road in strips. The roadway is the part improved or constructed for vehicles, between its edges. The shoulder lies outside the roadway edge, towards the kerb. The verge is the part of the public road outside the roadway and shoulder; a sidewalk is the pedestrian portion of that verge. A traffic lane is a longitudinal strip wide enough for one line of vehicles.
An edge is the boundary of the improved vehicle surface. A kerb is a constructed boundary, commonly between the shoulder or roadway and the verge. These are not interchangeable measuring points: a rural parking rule measured from the roadway edge is not a rule measured from the kerb.
Intersection, junction and pedestrian crossing
An intersection includes the full width of the roads that cross or meet, including their verges. A junction is the meeting of the carriageways; stop and yield lines help define its boundary. Do not assume that the junction starts only at the centre of the painted crossing.
A pedestrian crossing may be marked, or may be the crossing space at an intersection formed by the extension of sidewalk boundaries. A traffic island separates or directs streams of traffic and is not a place to park. To cross a public road is to travel across the stream of traffic, rather than continue along it.
Urban area, freeway and dedicated lane
An urban area is a legally defined built-up area associated with subdivided erven, not simply anywhere with a few houses. A freeway is designated by the appropriate signs; a wide road with two carriageways is not automatically a freeway. A divided public road has separate carriageways, usually divided by a physical feature.
A dedicated lane is reserved for a specified vehicle class or use, sometimes only during displayed times. Read the whole sign and time plate before deciding whether the lane is available to you. Traffic lights are traffic-control devices; road traffic signs include more than upright boards and must be read together with markings and official directions.
Stopping is not the same as parking
To stop is to bring a vehicle to a standstill. Parking means keeping it stationary for longer than the time reasonably needed to load or unload people or goods, except where you are stopped for a reason beyond your control. Remaining in the driver’s seat or leaving the engine running does not automatically make a parked vehicle legal.
Because parking is a longer stationary use, every no-stopping restriction also prevents parking. A no-parking restriction may still permit a brief, otherwise lawful loading or unloading stop; it does not override a nearby crossing, bridge or other no-stopping rule.
Worked situation
A driver parks on a rural road with the left wheels just off the tar, but the car still projects into the roadway. The fact that two wheels are on the shoulder does not make the position lawful. Identify the roadway edge, then check the rural parking restriction and whether the whole vehicle is sufficiently clear.
Small structures and unmarked edges still count
A bridge includes a culvert or causeway, so its stopping restriction is not limited to a large elevated structure. Where a road-edge sign defines the roadway boundary, use it. Without that indication, the edge of a tar or concrete surface is the roadway edge; on another road, use the edge of the improved part intended for vehicles. The kerb line is the shoulder/verge boundary, or the roadway/verge boundary where there is no shoulder.