TMR put this up on their Facebook asking who has to give way, but that’s too easy. A much more complicated question is: what does the law say around indicating?
I’ve seen people say only blue must indicate, others say both must indicate, and yet others say neither must indicate. Which is correct?
@Zagorath
Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Road Rules) Regulation 2009 QLD
Section 149
Giving way when lines of traffic merge into a single line of traffic
A driver in a line of traffic that is merging with 1 or more lines of traffic travelling in the same direction as the driver must give way to a vehicle in another line of traffic if any part of the vehicle is ahead of the driver’s vehicle.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units.
Yup, that part is easy enough. The part in doubt is who has to indicate in this scenario. I contend section 45(2) and (3) both apply, so both drivers must indicate (blue indicate right, orange indicate left). Others have made cases for only blue, or for neither.
@Zagorath
Only blue indicates, because they are the only one making a physical lateral movement with respect to their lane. The bike keeps straight with respect to their lane so no need to indicate.
What would the bike even indicate?
Left, because they are merging with the line of traffic to their left.
What’s a penalty unit?
@observes_depths
This financial year it is $161.30
They say “penalty unit” so that each time they increase the fine amount, they only have to update the legislation in one place - the place where the value of a penalty unit is defined. Otherwise, every time the fine amount changes, they would have to recalculate all the penalties and update the legislation in hundreds of places with a new dollar amount.