[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Stealth22

If someone didn't plan ahead and is trying to change lanes 50m before their turn, they are at fault. If someone is trying to squeeze in front of you in rush hour traffic over a painted island, they are at fault.

The driver changing lanes has a responsibility to do so safely. But they don't have to yield to you. If that was the case, no one would ever be able to change lanes, and would have to completely stop and wait until every single car in the other lane had passed.

As long as conditions are safe for them, the onus is on YOU to let them change lanes, not the other way around. You can't explicitly block a vehicle from overtaking or changing lanes ahead of you. If they're being an ass and jumping in front of you, then they're making an unsafe lane change and would be pulled over if a cop was behind you. But sharing the road is everyone's responsibility.

From the AB Traffic Safety Act: http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2002_304.pdf

I disagree. You conveniently left out the beginning of that section. It included it needed to be at a safe distance, but was a different scenario. What you've quoted is for when someone comes up behind you, moves to the left lane, passes you, and then moves back into your lane. If I am the slower vehicle on a two lane road, and a driver wants to pass me, I absolutely won't speed up. If I see another car coming in our direction, I'll slow down so he can get back in safely.

My situation is when we were both driving along a road similar to Sarcee Trail. I am traveling at the same speed as the car in front of me, with a reasonable gap. There is another lane on our left, going the same direction as us (picture a one way road with multiple lanes if it helps), and a car wanted in my lane. He was trying to beat the flow of traffic, and didn't want to have to wait for a car to turn left. There are almost always cars at this intersection turning left. At one point we were at a red light, and he jammed his nose right in front of my car. Even in your section 21, the other vehicle shall at a safe distance pass me on the left. There is no safe distance if you can't fit your car between two cars. In 21(1)(b) it says not return to the right side of the road until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle. If he only has his front bumped past me, he is not safely clear.

If you go down to Section 23, just below where you quoted, it says a person driving a vehicle shall not drive the vehicle so as to overtake and pass or attempt to overtake or to pass another vehicle (c) when the act of overtaking and passing cannot be made safely. If my car is where he wants to go, then it is not safe to drive your car there.

The correct section to quote would have been 15(2)
Before driving a vehicle from one traffic lane into another or
from a curb lane or a parking lane into a traffic lane, a person
driving a vehicle shall
(a) signal that person’s intention to do so in a manner as
provided for in Division 3, and
(b) give the signal in sufficient time to provide a reasonable
warning to other persons of that person’s intentions
From Section 15
(4)
Notwithstanding anything in this section, when the movement
cannot be made in safety, a person driving a vehicle shall not do
the following:
(a) drive the vehicle from one traffic lane to another

At not one point is it on me to make life easy for one guy trying to switch lanes because he tried getting ahead and got caught. All the people who are already in the right lane shouldn't have to wait for him to make an unsafe move. By my car being there, it isn't safe. It wasn't rush hour, but it was busy out, with many cars. Even if he had switched lanes, and then gone back to the left lane, he likely didn't save himself any time. We were going to have to wait for future intersections to clear.