Aussie drivers praised for stopping motorist's annoying move in traffic jam: ‘Not all heroes wear capes'

Yahoo

19 hours ago

It's a move that grinds the gears of most Aussie motorists — when a driver tries to skip a long queue of traffic by sneaking down the shoulder of the road. But one driver's attempt to overtake two full lanes of traffic in Victoria quickly backfired when several strangers united to block his illegal shortcut.
The incident occurred outside Melbourne Airport on Thursday, as the M2 merged into Sunbury Road and forced multiple lanes to converge into a single line.
The driver of a white Toyota, fed up with the gridlock, pulled into the shoulder lane in a bold attempt to overtake the crawling traffic. But instead of zipping past the queue, they were quickly shut down by three other drivers who tried to block the shoulder lane and force them to wait like everybody else.
The entire incident was captured on dashcam, with the dashcam owner at one point telling the driver "Don't be a f**king c***", as he helped block the Toyota.
After pulling in front of the Toyota, the dashcam driver made sure to block the shoulder for as long as possible until the white sedan finally merged back into line.
The footage has since been shared online — with Aussies commending the actions of the three vehicles.
'Not all heroes wear capes,' several people wrote, while others labelled them "legends".
"This is fantastic," one man wrote.
But it did make others wonder — what if he was rushing to the hospital or another emergency?
What does the law say about driving on the shoulder?
While it might feel satisfying to block a rule-breaker, it's worth knowing what the law actually says.
In Victoria, it's illegal to drive in the emergency lane or road shoulder unless directed by police or road signage, or in very limited circumstances — such as when entering or leaving the road, avoiding an obstruction or obeying a traffic control device.
Under rule 146 of the state's road rules, a driver on a multi-lane road must drive so the driver's vehicle is completely in a marked lane. Failure to do so could result in a $610 fine.
So even though the other drivers are getting applauded for keeping the Toyota in line, they too could be in trouble for breaking the same rule.
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