Merging Road Rules
There are two types of merging situations. Zip Merge and Lane End Merge.
Look for lines marked on the road to tell the difference.
Lane End Merge
Lane End Merge. Crossing a dotted lane end line
Car B is crossing a dotted “lane end” so must give way, waiting for car A to pass.
Car B must also signal because they are preparing to leave their lane.
Zip Merge. No lines to cross, two lines of traffic coming together.
Zip Merge
The concept is simple. The car in front goes first. It does not matter who is on the left or right.
Car A is ahead of Car B. The road is narrowing and all vehicles are being forced into one line of traffic. Car B must give way by dropping back allowing Car A to move in front.
Car A must also signal their intention to move into or join another line of traffic.
If Car B were ahead, then Car A must give way.
These cars may have been in two marked lanes or perhaps in two lines of traffic on a wide unlaned road.
Learn more about these and other common road rule issues on the My Licence road rules page. They have great video clips to help make sense of it all.
As a person who sometimes tos a boat or caravan the lane end merge is sometimes dangerous as it is an unknown how fast the trailing or passing car is travelling. To me a simpler and safer rule would be for the passing lane to end. ( Which it does) and for that traffic to give way to the inside traffic. Currently the passing lane magically becomes the road. While I know the rule is there any reason why it is so?
We travel major highways regularly and often see this situation and drivers struggling with the Lane End Merge. At times we have wondered if it would be better if these were changed to Zip Merges enabling the vehicle ahead to simply go first. Either way, forward planning is the key and adjusting speed well before the merge to fit in with the traffic in the other lane.
Good diagrams on merging. I was wondering if you should add a third option though. Many merging lanes start out with a dotted line that disappears halfway down the lane. I would assume it would then become a zip lane as it does not continue to the end of the lane. A diagram on this would be great too as I can see people arguing over that….
Hi Ann,
Thank you for commenting.
You are correct, any merge that has no dotted linew between the tow lines of traffic (that are merging) is a Zip merge.
We will put this one on the to-do list.
The stupidity of this is you don’t know what type of lane you are in until the very end and out of road at high speed. Lane end should be clearly marked well before so people know what situation awaits then, but really all exits should be a zip merge lane. Problem is people get agro and hostile over losing 5 metres which is nuts but that’s the truth of the situation. People need to take a chill pill and work together so our roadways are safer and more efficient at moving traffic for everyones benefit.
Problem with, lane end merge , is that the driver simply runs out of road at 110 km if cars keep coming through on the inside lane, and the cars in the out side lane run the risk of running up each other’s back sides. Zip merge is a much better idear I think……..One or the other, but not both
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I agree
Most Zip merges do not look like the diagram. In most cases the two lanes merge to become one ie. No real deviation, or equal deviation for both vehicles. In this case a turn signal should not be used as it is confusing and actually indicates moving into a third lane if there happens to be one.
Please make all lane end merges zip merges. A lot of people won’t allow the drivers who are merging in , and I’m surprised there aren’t more fatalities. Where I come from we also have a high volume of log trucks. Just imagine the carnage if these selfish drivers cut those off right at the end of a merging lane. Fully loaded trucks can’t stop in time as they travel at top speed. Or if a car in front of them has to stop suddenly because they can’t merge and the truck behind runs over the top of them. It’s at times very stressful
These are great information. I had an accident this morning. There was three lanes. I was in the middle lane. Left lane ends and form into 2 lanes. A Ute with Trailer tried to get in to my lane and as a result trailer scratched my left front bumper bar! He thinks that he gave a signal and it was his way. I thought that he cut me off because he didn’t calculate enough space. I am not sure who was right?
Hi Oscar,
Thank you for asking. If this wasa Zip Merge situation where two lanes become one and ther is no dotted line marking which lane is ending then the vehicle in front should go first. The vehicle behind (even slightly) must slow down (if needed) and giveway to the vehicle ahead. Merging vehicles should signal but even if they don’t, the giveway rules still apply. Does this help?