Traffic challenge

[ECones]

We were headed into Memphis this week, pulling the TT in the right lane on I-55 with a semi next to us in the left lane. As we approached an entrance ramp at about 60 mph, I watched an SUV coming up the ramp pacing us. She could have speeded up a tad and gotten safely in front of us. Or she could have slowed down a tad and gotten safely behind us. But no. She continued to match our pace until we both arrived at the entrance ramp at the same time. She wound up driving in the entrance ramp right next to our pickup, looked over at us, and started honking. What the ..... ? :?

I guess we were supposed to get out of her way somehow, but running over the semi didn't seem a good option.

[tsetsaf]

When I see this about to occur I give a quick toot-toot with the horn. Make 'em look. It is annoying but the reality is drivers are distracted. Sold my road bicycle 3 years ago after pacing a car for a mile down a road... the driver never looked up once busy texting.

[ECones]

grumpysmurf wrote:
Its Memphis! In Texas rule of Thumb is biggest truck goes first. Plan fact of the matter is this has to be Obama's Fault.
:h

I have no problem blaming it on Obama. I'm pretty sure the young lady in the SUV voted for him 😉

[grumpysmurf]

Its Memphis! In Texas rule of Thumb is biggest truck goes first. Plan fact of the matter is this has to be Obama's Fault.
:h

[Heymon]

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?

[ECones]

xteacher wrote:
Through a busy part of any town, I try to stay in the second lane to avoid merging problems.

I try but in that case, I had just come in from a right entrance and hadn't been able to work my way over yet.

[ECones]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
Your first mistake was driving alongside a semi...or anybody else. If something happened, and it did, you had yourself boxed in with no place to move. One of the first rules of Defensive Driving is to leave yourself an out...

B.O.

Well, when a semi is passing me, I'm not sure how not to be beside it for a while.

I know I could have slowed, but then she may have slowed. Well, actually she did after honking.

I've been in her position before, and I'd lots rather the car in the traffic lane hold what it's got and let me adjust my speed. If they start adjusting while I do, it can get very interesting very quickly. I just don't start honking 🙂

[valhalla360]

Gdetrailer wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
One of my bestest friends is a long haul truck driver. He said he enounters this situation frequently. He does not brake, and he does not speed up. He said he'll simply run them out of room to merge and they will be forced to either merge properly or hit him. In 20 years of driving, he's never been hit. He said to keep your speed and sooner or later they will have to take action to properly enter the roadway.

I had this happen in multiple states this last summer, so it's not just Memphis.

Absolutely terrible advice.

As a driver YOU should be ALSO driving DEFENSIVELY.

Driving defensively is keeping an eye to ALL vehicles around you.

That means you know if someone is beside you (passing lane), someone is behind you, someone is in front of you and YES SOMEONE MERGING BESIDE YOU.

Driving defensive also means you ARE READY TO ADJUST YOUR SPEED AND OR POSITION AT ANY TIME IN ORDER TO PREVENT YOU OR ANY OTHER DRIVERS AROUND YOU FROM CAUSING AN ACCIDENT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.

The rules of the road IS COURTESY TO ALL DRIVERS INCLUDING THE MINDLESS AND SELFISH IDIOTS.

There ARE times when you simply are not able to adjust speed or change lanes however YOU often have a hand in that by driving way to close to the vehicle IN FRONT OF YOU. That's right YOU have some control of the gap in front of you and it is YOUR responsibility to maintain some safe distance (remember the three second rule?).

I see way too many selfish drivers every day, I try to accommodate them as much as possible when it is safe for me to do so.

WE ALL MUST SHARE THE ROAD (and that includes the selfish ones to).

tusconjim actually gave the correct answer. The rules say the driver in the right lane must hold a steady speed. The guy on the ramp then has the option to speed up, slow down or worst case drive on the shoulder for a while.

Nothing worse than trying to merge and when you speed up, the guy in the right lane speeds up, then you slow down and so do they.

Following the rules is the right way and least likely to cause an accident.

That is the BOOK "answer", however the "book" NEVER, EVER was designed for RUDE AND SELFISH DRIVERS.

The "book" ALSO INCLUDES DRIVING DEFENSIVE which is as I mentioned above in my post.

The DEFENSIVE POSITION is all about AVOIDING CAUSING ACCIDENTS.

I deal with a lot of Pittsburgh "drivers" and a lot of New Yorkers along with Eastern Ohio drivers and not to mention a heck of a lot of rude RVrs and truckers.. Talk about extremely rude folks.

The driver in the right lane should ALWAYS be in defensive mode since not only do you deal with on ramps you must deal with OFF ramps along with the Left lane(s).

