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How to do a hook turn

Car Advice Advice Urban
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Hook turns terrify a huge percentage of drivers. (Image: Sam Irvine)
David Morley
Contributing Journalist
29 Jan 2025
7 min read

If you’ve never driven through the Melbourne CBD before, the first time you do will possibly be a startling experience. It’s not the one-way system (Sydney’s is vastly more complex than Melbourne’s) nor the speed of city traffic (which, frankly, crawls). Nor is the grid system of the major streets tricky to decipher.

No, the big surprise will be the fist time you come face to face with a hook turn. The hook turn is not a Melbourne-only thing (a few cities in other countries also feature them), but in Australia, the southern capital is the home of the hook turn and the location of many an interstater’s motoring nightmare.

But what is a hook turn? Basically, it’s where the law mandates that you make a right-hand turn at a controlled intersection by first moving to the extreme left and then driving across the whole intersection to make your right turn. It doesn’t feel like a natural thing to do, trust us.

So why do hook turns exist in the first place, given that on the surface, the hook turn is all wrong? Illogical. Counter-intuitive. Idiotic, even. But scratch deeper and you’ll see that they’re only placed on intersections that have tram lines running through them in the same direction. And that’s the clue for the existence of the hook turn in the first place; it’s designed to keep cars turning right clear of the tram lines, and allowing trams to continue straight through the intersection when the light is green. To do this, the hook turn positions right-turning cars to the extreme left of the intersection and then, when the light has gone green for the cross-traffic, the right turners can proceed without hitting anything or holding up trams.

Of course, knowing why hook turns exist isn’t going to be much help the first time you encounter one. So, how do you actually perform a hook turn?

For the actual method (as opposed to the advice of your mate who has never driven in Melbourne) let’s go straight to the source and hit the Transport Victoria website for the official version. Because while all states and territories have their own U-turn rules, Victoria has specific hook turn rules as well.

(Image: Sam Irvine)
(Image: Sam Irvine)

So here’s how to hook turn Melbourne style:

  1. Move to the left lane (as you approach the intersection). While in the left lane, indicate right.
  2. Watch for bicycles and electric scooter riders, and all other vehicles.
  3. Enter the intersection and keep to the far-left side, but don’t block pedestrian crossings.
  4. If there’s a road marking, follow the lines. Otherwise, stop at the point where you would turn right. (This last bit is a bit misleading, we reckon, but it means you should stop in the extreme left of the intersection to wait for the green light.)
  5. Wait until the traffic lights on the road you want to enter have changed to green.
  6. Check there are no moving vehicles moving in the lane on your right.
  7. Turn right into the road and continue to drive.

For more information, you can hit the Transport Victoria website where you’ll find other information on hook turns as well as an animated diagram that is pretty helpful, too.

Perhaps the trickiest part is finding where to stop once you’ve entered the left side of the intersection. As the official line goes, as far left as possible without encroaching on any pedestrian crossing is the ideal spot. The other thing is about timing.

What then? When can you complete a hook turn? You need to wait in that spot until the lights you’ve just gone through have turned red and the lights controlling the street you’re turning into have gone green. While it’s tempting to leave before the green if there’s nothing coming, waiting for the green light is the official advice.

So how do you spot a hook-turn intersection? The big clue is the hook turn sign; a big black and white sign proclaiming `Right Turn From Left Only’ and a graphic of a hook-turn path which looks a bit like a backwards question mark. Generally there will be signs at the kerb of such an intersection, but also often the same sign hanging from overhead wires over the centre of the road.

(Image: www.nsw.gov.au)
(Image: www.nsw.gov.au)

Even once you know how to do a hook turn, many people avoid them at all costs. And that’s because there are other factors. The main limitation with a hook turn (apart from the fear it instils) is that turns are limited to how many cars can physically cram into the space on the far left of the intersection adjacent to the pedestrian crossing. This effectively limits how many cars can do a hook turn for each sequence of the traffic lights.

Usually, this is limited to two or three cars, so if there’s a giant queue of vehicles waiting to turn right, it can take a while. However, since that same queue of cars would hold up a following tram for ages, the hook turn isn’t a bad compromise.

(Image: Sam Irvine)
(Image: Sam Irvine)

The other thing to remember is that you need to have eyes in the back of your head. Even once the light has gone green for the road you’re turning into, you need to be watching for anything running the red light across the intersection, as well as pedestrians, bicycles and other cars doing a hook turn that might get tangled up in your trajectory. You’ll also probably have cars right behind you that are travelling straight through the fresh green light and will be waiting for you to move to clear their path. It’s a lot to remember and take in which is probably why some people find hook turns so terrifying.

So, can you turn across tram tracks to make a right-hand turn. Yes, and unless it’s one of the few designated hook turn intersections, then you turn right from the right-hand lane just like any other intersection.

(Image: Sam Irvine)
(Image: Sam Irvine)

The history of hook turns is interesting, too. They’ve actually been a thing for about 100 years in plenty of countries other than here, but to be fair, they’re pretty rare these days. And like those other countries that have experimented with the hook turn Australia started phasing them out in the 1950s. So it’s really only Melbourne that has hung on to the concept, and then only in the CBD.

That said, have a guess at how many hook turns in Melbourne still exist. The answer – apparently – is 49! And even in 2025, are hook turns only in Melbourne? No, and Adelaide still has one or two. But the hook turn Adelaide style is a bit less confronting as it applies only to metro buses and not private cars.

(Image: Sam Irvine)
(Image: Sam Irvine)

Even today, research suggests that as many as 40 or so per cent of Melbourne drivers (and a much higher percentage of interstate drivers) will avoid doing a hook turn in the first place. And even though that’s not the intention, it no doubt helps keep those intersections clear for trams, which is the whole point in the first place.

The other thing to consider is that if you do plan to make a hook turn, you need to be prepared to see it through. Changing your mind and turning right from the right-hand lane of a hook turn intersection - even if the intersection is otherwise empty - is against the law and carries fines and demerit points.

David Morley
Contributing Journalist
Morley’s attentions turned to cars and motoring fairly early on in his life. The realisation that the most complex motor vehicle was easier to both understand and control than the simplest human-being, set his career in motion. Growing up in the country gave the young Morley a form of motoring freedom unmatched these days, as well as many trees to dodge. With a background in newspapers, the move to motoring journalism was no less logical than Clive Palmer’s move into politics, and at times, at least as funny.
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