Learner licence holder accident.

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Learner licence holder accident.

1 | 2 | 3

Goosey

3016 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 871

Subscriber

#3455976 26-Jan-2026 12:10

Ok. Op was sitting in the painted flush median in the centre of the road (from the sounds of it)There had just come from their driveway. They were “waiting stationary”, to merge.

Remember the cops attended…. And now Op has an infringement notice.

i doubt said cop would have made that decision lightly based on the evidence they had at the time and the result.

potentially the other driver did not expect OP to merge suddenly…

Jase2985

13732 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6206

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3455980 26-Jan-2026 12:49

It's your responsibility as the person merging to ensure you are at speed, and give way when merging from the median into the general traffic lane.

Just because you indicate doesn't give you the right to just merge, not saying this is the case, but so many people think that just because they have their indicator on they have the right to conduct their manoeuvre.

MadEngineer

4591 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2570

Trusted

#3456180 26-Jan-2026 17:51

Using a flush median to enter traffic is always risky. It's perfectly legal when done correctly but other people have a tendency to freak out when you do it so you have to choose your moment very wisely.

If I'm using one, I'll wait until there's a good gap in the traffic and turn into it on the gap so as to not make any cars think I'm going to slam into their side. I keep my indicator on the direction of the first maneuver, so as to show I'm not entering the lane yet. When I can see the next gap approaching, I'll indicate into the lane at the moment the last car on the gap is past the point of needing any concern for what I'm up to, allowing for three seconds of notification then cleanly pull in.

For pulling out of a driveway, you might find it safer to exit your driveway onto the same side of the road, then make a u-turn further up the road.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

tonygeekzone

45 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 20

#3456183 26-Jan-2026 18:01

Goosey:

Ok. Op was sitting in the painted flush median in the centre of the road (from the sounds of it)There had just come from their driveway. They were “waiting stationary”, to merge.

Remember the cops attended…. And now Op has an infringement notice.

i doubt said cop would have made that decision lightly based on the evidence they had at the time and the result.

potentially the other driver did not expect OP to merge suddenly…

Yes I'd come out of my driveway into the median strip (and yes looked both ways before entering) as I'd already seen I had plenty of distance between myself and the flow of traffic coming from my left ( including said 4X4 ) and merged as you would (remember like a zip ) it wasn't a sudden movement at all again plenty of time/ room to do so, unless you speed up to try and stop it from happening, which I see every day, including on the onramps entering the motorway, neer miss all the time on my morning travel to work, trucks, Ute drivers are pretty bad at this I might add!

tonygeekzone

45 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 20

#3456185 26-Jan-2026 18:12

Jase2985:

It's your responsibility as the person merging to ensure you are at speed, and give way when merging from the median into the general traffic lane.

Just because you indicate doesn't give you the right to just merge, not saying this is the case, but so many people think that just because they have their indicator on they have the right to conduct their manoeuvre.

Yes correct it's definitely the driver's responsibility who is turning into traffic to give way ; ) and agree so many people do that, they just pull out of a side street right over into your lane while indicating, no giving way at all,so you have to brake quite firmly! annoyingly you'll get the old sorry "hazard light flash"

mudguard

2327 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1250

#3456187 26-Jan-2026 18:20

I'd argue the turn across traffic into the flush median is almost a uniquely Auckland maneuver. Legal yes, but you're at the absolute mercy of the following traffic.

There are usually two scenarios. Someone gets across the first lane, then stops in the flush median, which then relies on someone else virtually stopping to let them in, queue accordion effect.

Or you get into median and get up to speed and merge. Honestly I see it often enough driver's trying to right turn across two lanes (four lane road) and relying on two lanes to let them in. Honestly I just think, make the left out of your driveway until you can make a couple of much safer right turns.

Sadly I suspect the police are in the right, there's no obligation for the following car to let you in.

My other traffic pet peeve is when on 100kmh roads people don't pull over to the left when they want to turn right and block the lane.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

tonygeekzone

45 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 20

#3456188 26-Jan-2026 18:28

MadEngineer:

Using a flush median to enter traffic is always risky. It's perfectly legal when done correctly but other people have a tendency to freak out when you do it so you have to choose your moment very wisely.

If I'm using one, I'll wait until there's a good gap in the traffic and turn into it on the gap so as to not make any cars think I'm going to slam into their side. I keep my indicator on the direction of the first maneuver, so as to show I'm not entering the lane yet. When I can see the next gap approaching, I'll indicate into the lane at the moment the last car on the gap is past the point of needing any concern for what I'm up to, allowing for three seconds of notification then cleanly pull in.

For pulling out of a driveway, you might find it safer to exit your driveway onto the same side of the road, then make a u-turn further up the road.

