question of the day is: DO you know how to merge?

here's another common one (I think):

when a new lane of the freeway begins (left or right side) and somebody moves into it before its actually a lane (i.e. still an emergency lane) then gets pissed when you cut them off 'cause you weren't looking for cars doing 80 in the 'gutter'. one of my faves! but since it happens so often, now I see them there but still do it, making sure they wont hurt my baby. i know, i'm a prick.

 

For me, I like to follow the golden rule of driving. Whatever pisses me off, I won't consider doing to other drivers. Like when people change lanes, the guy you're cutting in front of shouldn't have to brake. Same goes for exits, my approach is high speed so that I can merge in and not obstruct the person I'm moving in front of, and also not so fast that I have to flash crimson after I move into the lane.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priussoris @ Apr 18 2007, 01:18 PM) [snapback]425506[/snapback]</div>

priussoris,

Heck where I live, most people don't even know how to use that lever thing that protrudes from the steering column on the left side.

Oh yeah, they call that the turn signal.
Yeah, what is that doing there?
Nobody uses it ... might as well be an eight track player for most.

The people that get me are the ones that pull out, cut you off, then decide to blink that light or not even blink the lights.

I even slow down / speed up and/or change lanes to accompany people merging, but still a majority of the people that merge just don't get the concept.

I'm not the best driver, but 30,000 miles per year for 10 years now and no accidents. Not too shabby.

Glad I got my Prius, otherwise I'd be paying out the you know what now.

 

Onramps are everything. When I lived in the Bay Area, onramps were usually nice and long, and most people seemed to merge quite well. Here in New England, onramps are usually two or, if you're lucky, three meters long. People here can't merge worth squat.

 

I make allowances for mergers if they have their turn signal on. If they DON'T, then I stay aware to avoid an accident, but I don't slow down or brake or do anything to help them (I don't speed up to purposely obstruct them either--I just hold my speed at 64 mph). If they want help, they can politely "ask" with a turn signal. And yes, I honk at them if they end up making me do avoidance maneuvers.

 

Moved to Texas from Missouri

They have suicide lanes here. These are where you go from 5 lanes to 4 lanes and they expect the two middle lanes to merge together at 75 miles an hour SAFELY. hmmm. Doesn't usually work that way. Or you have the 50 ft on ramps with no merge lane on the highway...you get off the onramp right smack dab in the middle of it all.

Merging onto 5-6 lane highways from the service road with a short 50 foot onramp, (what were they thinking?) expecting you to get enough speed up to jump in without making everyone else upset.

That being said, I was always taught, that if someone is trying to get onto the highway and you are in the far right lane, with no one is beside you and you can get over, then you should...it's common courtesy.

I don't know if they teach common courtesy anymore, or if people just choose to ignore it? I was driving to work today, going about 70 in the left lane, gently passing folks in the right lane, when a Dodge Ram 4x4 comes flying up behind me then passes me on the right and gets back in front of me...gesturing that I should get over in the right lane. Now, if I would have gotten over, I would be zig zagging in and out of the right lane, making those people mad. *geeze* Can't make anyone happy.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wendlyn @ Apr 19 2007, 12:33 AM) [snapback]425899[/snapback]</div>

Sounds like the courteous thing to do would be to move over and let him pass. If you are being overtaken in the fast lane and are going close to the same speed as folks to your right, you should slide over (merge) with the lane to your right even if you are going 70. You can then slide left and continue your gentle passing. If you are frequently being overtaken so that you need to zig zag, then you should probably just drive in the lane to your right. To me, that's being courteous.

 

My favorite merge maneuver is when people cut very closely in front of you and only after they're about 2/3 into your lane and inches from your bumper do they think to signal. To me that's worse than not signaling. It's like punching someone in the face and then saying "look out!"

There's one particular merge I have to do regularly in Boston that's infuriating. It's the ramp from Kenmore square onto Storrow Drive heading west. First of all, if you don't know exactly where the ramp starts, you absolutely will never find the entrance. Once you get on the ramp though the one lane merges into another 2 lane ramp. Then about 100 meters down the road the 2 lane ramp merges into one lane. That one lane then immediately enters traffic (maybe 1-2 car-lengths after the merge) on a 2 lane road on which there's a blind curve immediately before where the ramp merges in, so you can't see traffic in your mirror or over your shoulder, and they can't see you merging until the last couple seconds. The speed limit is 40 but I think the average speed is probably 55. Concrete walls on either side, and no shoulder.

Even if everyone on that road were a genius at merging (and they're not, I assure you) it would be impossible to smoothly navigate that area. Often times I see people who refused to do the second-to-last merge, and you end up with 2 lanes of slow traffic trying to merge left into another fast moving lane.

My new approach to driving, inspired partly by the Prius, and partly by the imminent arrival of a new baby, is to just hang out on the roads, not try to get anywhere, just let traffic take me there. It's very relaxing, even when other people are being stupid.

 

Some of the UK dual carriageways have very short joining lanes making it difficult to get up to the traffic speed before merging. Many years back I was on one, it was downhill with about 200 yards to get upto 50 or 60mph. I began the acceleration and looked down onto the carriageway, spotted a gap, looked forward to find the car in front had stopped at the end of the "ramp", giving me about 1 foot less than I needed to pull up. Bump.