That means even though the book says to maintain speed, it does not mean you have the right or rules on your side to INTENTIONALLY BLOCK traffic from ANY DIRECTION. The rule about maintaining speed no longer applies and YOU should take action to allow for smooth merge on or off provided you do not present a hazard to drivers behind, beside or in front of you.

The drivers behind you MAY NOT SEE the driver merging beside you and you have a high chance of causing the drivers behind you to HIT the merging vehicle.

Yes, there will be those rude folks who will try anything but you are not in the "right" to block or impede their movement. Doing so can be considered AGGRESSIVE DRIVING..

No matter how stupid the other driver is you have no right to retaliate and drive aggressively.

Best thing is to do the best you can do under the circumstances and move on..

It is both the book answer and the correct answer in practical use.

The rules of the road allow drivers to predict what you will do.

Now if you can move to the left, that's fine but in the original example, that wasn't an option.

People making the rules up as they go along are just as bad as the selfish and rude drivers.

[Dennis_M_M]

Granted there are idiots out there that will make your life miserable - if you let them.

I'm in the defensive camp. If I'm on a two lane interstate and see a car on the ramp I move over if I can. Otherwise I kick off the cruise to give them room to merge.

The one's that frost me: I move over, they come out and then match my speed in the right lane, leaving me out in the left! Then I just put on my right signal and start slowly moving back into the right lane - they usually get the message.

[Slate_CM]

Adam Ferrara on an episode of Top Gear, "Let's face it. Everyone on the road, except for you, is a moron."

[Gdetrailer]

valhalla360 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
One of my bestest friends is a long haul truck driver. He said he enounters this situation frequently. He does not brake, and he does not speed up. He said he'll simply run them out of room to merge and they will be forced to either merge properly or hit him. In 20 years of driving, he's never been hit. He said to keep your speed and sooner or later they will have to take action to properly enter the roadway.

I had this happen in multiple states this last summer, so it's not just Memphis.

Absolutely terrible advice.

As a driver YOU should be ALSO driving DEFENSIVELY.

Driving defensively is keeping an eye to ALL vehicles around you.

That means you know if someone is beside you (passing lane), someone is behind you, someone is in front of you and YES SOMEONE MERGING BESIDE YOU.

Driving defensive also means you ARE READY TO ADJUST YOUR SPEED AND OR POSITION AT ANY TIME IN ORDER TO PREVENT YOU OR ANY OTHER DRIVERS AROUND YOU FROM CAUSING AN ACCIDENT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.

The rules of the road IS COURTESY TO ALL DRIVERS INCLUDING THE MINDLESS AND SELFISH IDIOTS.

There ARE times when you simply are not able to adjust speed or change lanes however YOU often have a hand in that by driving way to close to the vehicle IN FRONT OF YOU. That's right YOU have some control of the gap in front of you and it is YOUR responsibility to maintain some safe distance (remember the three second rule?).

I see way too many selfish drivers every day, I try to accommodate them as much as possible when it is safe for me to do so.

WE ALL MUST SHARE THE ROAD (and that includes the selfish ones to).

tusconjim actually gave the correct answer. The rules say the driver in the right lane must hold a steady speed. The guy on the ramp then has the option to speed up, slow down or worst case drive on the shoulder for a while.

Nothing worse than trying to merge and when you speed up, the guy in the right lane speeds up, then you slow down and so do they.

Following the rules is the right way and least likely to cause an accident.

That is the BOOK "answer", however the "book" NEVER, EVER was designed for RUDE AND SELFISH DRIVERS.

The "book" ALSO INCLUDES DRIVING DEFENSIVE which is as I mentioned above in my post.

The DEFENSIVE POSITION is all about AVOIDING CAUSING ACCIDENTS.

I deal with a lot of Pittsburgh "drivers" and a lot of New Yorkers along with Eastern Ohio drivers and not to mention a heck of a lot of rude RVrs and truckers.. Talk about extremely rude folks.

The driver in the right lane should ALWAYS be in defensive mode since not only do you deal with on ramps you must deal with OFF ramps along with the Left lane(s).

That means even though the book says to maintain speed, it does not mean you have the right or rules on your side to INTENTIONALLY BLOCK traffic from ANY DIRECTION. The rule about maintaining speed no longer applies and YOU should take action to allow for smooth merge on or off provided you do not present a hazard to drivers behind, beside or in front of you.

The drivers behind you MAY NOT SEE the driver merging beside you and you have a high chance of causing the drivers behind you to HIT the merging vehicle.

Yes, there will be those rude folks who will try anything but you are not in the "right" to block or impede their movement. Doing so can be considered AGGRESSIVE DRIVING..

No matter how stupid the other driver is you have no right to retaliate and drive aggressively.

Best thing is to do the best you can do under the circumstances and move on..

