Old doddery couple or give way rule.

[rickstv]

I use this intersection every morning. vehicles coming out of The Avenue have a give way sign. At this time of the morning they cross the north bound lane and sit by the median and most wait for a chance to merge. Some just barge in.

They absolutely don't have right of way.

[DEATH_INC.]

Would they have tried it on if our OP was in a truck?

Probably, ask any truckee how often this happens....

[superman]

I'd like to see a law enforcement officers opinion on this.....to me, it looks like they are 'merging', they aren't crossing a line of any sort, and there's no give way or stop sign..... I'd say technically they had the right of way.
But then I could be wrong.....there's always a first time

So if you're sitting in a median strip and then pull onto the road from stationary you have right of way over the moving vehicles because there is no give way or stop signs? Or pulling out from a parking position as well for that matter?!

[Timmeh:P]

I'd like to see a law enforcement officers opinion on this.....to me, it looks like they are 'merging', they aren't crossing a line of any sort, and there's no give way or stop sign..... I'd say technically they had the right of way.
But then I could be wrong.....there's always a first time

Just pulled this off the road code and also an Aerial shot of the junction. As it has happened to me a number of times (slamming on the anchors to avoid collision).

Rode Code:

If you are in a merge lane at an intersection:

- show you want to merge by signalling for at least three seconds
- move into a safe gap in the traffic
- adjust your speed and following distance.

Safe gap is the key here. They did not merge into a safe gap.

Looking at the aerial, it could be considered a merge lane, but it is a VERY short one at that.

[onearmedbandit]

Just think, if the OP had a gun mounted on the front of his bike instead of a camera, there would be no debate whatsoever.

[lone_slayer]

No way was that considered a safe merge. that could have very easily been nasty if you wernt so onto it... if you were a truck they would have no car cause a truck cant slow that quickly

[superman]

No way was that considered a safe merge. that could have very easily been nasty if you wernt so onto it... if you were a truck they would have no car cause a truck cant slow that quickly

Probably why they did it "ahh the bike will look after itself, he doesn't want to get hurt"

[Katman]

Probably why they did it "ahh the bike will look after itself, he doesn't want to get hurt"

Well he'd be silly if he did want to.

[avgas]

shit happens. You had 100m to slow down.
No major.
Buy a box a tissues you pussy.

Its not a case of right or wrong unless you are a cop, or they crash INTO you.

HTFU or sell up

[javawocky]

Buy a box a tissues you pussy. ... HTFU or sell up

... but, but they hhuuurt my feelings!!! ... I am so badly shaken after the incident I cant bring my self to start the death trap up

[Scuba_Steve]

I disagree ... the gap was not "reasonable" the bike was way too close when the car moved ... the bike is at the end of the white line from the intersection when the car moves ... that's really close ... the driver was chancing it on the assumption that the rider would not want to hit the car and would brake ...

I would have said the gap was "reasonable" but by the time the car made a move the gap was all but gone & no longer there let alone "reasonable" cause as you mentioned they didn't make a move till he was pretty much at the end of the turning bay.

[EJK]

The red car has right of way?
FUCK - NO !!!

+1

[Katman]

I think it was obvious fairly early in the piece that their intention was to merge into the gap.

The only trouble was, they did it at Grandad pace.

[cbfb]

They had to give way, no dispute about that, it's in the Road Code.

Giving way means you should not force an oncoming vehicle to take evasive action. It doesn't mean try and squeeze into the smallest gap, the guy behind can slow down.

You didn't look like you were riding that quickly.

Blatantly the red car didn't even bother looking. Just lucky you weren't closer.

If it were me I'd be reporting them for dodgy driving.

[buellbabe]

Yeah I would have been looking at that car thinking "bet that f**ker will pull into that gap in front of me at a snails pace"...its called defensive riding or expect every other road user to do dumb/discurteous things.

There was clearly a truck parked opposite the intersection...that makes the whole scenario unsafe in my opinion. But I'm pretty sure the driver would have thought that a bike was quite capable of moving out of the way for him.

Oh no ,wait a minute that implies that the driver SAW you and actually gave a shit... oops! my mistake!

I would be pissed off too but thats just all part of the daily risk we take riding our 'death machines'.
Still won't ever stop me!