I agree. All over Australia they get it wrong. The broken lines as they are now give priority to the fast lane and the slow lane has to cross the broken lines. Theoretically a slow vehicle merging should give way to the fast lane. The broken line should go out to the centre (double) line, and thus give priority to the slow lane to merge. Not that it would matter - most Oz drivers drive in the fast lane anyway - whatever their speed. The law says that you must drive as close as practicable to the LEFT side of the road. Most drivers hog the centreline.

I was taught to give as much clearance as possible to the oncoming drivers - they may sneeze, be distracted by kids in teh back seat, tuning the radio, talking on the phone - anything. Give them as much room as possible because a head on crash is going to be deadly.

It's a race for many people to whom it's seems to be 'critically important' to be the car in front once the lanes become one. I find it even worse when towing, no matter how far ahead I indicate that "I'm about to merge", the race is on to the very last second to get ahead of the dreaded caravan at all costs. Road markings certainly don't help, but I think the bigger problem is driver arrogance and impatience.

Brisbane and surrounds has my vote for the worst drivers, and the worst road system. Getting on the motor ways a night mare, driving off, and around is even worse. Speed limit ----- what speed limit!

Morning all,

The meaning of the sign merging is as it says YOUR MERGING WITH YOUR INDCATOR FLASHING, YOU HAVE RIGHT OF WAY.YOU ARE IN FRONT OF THE OTHER VEHICLE AT THIS POINT. MERGE. 

If The over taking Trafifc is bearing down on the MERGING Trafifc , They have to MERGE with That Traffic. 

It is Quite Clear to see at the end of the devided  lanes, the Lane becomes a series of progressive broken lines.

If you are indcating in this section you have right of way.YOU ARE MERGING.

Be iT 80km, 90km, OR 100km. The Vehicle passing is no longer able to PASS. The road becomes ONE. Therefore the They have To MERGE.

They can be belting along at 130km as an example. It DOES NOT give them the right to get off on their HORN  Just because the TRUCK, CAR, CAR /VAN/ BOAT or BIKE are traveling at a lower speed.

( I never leave home without the twin Dash cams. Front and rear windows @ 180deg view.)

Grey.

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:35:38 AM

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:39:21 AM

FWIW I recently watched a police officer, on tv, in Qld, say that the driver in the right fast lane, has right of way at all times! Sounds funny to me but he was the who hands out the tickets!

dogbox wrote:

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Possum3 wrote:

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erad wrote:

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 The law says that you must drive as close as practicable to the LEFT side of the road. 

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 When posted speed limit is 80 KPH or more, or indicated (by signage).

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80 kph or over 80 kph ??

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 When the speed is "80 OR more".....that is 80,90,100,110kmh or higher.

iana wrote:

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I must be wrong, but the signs seem to be all mixed up! merging ----- dual lanes becoming one, however the dashed line ends BEFORE by about 50m. To me that means the two lanes have just become one wide lane, tapering to the standard single lane. In WA, the rule was the car  lagging behind another car must give way (left or right side), very simple MERGING like a zip. But-

When the dotted line goes all the way to where the left lane ends, i.e. two lanes become one, vehicles in the left lane lane are changing lanes, they should indicate their intentions, and only cross the dashed line when safe to do so, in other words they have to give way to traffic in the right lane. In this case we often rely on courteous drivers,  however if bif comes to crunch, (I believe) its the vehicle changing lanes that's at fault.

My beef isn't about that however, its the signage, "Merge" and "Form one lane", how come they can't get it right.

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 Hi Ian...You are absolutely correct in all your assertions.Perhaps the signs could read "Merge to form one lane?".Cheers

Rod Mac wrote:

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Would be nice if all the road rules were Australia wide, in Qld 'keep left when not overtaking' applies when the speed is 90kmh (yes,Ninety) or more on multi lane roads.

Also Qld does not require a set slower speed for passing emergency vehicles, other states have differences in that regard.

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 Sensible, but unlikely to happen. State premiers have ego's to maintain.

How about simply driving to suit the conditions, you know! apply a bit of common sense.

The Australian attitude seems to be not to allow others to merge, if you see a gap, close it, what ever you do don't show the merging vehicle any mercy, on the other hand all other countries I've driven in (including the USA) seem to have been educated to the fact others are on the road and should be considered, they will drop back and let you in.

So, knowing these things, we adjust our driving habits to suit the country we're in.

Old and Grey wrote:

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Morning all,

The meaning of the sign merging is as it says YOUR MERGING WITH YOUR INDCATOR FLASHING, YOU HAVE RIGHT OF WAY.YOU ARE IN FRONT OF THE OTHER VEHICLE AT THIS POINT. MERGE. 

If The over taking Trafifc is bearing down on the MERGING Trafifc , They have to MERGE with That Traffic. 

It is Quite Clear to see at the end of the devided  lanes, the Lane becomes a series of progressive broken lines.

If you are indcating in this section you have right of way.YOU ARE MERGING.

Be iT 80km, 90km, OR 100km. The Vehicle passing is no longer able to PASS. The road becomes ONE. Therefore the They have To MERGE.

They can be belting along at 130km as an example. It DOES NOT give them the right to get off on their HORN  Just because the TRUCK, CAR, CAR /VAN/ BOAT or BIKE are traveling at a lower speed.

( I never leave home without the twin Dash cams. Front and rear windows @ 180deg view.)

Grey.

