Highway merging rant

[mielock]

I guess I’ll never stop being amazed how most people merge onto highways from on-ramps. It practically never fails – here I am almost exclusively in the right hand lane, where I’m legally supposed to be pulling @ 60 mph, approaching an on-ramp, watching the cars coming about to merge and they aren’t looking at my slow-going 50 feet + mass taking up the very lane they wish to occupy until they are in the shadow of my rig. What to do? Well, you could easily step on this thing called the accelerator and take advantage of the several hundred feet left of your merge lane and be on your merry way (believe me, there is ALWAYS space ahead of me when you drive at my speed), but no, you must slam on your brakes (creating a dangerous situation with others trying to merge) and go all the way around me eventually passing me up on left hand side. Oh, by the way, it’s almost always impossible for me to simply “move over” to the other lane, clearing the way for these merging folks.

When I’m merging while not pulling, you better believe I’m scoping the traffic flow and if I see some honking semi or RV rig moving along in my merge lane, I’m making sure I’m positioned in a way that will benefit me and avoid being stuck broadside with these type of vehicles.

Now look – I know there are times when traffic is bad enough this method is not possible. And yes, I know there are some without the flexibility in their necks to allow this “look over the shoulder”. These situations are exempt. But I’m not talking about these! I’m talking about 80% of the people merging onto the highways when traffic allows them to completely avoid this. It happens time and time and time again, over and over.

Considering most everyone reading this pulls something or operates a large vehicle - you MUST see the same thing I’m expressing here…

[Veebyes]

Lots of if's. When coming up to an on ramp, always have a look for possible conflicts for space & if possible move left right away. If moving left is not possible, watch the driver/s on the on ramp. Are they paying attention or doing something like yapping on the phone? I'll flash lights & let those who can speed up & get in front of me do so. The dawdlers who expect me to slow for them take their chances. The law of tonnage comes into play. If the car is beside me & running out of acceleration lane it had better find some brakes & fall in behind me. 55' & 20 something thousand pounds is no Mini Cooper in agility.

On the reverse side, truckers usually move over if they can & see you on the ramp. Cars are another story. It is like they don't know what is about to happen. Here again the law of tonnage rules. Make room I am coming to join you. Move over, speed up, slow dow, make a hole.

[Atlee]

I will move over IF there is a lot of space in the next lane. When I'm pulling the TT There must be acres of room next to me.

I will slow down or apply brakes only in an emergency to avoid an accident.

koda55 wrote:
I know some drivers that received a ticket for moving over to let the police officer onto the interstate. This required the people in the other lane to slow down. When they were stopped they told the officer that they moved over to let them on. The police officer said that is against the law. That is one reason we have pileups. People merging must yield to traffic.

[2oldman]

Terryallan wrote:
They do things they aren't supposed to, and when they do. The designers tell you. It cannot do that. But it did.

Robots do a pretty good job of building a car. They do a pretty good job of most everything, including running the internet. 99.99% of the time it's the human programmer who screws up.

If it's better to keep allowing people to be stupid, dangerous drivers until computers are 100% error-free, then I wish us well.

[Terryallan]

2oldman wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
IF you had ever ran machines that are ran by computers. You wouldn't say that

What kind of machines (and when) are you talking about?

The vehicle you drive right now is 'ran' by computer.

But not driven by computer, and the machines I run, are state of the art. Some even prototypes, And they all have a mind of their own. I would not trust a computer to drive me down the road. They don't always do whet you tell them to.

They do things they aren't supposed to, and when they do. The designers tell you. It cannot do that. But it did.

[BurbMan]

korbe wrote:
What I find interesting is when I do move over to the fast lane to allow easier merging, these same people I moved over for, don't let me get back into the slow lane....

Ah yes...my favorite. You move over to let some one merge on, then they proceed to accelerate until they are pacing you at your identical speed. Try to accelerate to 70 mph and they do too. Slow back to 65 and they do too. Meanwhile traffic backs up behind me because I can't get back into the slow lane. Arrrggghhhh!:M

Or you come up behind a slow car in the right lane that you want to pass....you wait for the car in teh left lane to go by, but instead fo passing he comes up next to you and slows down, blocking you in the right lane. He won't pass and he won't drop back....:M

Found out when my kids had drivers ed about 10 years ago, they stopped taking kids out on the interstates as part of drivers training. So no education on speed control, merging, lane usage, etc. I made darn sure I taught my kids that when they were learning to drive!