Yes using the flush median has its risks, but used probably and with a bit of confidence and consideration from others,it's not a problem, I wouldn't like to try the U turn idea, I might add 45 years of driving and my very first ticket for this, in fact my first accident that I've been blamed as the cause of it!

tonygeekzone

45 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 20

#3456190 26-Jan-2026 18:49

mudguard:

I'd argue the turn across traffic into the flush median is almost a uniquely Auckland maneuver. Legal yes, but you're at the absolute mercy of the following traffic.

There are usually two scenarios. Someone gets across the first lane, then stops in the flush median, which then relies on someone else virtually stopping to let them in, queue accordion effect.

Or you get into median and get up to speed and merge. Honestly I see it often enough driver's trying to right turn across two lanes (four lane road) and relying on two lanes to let them in. Honestly I just think, make the left out of your driveway until you can make a couple of much safer right turns.

Sadly I suspect the police are in the right, there's no obligation for the following car to let you in.

My other traffic pet peeve is when on 100kmh roads people don't pull over to the left when they want to turn right and block the lane.

Yes I'd agree with some of this, it was a Sunday afternoon so traffic was on the lighter side, and yes after reading the comments and a bit googling it's now obvious why I'm also getting a ticket, I have no doubt the learner driver has also received something in the mail.

"My other traffic pet peeve is when on 100kmh roads people don't pull over to the left when they want to turn right and block the lane."

And yep that's another one of mine as well, also the amount of people willing to cross the centre line to get passed a parked vehicle, and I mean, like crossing right in my path! a near head-on collision, forced to take evasive action to avoid an accident, hopefully that would be pretty clear cut to insurance and the police..

tweake

2641 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1137

#3456200 26-Jan-2026 20:38

tonygeekzone:

"My other traffic pet peeve is when on 100kmh roads people don't pull over to the left when they want to turn right and block the lane."

And yep that's another one of mine as well, also the amount of people willing to cross the centre line to get passed a parked vehicle, and I mean, like crossing right in my path! a near head-on collision, forced to take evasive action to avoid an accident, hopefully that would be pretty clear cut to insurance and the police..

unfortunately most of our roads around here there is no side of the road that can take a full vehicle. if you go over the fog line, you go into the drain. of course people are tailgating, or fast asleep and don't slow down.

but funny enough we also get the opposite from people who will stop rather than overtake on a completely empty road. they don't know how or that you can overtake. weird.

then there is a few drugged up individuals who like to cause accidents. eg stop and wait for a car to start to overtake, then turn across their path. the usual one is sit on the centre line, indicate left but block people from overtaking on the right. had someone who almost learnt the hard way by overtaking the traffic that stopped behind the suicidal person.

dash cams and road watch website are great.

we have a hard to get out of road here. many people use the median to turn onto, then merge. however a lot of the traffic is speeding, people see the cars come out slam on brakes etc. all hell breaks loose. also quite common for people to overtake on the median. not uncommon to go head on with someone on the median. havn't seen a cop car or camera van there for many many years now.

ben28

196 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 89

#3456440 27-Jan-2026 17:30

"I'd argue the turn across traffic into the flush median is almost a uniquely Auckland maneuver. Legal yes, but you're at the absolute mercy of the following traffic. "

It's a maneuver that you're expected to use on the current driving tests. Fail to do so and you could get a 'too slow' critical error for failing to move when its safe for over 5 seconds.

So new drivers nationwide should know about it.

I suspect overseas drivers who did not need to sit a practical test (Aus,UK,EU, USA..) etc don't know about it and also older NZ drivers

ben28

BlakJak

1330 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 735

Trusted

#3456452 27-Jan-2026 17:59

Big call to assume that people don't make a cross-traffic turn into a flush centre median in other parts of the world!!

It's covered in the road code here.

Quick Google search revealed the USA approach is by-state. Good thread here on Reddit (remember it's a left turn for them, not a right).

Bottom line - you're completing a lane merge, you must give way to traffic that is not changing lanes (i.e. travelling straight within their own lane) - they're not required to slow down for you, or wave you in. But if you're entirely within the new lane (i.e. no longer changing lanes) and they're still behind you, they should've had plenty of time to avoid you by slowing down.

If the reason the learner driver in OP's scenario attempted to undertake was that they were unable to safely stop behind, that'd bear more investigation I think. But also - if you pull into traffic and force others to brake heavily to evade - well there's a problem right there.
If the reason was that they were being impatient and decided to undertake with no other valid reason for doing it, their fault I think.

No signature to see here, move along...

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

Scott3

4177 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2990

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3456539 28-Jan-2026 01:29

mudguard:

I'd argue the turn across traffic into the flush median is almost a uniquely Auckland maneuver. Legal yes, but you're at the absolute mercy of the following traffic.

There are usually two scenarios. Someone gets across the first lane, then stops in the flush median, which then relies on someone else virtually stopping to let them in, queue accordion effect.

Or you get into median and get up to speed and merge. Honestly I see it often enough driver's trying to right turn across two lanes (four lane road) and relying on two lanes to let them in. Honestly I just think, make the left out of your driveway until you can make a couple of much safer right turns.

