West Australian Government tricks Perth drivers into being nice to each other

THE West Australian Government has bent the road rules in a promotional video featuring children in pedal cars that’s meant to teach drivers how to merge.

The 30-second video produced by the Department of Main Roads and titled “Merging: It’s child’s play”, is meant to help educate Perth motorists on how to use 56 new European-style merging lanes added to the city’s freeway network.

However, instead of using the video to demonstrate to Perth motorists how the road rules apply, the video instead suggests that drivers in one of the most merger-unfriendly cities in Australia be nice to each other.

According to the video, Perth’s drivers should move over that a merging driver can slip into the lane as early as possible.

“All the other drivers should leave a gap in the traffic or move to the right to make more room,” it says.

Moving over for merging traffic is good etiquette, but it isn’t a road rule.

Wheels has asked the state’s Main Roads Department for comment. Another government spokesperson told Wheels that Perth’s drivers were among the worst in Australia when it came to merging lanes.

“[The video campaign] is focused on showing that correct driver behaviour when merging is ‘child’s play’ and easy when you know how, with the campaign featuring a number of our future drivers,” Marmion said.

The Main Roads video is in stark contrast to others on the same topic, produced by both the West Australian Government and the state’s police force. They all warn the merging vehicle to give way to other traffic at all times when crossing a broken line.