Who's in the wrong?

[Karma]

Morning,

Had an scary moment this morning on the way to work.

Was crusiing along the flush median past all the traffic backed up on Kepa road when some tart decides to pull a u-turn in front of me without looking or indicating.

First reaction was to haul on the anchors in order to stop, then suddenly realised, shit, there's all fucking gravel and dust and shit and the front wheel just went out from under me, skillfully (or luckily) I immeadiately stuck out my foot and in a motard style managed to keep the bike upright.

Many swearwords were said, and I continued on my way.

Question is however, riding on the median strip isn't technically legal is it? And if therefore we had collided, who would have been at fault? Either of us, or just a 50/50 claim?

[jimbo600]

Its always the cagers fault mate

[mynameis]

Hey bud,

Have been in a similar situation before as well and fortunately a cop was near by and witnessed the whole thing. The cager was fined $150 for pulling a " U eee " on a busy 4 lane road. Two lanes either side but he still decided to do it.

Not being sad or racist but he was Asian. Sorry to the fellow good Asian riders and drivers out there but some give you guys a bad name. Anyway in that case he was wrong and fined. I slammed my brakes and skidded for almost 10 meters but didn't come off.

Having said that, driving on flush media for reasons either than purpose of turning right is illegal and if you were snapped doing that, it would have been a one fiddy gift voucher from the coppers as well.

Critical bit in my opinion in this situation is however whether you're allowed to pull a " U eee " or not and even if he was allowed to and say for argument sake you did slam into him. How you handle the situation is important. Sometimes it pays off to lie and be dishonest. If I slammed into him and had major damage on my bike I would claim I went into the flush media to turn and he pulled a " U eee " hence the cagers fault

NB: your bike needs a wash too man !!

[crashe]

Yep you answered yourself correctly there...

You aint meant to ride on the medium strip..... (can be a $150 fine)
unless you are turning, and then only pull into it for that reason.
So if you hit, you would be technically in the wrong.

BUT.......... in saying that...

The driver didnt indicate or look...
so I would think it could end up being a no win situation for both of you's
as you could both get charged.


But probably the best people to really answer your question is the cops on the site.


PS: When passing on the medium strip think of going at the speed when you lane split.. a few KMs faster than when the traffic is doing... that way you are a lot safer should this happen again.

[Postie]

you were in the wrong to be in the median but the car driver was in the wrong to do a u turn with out checking the way was clear. The car driver crossed your path and even though you shouldn't have been on the median, you still had right of way, so the car technically should have given way to you but obviously didn't.
I had a similar accident on Dominion road, it was rush hour and I was turning from a side street on the left of D Road to go right, (I was in a car), so i had to cross both lanes. The traffic was stopped and someone left a gap and waved me through, then i got tagged from a car driving in the median, he was using it as a normal lane so he didn't have to wait in the line of traffic. He came off worse but I was in the wrong cos i failed to give way.

[Karma]

NB: your bike needs a wash too man !!

Thanks man, got a couple of days off to give it a clean now

PS: When passing on the medium strip think of going at the speed when you lane split.. a few KMs faster than when the traffic is doing... that way you are a lot safer should this happen again.

For sure, the cars were at a standstill and I was doing no more than about 20km/h at the time, so wouldn't have been a major incident.

[The_Dover]

were there any pies at steak?

[Karma]

Nah, I hadn't stopped for pies yet...

[CM2005]

CAR, CAR!!

We we're in our ute the other day, down at the round-a-bout just south of albany (the two lane one, that heads out to east coast bays) in the outside lane, going onto the motorway, when some blind woman in her beemer decided that she would turn left without signalling in a right turn only lane.. And then tryed to blame it on us.. Lucky we weren't on bikes.

[Swoop]

Did the cager indicate for a full 3 seconds before turning???

[Ixion]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know definatively what the rule is about crossing those median strip things on the Auckland motorway

EG , when you come onto the motorway at Mt Wellington there is this long median strip thing between the "merge" lane at the top of the on ramp, and the actual motorway lane. Other entries/exits have similar, though Mt Wellington is longer than most.

So what's the rule about crossing it ? NB CROSSING not driving/riding along it . Often there is a slow creeper at the front of a line of traffic going down the merge lane, but the motorway lane is clear. So I pull out , turn right (effectively) into the next right lane (the motorway lane) and proceed happily on my way. I have crossed the median whilst turning right (a lane change counts as a turn), but that is permitted is it not? Yet noone seems willing to cross the median.

[crashe]

For sure, the cars were at a standstill and I was doing no more than about 20km/h at the time, so wouldn't have been a major incident.

Mate I was only do that kinda speed and look what happened to my knee...
So slow speed can do just as much damage as fast speed...
Slow speed crash is like THUMP BANG with buggar all sliding.....

[crashe]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know definatively what the rule is about crossing those median strip things on the Auckland motorway

EG , when you come onto the motorway at Mt Wellington there is this long median strip thing between the "merge" lane at the top of the on ramp, and the actual motorway lane. Other entries/exits have similar, though Mt Wellington is longer than most.

So what's the rule about crossing it ? NB CROSSING not driving/riding along it . Often there is a slow creeper at the front of a line of traffic going down the merge lane, but the motorway lane is clear. So I pull out , turn right (effectively) into the next right lane (the motorway lane) and proceed happily on my way. I have crossed the median whilst turning right (a lane change counts as a turn), but that is permitted is it not? Yet noone seems willing to cross the median.

Dont think you are meant to cross them... so that you merge like a zip into the traffic. They have little shudder bar's under the white paint to deter people doing it...

Heaps of cars out west cross over them all the time... to jump into the next lane.....

I have never seen a cop stop anyone doing it YET...
but maybe there is a law against... anyone from Transit on KB we could ask... or the cops from AK may know...

No point in asking Scumdog as they dont have motorways down there in his neck of the woods...

[steved]

Both in the wrong eh? I'd imagine no insurance for either of you in the event of an accident and a ticket from the cops as well.

[Swoop]

A solid painted white line should be treated as if a median barrier type concrete block is there...
Just that our poverty-stricken roading system cannot afford more concrete barriers and so uses paint instead.