When you hear about a vehicle hitting the rear-end of another, you often believe it’s the driver of the rear vehicle who is to blame. That isn’t always the reality, though. There are special cases, like when traffic to the right is attempting to merge, that the vehicle already in a lane should have the right of way.
Take, for example, any major highway. There are long acceleration lanes where drivers are expected to speed up and merge into oncoming traffic. However, if they can’t merge safely, they do have to stop and yield to traffic that is already in the highway lane. Traffic on the freeway always has the right of way, because it’s moving at high speeds and already in-lane.
The person at fault in this collision hasn’t been determined or released by police, but it’s a good indication of how serious acceleration lanes and merging vehicles can be. At around 2:50 a.m., a vehicle hit the tail end of a tanker truck on the Garden State Parkway. That vehicle was transporting four people, a 21-year-old man, two 23-year-old men and a 24-year-old man. The 21-year-old man was driving when his vehicle collided with the rear of the tanker.
It’s not clear if the young men were cut off in traffic or if speeding was a cause of the crash, but it’s clear that a combination of factors led to their deaths. Each of the young men was pronounced dead at the scene.
When merging, it’s best if those in the right lane and acceleration lane attempt to match speeds or align well with one another. However, if push comes to shove, the person merging should allow the right lane’s traffic to pass unhindered to prevent a car crash.