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This morning I had an incident where I needed to change from the right lane to the left lane, As we slowly moved along in peek hour traffic I put on my indicator and waited for someone to make a gap so I could move across, alas no one was willing to show any courtesy and make a gap. As my exit was approaching I was forced to make a move so I looked over my left shoulder to catch the eye of the driver to my left behind me and slowly started moving across.

Unfortunately the driver of the car to my left would not make a gap even though it was obvious I was trying to merge across, he continued straight ahead so I had to pull back into my lane so to avoid a collision and try again further on, again he didn't let me in, further down I did find a road user who was willing to let me change lanes.

So my question is two fold:
1- Who has right of way? is this purely a courtesy thing and we have to wait for a gap or if adequate warning is given of a lane change then the other driver has to give way?

2 - If I continued on to pull across and the driver of the other car did not stop causing an intentional accident who would be at fault?

Many thanks for your advise.

Hi there,
The road user rule states the driver: must not move from a lane until he or she has first ascertained that the manoeuvre may be made safely, this would and is very hard in peak traffic, we experience it every day. It is a courtesy thing and may be deemed be your fault in an incident for not ensuring the way is clear when carrying out a lane change manoeuvre. http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2004/0427/latest/DLM303043.html