Speed control is the other biggie...people speed up and slow down according to what the car next to them is doing...it doesn't matter how fast or slow you want to go, pick a speed and drive it!!!

[2oldman]

Terryallan wrote:
IF you had ever ran machines that are ran by computers. You wouldn't say that

What kind of machines (and when) are you talking about?

The vehicle you drive right now is 'ran' by computer.

[Tvov]

Yep, people don't know the "rules of the road". I will slow down to let someone on IF that doesn't cause other problems. Sometimes you can do nothing except maintain your lane and speed:

We were on the highway around rush hour with a packed highway, going around 60 or a little less. Come up to an entrance ramp and a guy in a car came up the ramp (at highway speed or even more) and almost sideswiped me. Kids and wife yelling that he was there, my response was "I know he's there, but there is absolutely no where for me to go...". The guy managed to see me just before he hit. From what we could tell he was using a "hands free" cell phone, engrossed in his call. Wife said it looked like he was talking to himself and he had a doohickey in his ear... She saw it when he finally turned to look at traffic and saw my F250 emblem next to his window... considering he was about 18 inches away, it was easy to see...

There I go! I went and planted a seed to derail this thread... sorry, lol!

[Terryallan]

2oldman wrote:
A good argument for computer-driven vehicles.

IF you had ever ran machines that are ran by computers. You wouldn't say that

[nomad297]

Klueck wrote:
This is our pet peeve.

Years ago I carpooled with a woman who actually thought it was the duty of the person already in the lane to yield to the merger!!!!! She was one of those people who just came on out and expected everyone to get out of her way.

You mean, like this?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-wGdZCVsKaw&autoplay=1&desktop_uri=%252Fwatch%253Fv%253D-wGdZCVsKaw%2526autoplay%253D1

[2oldman]

A good argument for computer-driven vehicles.

[Tom_Diane]

Haven't read all 7 pages of replies but generally have to agree with all replies. I just hate it when I have a clear left lane so I will signal and get into the left lane so t he merging traffic can get on. In many places where we travel locally the on/off ramps are somewhat close to each other. I hate when I pull over and then 4 or 5 vehicles merge and then match my speed as I want to return to the right lane so I can make an exit just ahead. I have put my signal on and it just encourages others to speed up to try to get around me while the front car is still pacing me. I slow down just a tad to let the guy get ahead and that's when the others speed up and wont let me back in. I've been forced to skip my off ramp and go 3 or 4 miles out of my way to get where I wanted to go. My other peeve is when people pull off of a county or side road onto the 4 lane and pull right into my lane. I have arrived at a location of a driver that did this to me and I asked him if he saw me. Yes was his reply but I was supposed to let him into the right lane because its illegal to drive in the left lane. I suggested to him to get a drivers manual and read it. I've gotten to the point that I will dare them to enter my lane while Im alone in the vehicle. I do a lot of cussing if the DW is with me so I don't cause her any harm if the merging car decide to side swipe me.

[Klueck]

This is our pet peeve.

Years ago I carpooled with a woman who actually thought it was the duty of the person already in the lane to yield to the merger!!!!! She was one of those people who just came on out and expected everyone to get out of her way.

[FunnyCamper]

OP, of course we see this happen alot to us also 🙂

I say all the time to hubby, 'doesn't that idiot have a gas pedal? GO!' ugh

[qtla9111]

Courtesy is a big player. It takes two to make it a good experience. The person getting on at a reasonable speed and the person on the highway allowing the person to enter by reducing, accelerating, or changing lanes. Everyone on the road is a participant in what I call a symphony where there is constant movement. Most people don't get it though. They think they are on the road alone.

[atreis]

mayo30 wrote:
And on another favorite peeve of mine is the under powered tow vehicle that can't come up to the traffic speed in order to fit in the slot,added to the stubborn ignorant driver and all I see is brake lights.

x2, although in my experience this is more often heavy trucks (semis, gravel haulers, cement trucks, etc...). Many people here would have argued that mine TV is under-powered, but I've no problem reaching full speed on an on-ramp before merging.