[Obewan]

Last month in Ohio I had a lady (on her cell phone) doing at least 20mph over the speed limit, in a construction zone, do the dive and brake for the exit. I had to stand on the brakes and did miss her. But the guy passing me on the right was not so lucky! She "pitted" herself across his front end! He was also speeding down the exit ramp!

[TucsonJim]

dadmomh wrote:
Totally agree on the DEFENSIVE driving, regardless. Moving along.....you could not have been in a worse place in this country, IMHO, than I-55 and I-40. We moved to Memphis in '89 and it was all under construction. 25 years later it's still torn up with no completion in sight. Would rather drive in Chi! And, so much for "gentile southerners"....Memphis has some of the worst drivers I've ever seen. They're rude, discourteous, are under the opinion that faster is better and will cut you off in a heartbeat. If there is any possible way to get from Point A to Point B without going through Memphis, we do it. For future info, if you can work it, get off I-55 at I-155 toward Dyersburg - this is north of the interchange from H***. South on Hwy 412 and either end up in Jackson or cut through on some county roads. Yes, it's out of the way, but lots easier on the nerves....and the vehicles.

Totally agree on leaving distance in front of you, and three seconds is probably not sufficient when you're running 20K+ pounds down the road.

However, speeding up and slowing down in the right lane because you think it's what another driver needs makes YOU unpredicable and does not give the other driver enough time to make a decision about slowing down or speeding up. The advice is to maintain your speed so you are predictable.

In '89 Memphis was a different place....very, very glad to have moved east on I-40. Sorry for the jangled nerves, but you escaped unscathed. Hope not to have offended any Memphians, but you know I'm right.

**OP, just noticed you're from LR, sorry but you're out of luck avoiding that interchange unless you go zig zag to Helena, AR and across that bridge. The bad news is that there is/was construction just south of Memphis on I-55, so you have another opportunity to get slammed.

[captnjack]

Had a guy entering I-95 in CT do the same thing to me. Held my speed. Not much choice really due to fairly heavy traffic. He had ample opportunity to speed up or slow down and merge properly. He did neither, just got to the end of the acceleration ramp and had to brake hard. He took umbrage at my actions and decided to teach me a lesson. He got around in front of me and slammed on his brakes hard. I slammed on the brakes too, and luckily avoided hitting him. My 9 year old daughter learned some new words that day. He then took off. It was our first trip with new trailer (F-150 and hybrid trailer) so I learned that I could trust my set-up fully. It was a hard lesson though. Also construction going on, narrow lanes, etc.

Where's a cop when you need one? Never have I wanted to see a guy nailed more so than that guy.

[valhalla360]

Gdetrailer wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
One of my bestest friends is a long haul truck driver. He said he enounters this situation frequently. He does not brake, and he does not speed up. He said he'll simply run them out of room to merge and they will be forced to either merge properly or hit him. In 20 years of driving, he's never been hit. He said to keep your speed and sooner or later they will have to take action to properly enter the roadway.

I had this happen in multiple states this last summer, so it's not just Memphis.

Absolutely terrible advice.

As a driver YOU should be ALSO driving DEFENSIVELY.

Driving defensively is keeping an eye to ALL vehicles around you.

That means you know if someone is beside you (passing lane), someone is behind you, someone is in front of you and YES SOMEONE MERGING BESIDE YOU.

Driving defensive also means you ARE READY TO ADJUST YOUR SPEED AND OR POSITION AT ANY TIME IN ORDER TO PREVENT YOU OR ANY OTHER DRIVERS AROUND YOU FROM CAUSING AN ACCIDENT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.

The rules of the road IS COURTESY TO ALL DRIVERS INCLUDING THE MINDLESS AND SELFISH IDIOTS.

There ARE times when you simply are not able to adjust speed or change lanes however YOU often have a hand in that by driving way to close to the vehicle IN FRONT OF YOU. That's right YOU have some control of the gap in front of you and it is YOUR responsibility to maintain some safe distance (remember the three second rule?).

I see way too many selfish drivers every day, I try to accommodate them as much as possible when it is safe for me to do so.

WE ALL MUST SHARE THE ROAD (and that includes the selfish ones to).

tusconjim actually gave the correct answer. The rules say the driver in the right lane must hold a steady speed. The guy on the ramp then has the option to speed up, slow down or worst case drive on the shoulder for a while.

Nothing worse than trying to merge and when you speed up, the guy in the right lane speeds up, then you slow down and so do they.

Following the rules is the right way and least likely to cause an accident.

[GrandpaKip]

Lots and lots of people don't know how to drive on interstates. Left lane riders, tailgaters, Indy 500 drivers, cut in front and brakers, oblivious mergers. If I worried about all of them, I'd need a therapist as copilot. And this isn't recent phenomena, been going on long as I can remember.
I just look at every other driver as an idiot. Once they're gone, they've shown that they probably aren't, but there's always another coming. Defensive driving is best.