Traffic challenge

Heymon wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
If you can't get over you are legally required to hold a steady speed, so merging traffic can find a gap and merge...so it sounds like you did the right thing.

Shrug and move on.

I'm not sure where the law says you are “required to maintain a steady speed”. Generally, it is a good idea to do so, so others can predict traffic flow, but if others aren’t bothering to do such a prediction then what? There is nothing in “the book” that says you can’t check your speed to allow the entering vehicle to get in front of you, which usually just requires a lift of the throttle while towing. When I am driving my car, I often speed up to get a gap ahead of the merging vehicle and make it clear they can get behind me.

I think there is a certain amount of “screw you” in all of us. So if some nimrod is not paying attention, we have to resist a certain urge to make things as difficult as possible for them. If I am in a big rig, then I have the advantage of mass and intimidation, so maybe I don’t have to resist that urge as much because the little car will just bounce off me. But towing my trailer, I have to consider the “satisfaction” gained from thwarting the efforts of the entering vehicle against the possibility that I will be in a collision with my family and rig at risk.

For me, if I am towing on 3 lanes or more (like in the city), I try to stay out of the right lane to avoid this very thing. However, my speed is often slower than traffic out of the city, which restricts me to the right lane. So when this comes up I try to see if the merging driver seems to be aware, and if not I adjust accordingly. I have no problem letting people ahead of me, since they will eventually pass me anyway. Besides, when I am just driving my car I don’t really want to be behind a trailer either, so why fight it?

I'd have to dig it up but unless your state makes an exception to the uniform vehicle code, you are required to hold a steady speed when someone is merging in.

As I've said in previous posts, if you can move to the left, that's fine and probably better (though not a requirment) BUT that wasn't available to the OP because there was a semi in that lane and while it's nice to say you would never get in that position, sooner or later it will happen.

Also, if you are going to hang in the middle lane, make sure you are keeping up with the faster traffic. Yeah, you will burn some extra gas but if you run a 55 in the middle lane and they want to go 70 you are creating a new safety problem.