Pretty simple. I was driving listening to the greatest hit in the world. Life was great! The next moment, almost had a crash with a semi and oncoming vehicles.
Scenario:
Driving down Queens Rd in the morning around 9:20am (dashcam footage shows 10:20am because I'm too lazy to adjust DST time), there's a period between 5am-11am, where inbound turns into 3 lanes. There is a sign. However, there is a short stretch of road that has no line markings and is a bit tight. I'm driving alongside a big semi towards the unmarked road ahead on the RHS. He indicates right for roughly 5 seconds, then proceeds to push me out onto the oncoming lane. Luckily there were no cars headed my way and the crisis was averted. Phew!
From my perspective after reviewing the footage:
- His move to the right was completely unnecessary as it seemed like an intentional, possibly malicious(?) move to nudge me out of the lane. This is reinforced by the fact that the footage shows his sudden change in direction, taking up more space on the RHS of the unmarked lane(s), and moved back to the middle lane after making his point clear.
- If he had maintained course and not veered right, I simply would have slowed down more to go behind him. There was nowhere for me to go at the time as another semi was right behind him.
- How good was Jennifer Paige back in the day!?
Added a fun poll. Change your mind. Doesn't bother me.
Put yourself in both perspectives of the truck driver and mine. What are your thoughts?
I'll comment and reply if I feeeels like it. Deep down, I hope he's on OzB and reading this.
Dashcam footage: https://vimeo.com/790319356 (Skip to 2min mark)
Co-ordinates: -37.84865339835693, 144.97764102939985
EDIT: Some of you have asked for aerial sketch of this. I have delivered.
This represents the facts of the truck's movements which I have compared with the video. I have an adjudicator with me who can corroborate my story, however, if you wish to talk to him, he's sleeping after having some milk before bed. So he cannot reply =)
Anyways, this may give a better indication of what happened rather than the coming to the swift conclusion of, "3 lanes merged to 2, truck was in front, he has right of way, blah blah blah". In most cases, yes, I would agree with this. In this case, and in my eyes, it's not so black and white.
Sketch: https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/139298/101169/car_inci…
FINAL CONCLUSION
After reviewing the footage and getting a lot of votes and feedback, I've come to the realisation that I was in the wrong in this scenario. Simple!
Quick Summary:
* The 2 far right lanes, DO, in fact, merge into one. There is no middle lane. It's just mistakenly perceived that way because it quickly goes from 3>2>3 again during this allocated time.
* The truck driver was probably indicating right to let me know in advance as a warning that I was going to get squeezed as he had right of way being in front
* https://youtu.be/EIhSnaqou0I - This will remind me to be more aware on our roads around trucks. I hope it will do the same for you.
* Thanks to you all for the newly found insight.
No line marking at end of lane = zip merging = “you must give way to a vehicle which has any part of its vehicle ahead of yours”
https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/road-r…
Also you were sitting in their blind spot which is just pretty unsafe driving.
FWIW music is not trash.
EDIT: I have rewatched the footage - it may not be as clear as a zip merge. It’s really not clear what happens here. Do you have an aerial?
Either way yes they should have checked the lane was clear before merging. My statement on you sitting in their blind spot still stands.