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:35:38 AM

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:39:21 AM

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time to reread the rule book

I think overall, every body in Australia is a bad driver when it comes to taking care around cyclists, every driver is a bad driver in my perspective, when I am riding except in the Netherlands, where they are the most courteous I have ever come across. I don't think, their would be very  many forum members on here that know the actual road rules when coming up to a cyclist  whether it is 60km per hr and under zone, or a doing over that speed. I would be surprised if anyone knew the law.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Sunday 14th of June 2020 08:56:49 PM

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Sunday 14th of June 2020 09:20:42 PM

dogbox wrote:

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Old and Grey wrote:

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Morning all,

The meaning of the sign merging is as it says YOUR MERGING WITH YOUR INDCATOR FLASHING, YOU HAVE RIGHT OF WAY.YOU ARE IN FRONT OF THE OTHER VEHICLE AT THIS POINT. MERGE. 

If The over taking Trafifc is bearing down on the MERGING Trafifc , They have to MERGE with That Traffic. 

It is Quite Clear to see at the end of the devided  lanes, the Lane becomes a series of progressive broken lines.

If you are indcating in this section you have right of way.YOU ARE MERGING.

Be iT 80km, 90km, OR 100km. The Vehicle passing is no longer able to PASS. The road becomes ONE. Therefore the They have To MERGE.

They can be belting along at 130km as an example. It DOES NOT give them the right to get off on their HORN  Just because the TRUCK, CAR, CAR /VAN/ BOAT or BIKE are traveling at a lower speed.

( I never leave home without the twin Dash cams. Front and rear windows @ 180deg view.)

Grey.

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:35:38 AM

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:39:21 AM

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time to reread the rule book

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 Agreed, Vic is exactly the same as the link to QLD law depicts and as stated earlier for SA. I would suspect that this is one of the laws that are the same in all states.

It is the duty of all drivers to maintain their currency with road rules (for ALL states they drive in). And they DO change (eg. stationary emergency vehicles vary in each state).

 

Sarco

yobarr wrote:

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Old and Grey wrote:

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Morning all,

The meaning of the sign merging is as it says YOUR MERGING WITH YOUR INDCATOR FLASHING, YOU HAVE RIGHT OF WAY.YOU ARE IN FRONT OF THE OTHER VEHICLE AT THIS POINT. MERGE. 

If The over taking Trafifc is bearing down on the MERGING Trafifc , They have to MERGE with That Traffic. 

It is Quite Clear to see at the end of the devided  lanes, the Lane becomes a series of progressive broken lines.

If you are indcating in this section you have right of way.YOU ARE MERGING.

Be iT 80km, 90km, OR 100km. The Vehicle passing is no longer able to PASS. The road becomes ONE. Therefore the They have To MERGE.

They can be belting along at 130km as an example. It DOES NOT give them the right to get off on their HORN  Just because the TRUCK, CAR, CAR /VAN/ BOAT or BIKE are traveling at a lower speed.

( I never leave home without the twin Dash cams. Front and rear windows @ 180deg view.)

Grey.

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:35:38 AM

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Sunday 14th of June 2020 10:39:21 AM

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 Old and Grey (Do you have a name?).If the merging vehicle has to cross any white line to allow it to merge onto the highway,then the traffic on the highway has absolute right of way.The merging traffic must give way,and if a collision occurs,the merging vehicle is at fault,no matter how many cameras are involved.The exception is where there is no dotted line between the merging lane and the highway,in which case the vehicle that is "ahead" has right of way.The biggest problems at merging lanes are created by those drivers who do not even attempt to accelerate to the same speed as the  traffic on the highway before they try to merge.Therein lies the problem.Many times I have seen cars stationary at the point where the merging lane ends,because they don't know how to merge.Stupidity in the extreme,not to mention dangerous.And the suggestion that all traffic in the left lane of the highway should slow down to allow some incompetent onto to the highway,is ridiculous.Remember,if the front car in a line of traffic has to slow down,then obviously all thaffic in that line must slow down,or change lanes.Very few drivers will deny access to the highway by a driver who is travelling at a speed that is close to their own speed.Cheers

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 Morning yobarr and everyone,

My apologies for not making myself understood and clear on the above. Its the Grey matter getting Greyer.

IMO There are Two types. MERGE and MERGING.

Lets deal with the the word MERGE. I am refering here two over taking lanes when a single lane divides into two lanes, for the purpose of forming a over taking lane of ALL slower vehicles.

At the end of the dual carrage way, you see the sign MERGE. The over taking lane Merges with the slower lane to again become ONE. Yes.

For some, they feel they have the god given right, to just try, to force their way past you, which ever way they can. Even If it means crossing to the WRONG side of the road over double UNBROKEN lines to do so. 

 

The MERGING from a side road, Some may refer to as a slip road in other countries to join an existing Highway / Motorway with a single lane through to multy lanes.

The traffic joining from the side road ARE ENTERING A CARRIAGE WAY. FULL STOP. They must Give Way to the THROUGH TRAFFIC. Even if they have to reduce their speed to safely join same.

Common sense pervails / Its Manners, to change lanes on the through traffic to maintain your current speed to allow joining traffic to MERGE. IF Safe to do so.

Again I apologise for my wording.

(PS.Don't Forget to indicate)

Grey

-- Edited by Old and Grey on Monday 15th of June 2020 09:45:11 AM

dogbox wrote:

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totally depends on the line markings as to who gives way

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 Is this not what several of us have stated in earlier posts? Cheers