Sadly I suspect the police are in the right, there's no obligation for the following car to let you in.

My other traffic pet peeve is when on 100kmh roads people don't pull over to the left when they want to turn right and block the lane.

There is a third situation (which seems to happy to me the rare few times I turn right into a painted median), Come to a stop in the median, and stay stationary with the left indictor on as traffic flows past on the left until there is a gap.

"My other traffic pet peeve is when on 100kmh roads people don't pull over to the left when they want to turn right and block the lane."

That one is a really subjective call. The road code does set out how to do it, but also states: "Safety tip: Moving to the left is not always an option and can be dangerous"

Should note that it is legal to pass a right turning vehicle on the left, and often a hard shoulder is provisioned, so that a zoned out driver notices a stationary car waiting to turn right too late to safely stop, they have that escape path to pass on the left. Looking like we will have to fund such a road widening at a location where a project of ours will induce some more right turning traffic in a 100 km/h zone.

Have had the situation where I pulled over left intending to turn right, and the car behind me which was also turning right decided to stop near the centerline (I can see how they could be confused, people intending to turn right from the left side of the road are required to initially indicated left for at least three seconds, I could have just picked one of the stupidest hard shoulders to grab something from the boot...). Now both the main lane and the hard shoulder were blocked, meaning no escape path for a zoned out driver. Thankfully everybody was paying attention, and the following traffic came safely to a stop.

Scott3

4177 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2990

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3456541 28-Jan-2026 02:19

tonygeekzone:

Yes I'd agree with some of this, it was a Sunday afternoon so traffic was on the lighter side, and yes after reading the comments and a bit googling it's now obvious why I'm also getting a ticket, I have no doubt the learner driver has also received something in the mail.

There isn't enough information shared here for anybody to make a call if you failed to give way or not.

If you do contest this, I would avoid using the word "Merge". In a traffic context merge refers two or more lanes of traffic moving in the same direction, combining into a single lane, requiring drivers to smoothly join a single stream. As a right turning vehicle, you are required (in absence of signs etc), required to give way to traffic going straight. Likewise as a vehicle changing lanes (& moving from the median to the traffic lane), you are required to give way.

Easy to see how the officer could have made a quick call on this one. Two vehicles crashed, one of the was going straight, one was turning. Send the fine to the give way vehicle...

Of course, at some point, the "give way status" from the turn / lane change does disappear, and the the following vehicle picks up it's normal give way status. When this occurs is going to depend on details of the situation not disclosed, partially the closing speed of the vehicles, reaction time of the following vehicle, breaking performance of that vehicle etc.

If it was possible to prove the location of the collision (video? Tread marks on the shoulder etc), that might be the best evidence you could use to support contesting the claim. If it was hundreds of meters away from the intersection it would cast doubt on the claim.

Be aware (regardless of what actually happened), the other drivers statement almost certainty states that they when you started to move into their lane, they felt the closing speed was such that they felt they could not avoid a collision by breaking. As such they decided to attempt to go around you. They selected the left for a reason (you still partially blocking the median and oncoming traffic in the right lane perhaps), and floored the accelerator to attempt to get past before the gap on the left closed....

It is fairly easy to request the police to review an infringement notice, so might as well give this a crack. Sounds strange that the attending officer didn't collect a statement from you, this alone might be enough to cast doubt.

You can also request a court hearing. My understanding is the police need to prove their claim beyond a reasonable doubt. May be challenging for them given they didn't witness the incident and collected only a single statement... But be aware that court ordered penalties are higher than police infringement penalties. Suggest getting legal advise before going this route.

Bung

6733 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2926

Subscriber

#3456543 28-Jan-2026 04:30

Scott3:

There is a third situation (which seems to happy to me the rare few times I turn right into a painted median), Come to a stop in the median, and stay stationary with the left indictor on as traffic flows past on the left until there is a gap.

If their haven't interrupted the flush median with a merging lane that is how NZTA expect you to use the median. Effectively it becomes a "pulling out of a parallel park" situation.

tweake

2641 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1137

#3456758 28-Jan-2026 19:52

Scott3:

Have had the situation where I pulled over left intending to turn right, and the car behind me which was also turning right decided to stop near the centerline (I can see how they could be confused, people intending to turn right from the left side of the road are required to initially indicated left for at least three seconds, I could have just picked one of the stupidest hard shoulders to grab something from the boot...). Now both the main lane and the hard shoulder were blocked, meaning no escape path for a zoned out driver. Thankfully everybody was paying attention, and the following traffic came safely to a stop.

i had a similar sort of thing but being on the side road coming out and someone pulls over on the shoulder. traffic goes past and when i start pulling out they take off and turn into the side road across my nose. there was no need for them to stop on the shoulder, they made the situation more dangerous.

1 | 2 | 3