 

People merging badly is my number one pet-peeve when it comes to other drivers. A lot of people here will go 45 mph on the on-ramp to a 70 mph interstate, and then come to a full stop at the end of the ramp when they aren't able to get in.

I'm convinced this alone is the reason for my high blood pressure... :angry:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(htmlspinnr @ Apr 19 2007, 12:57 AM) [snapback]425851[/snapback]</div>

Yup... that is definitely my #1 peeve as well - when traffic is moving slowly along and cars behind me cut into the lane ending in 100ft just to jump 3 or 4 cars and expect to cut back in. :angry:

My worst "merging" (cut off?) story happened last summer, when I was driving along the "Collectors" on Hwy401 here in Toronto (think full-speed service road) highway onto the "Express" in the left-most ramp lane (of 2), when an 18-wheeler heading toward down the split to the Collectors decides at the last moment he wants on the Express. I was moving ~70MPH, he was doing about ~35MPH about 300ft ahead of me.

GoogleMap, dead-centre of map going West-bound.

Suddenly, he does a *45-degree* turn, cuts across the void "between-lanes" area, continues clear across the right-most lane (!?) right in front of me! Hello ABS system! I skidded what must have been 100ft and there was a distinct smell of burning rubber afterward... I couldn't believe what just happened in front me. Fortunately, nobody was tailgating me so there was no collision and everybody came out ok.

In rush hour. In the heart of North America's busiest highway. Unreal...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Apr 19 2007, 07:19 AM) [snapback]425961[/snapback]</div>

Very nice.

I have a method for avoiding road rage. I start singing the A$$hole song by Denis Leary. Except I substitute for the part where he sings "I'm an A$$hole" with "You're an A$$hole", directed at whomever has offended me with their driving technique. Its very hard to remain angry while singing.....

 

I'm from the midwest, Chicago, grew up there, learned to drive there, then learned to drive OTR in an 18. The WORST place I have ever driven, it seems like those drivers there dont understand what merge means, is Pennsylvania, Virginia, WV area. Who the hell would STOP on an on ramp with NO traffic coming? I damned near wrecked my F350 on my Honeymoon due to some schmuck doing just that!

I was driving down I 80? I think it was in 2005, and there were a few construcion zones where the two lanes merged into one, no biggy, been there done that, peice of cake, for me at least, not for the morons who live in that state and surrounding ones! There are even signs along the road and big huge freaking dots spaced out as speed intervals on the road to help smoothly merge traffic. Youwould think there wouldnt be any problems. uhuhhuh, no way dude, we litterelly STOPPPED on the highway for 20 minutes miles before the merge, I shut off my engine in all that time just sitting there. Turns out people didnt follow the simple merge directions and were slowly merging onto one lane! The spacing dots were perectly set so that the zipper effect could work at 55 MPH! worse drivers I have EVER seen.

There are 3 things that tick me off to no end, the first are rubber band drivers who cant hold a steady speed, get it to the limit and keep it there, if you go over thats fine, just dont go under. The second are those who cant do the speed limit, Its there for a reason, do it! If you go over it, fine, just at least do tha limit!

Finally, these drivers I hate the worst! They see you coming, there is NO ONE behind you, yet they have to pull out right in front of you, making you slow down, then they turn off on the next road! It's like, HELLO am I not here? Several times on my trip to work I have had people blow through a stop sign onto a 50 MPH highway right in front of me, and then procedd to do 40 if that. I got to the point that I would just gun it around them and hopefully make them wet their drawers.


How many who read this would do something like that, pull out in front of an 8000 pound truck doing 50-55 MPH and then drive slowly? Y'all got a death wish or something?

Someone else mentioned that now they drive a prius, they are more content to just let the traffic take them, heh its true its true, I find myself doing the same thing now.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ACD @ Apr 19 2007, 02:51 PM) [snapback]426189[/snapback]</div>

To quote one of the cavemen: "Uhh, what?" :blink:

Pretty sure you've got that one backwards.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priussoris @ Apr 18 2007, 02:18 PM) [snapback]425506[/snapback]</div>

I'm sure that when you said that no drivers in the midwest know how to merge you meant to say that a certain percentage of drivers in the midwest don't know how to merge. The 5% of us who do know how to merge are at the mercy of morons. Ours is a society of basically selfish people. Behave accordingly by being as gracious as possible and drive defensively. Remember when you were told to drive as though you just can't tell what the other people on the road are going to do?

And don't get me started on cell phones. They are something else that should be banned.

 

My favorite:

I'm on the freeway in the right hand lane.
A vehicle begins to enter the freeway from an on-ramp and will merge into my lane.
Entering vehicle is ahead of me, and still accelerating up to freeway speed.
I adjust my speed to that of the entering vehicle to stay comfortably behind.
Entering vehicle begins to merge, and then sees that I'm behind her (!)
Entering vehicle driver slams on the brakes and yanks wheel to the right to avoid the perfect merge that I've orchestrated. - but at this point she's mostly in my lane, so I'm also forced to slam on my brakes behind her.

Darell's merge rule (in general):
If you're ahead, you stay ahead. If you're behind you stay behind - even if that means adjusting your speed slightly. You don't try to adjust these positions during the merge! (and from what I can tell, this adjustment seems to be what happened with the tow truck in the OP's post. Truck was behind and should have adjusted his speed to stay there).

Good lord.