Merging road-rule question perplexes Queensland drivers

A road rule question about merging has left people puzzled.

Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads posed a question on Facebook asking people which car went first.

“The two cars need to merge into one lane. Who goes first?” it wrote.

The orange car is in front of the blue car. They are separated by a dotted white line which ends next to a “form one lane” sign.

One man wrote the blue car should go first as drivers should always give way to the right.

“Blue one because it’s for overtaking and that yellow one will just slow down blue car and flow of traffic,” another man wrote.

A third man called it “the most confusing rule of all”.

He’s not alone in being frustrated or perplexed by merging either.

According to the Insurance Australia Group, 54 per cent of Australian drivers say they have problems merging, with 83 per cent claiming to have experienced other drivers merging poorly.

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Some people got the answer correct though – it’s the orange car that should go first in this scenario.

The picture Queensland Transport used demonstrates an example of zipper merging. It’s when two lanes of traffic combine into one and they aren’t separated by lines.

With this road rule, it’s the car in front which goes first. The driver still needs to indicate though.

However, if the image Queensland Transport featured the same two cars but with the line continuing the blue car would go first.

This type of merging is used when drivers are entering a motorway.

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