People! When you're merging onto the expressway...

[Gregg2]

... you're supposed to adjust your speed to the flow of traffic already on the expressway!

Why is it that so many people forget how to merge the way they were taught? If I'm driving in the right lane, and there are cars to my left, I can't move over to let the "merger" in. Most people seem to drive from the on ramp as if they too are already on the expressway and cars already there in the right lane are encroaching on their lane, instead of the other way around.

 

[Gutwrench]

Agreed, both ways.

1. Drivers who fail to use the on-ramp as an acceleration lane to match the freeway speed.

2. Drivers using the on-ramp who don’t realize those on the freeway have the right of way and the on-ramp must yield to them. (At least where I’ve lived.)
[doublepost=1548598450][/doublepost]Ps - Gregg2 I’ve driven through WI a few times so could you please pass the word to your fellow statesmen to relinquish the number one lane if they aren’t passing slower traffic? Thanks in advance. Haha.
[doublepost=1548598679][/doublepost]Pss - I have free advice for Illinois and all Prius drivers. It involves a friendly wave of the hand....except not with all my fingers.

 

[eyoungren]

... you're supposed to adjust your speed to the flow of traffic already on the expressway!

Why is it that so many people forget how to merge the way they were taught? If I'm driving in the right lane, and there are cars to my left, I can't move over to let the "merger" in. Most people seem to drive from the on ramp as if they too are already on the expressway and cars already there in the right lane are encroaching on their lane, instead of the other way around.

2. Drivers using the on-ramp who don’t realize those on the freeway have the right of way and the on-ramp must yield to them. (At least where I’ve lived.)

I experienced this on Monday.

Arizona is stupid with it's onramps. In California, where I learned to drive and got my license in 1986, the merge lanes dump right into the freeway lane. You have to adjust your speed.

In Arizona, the merge lane is a single lane from exit to exit. You can enter the freeway in the merge lane, stay in it and get off at the next exit. But if you actually want to merge on to the freeway you have to move from that merge lane into the actual freeway lane.

So in Arizona it becomes a confusing mishmash of people trying to jockey back and forth instead of actually merging.

When you encounter an old style merge (like in California) here though, that's when it all goes to hell - like this Monday.

I had a truck and two cars following a semi on to the freeway as their lane merges into mine. NONE of those people slowed down or attempted to merge with me as they should have (like in California). Because these are native Arizona drivers treating this merge as a normal Arizona transit lane (which it wasn't) they simply maintained their speed.

That had the effect of me passing the truck and slotting right behind the semi. Which freaked out the truck driver because he was expecting ME to brake and come in behind HIM and the other two cars. So he lays on his horn.

Not my fault. I was at freeway speeds and you are merging into my lane. YOU (the truck) should have slowed.

This stupid transit/merge lane that Arizona has makes for a lot of lazy, sloppy drivers.

 

[0388631]

The proper way to merge in California to accelerate to 100 MPH and then drop off once you find an opening you can squeeze into.

 

[eyoungren]

The proper way to merge in California to accelerate to 100 MPH and then drop off once you find an opening you can squeeze into.

Erm, you forgot the part about moving over two or three lanes at once into the fast lane. Classic California move.

 

[0388631]

Erm, you forgot the part about moving over two or three lanes at once into the fast lane. Classic California move.

I'm not Superman.

 

[Gutwrench]

Erm, you forgot the part about moving over two or three lanes at once into the fast lane. Classic California move.

I patiented that one...plus exiting from the number one lane! (And for added touch cutting across the gore point.)

 

[eyoungren]

I patiented that one...plus exiting from the number one lane! (And for added touch cutting across the gore point.)

I was on the freeway once at a major interchange where the freeway was six lanes. I cannot, for the life of me remember the interchange but it would have been somewhere in LA/Riverside county.

In any case, someone in the fast lane decided they had to take a different freeway. The only trouble was that their exit was all the way over in the sixth lane and coming up fast. So, they did what any Californian would do and aimed their car directly at the exit. They crossed five lanes of traffic directly.

Now, I've seen taking two or three lanes at once, but five lanes?! It was so amazingly bad I can still remember it.

 

[Gutwrench]

I was on the freeway once at a major interchange where the freeway was six lanes. I cannot, for the life of me remember the interchange but it would have been somewhere in LA/Riverside county.

In any case, someone in the fast lane decided they had to take a different freeway. The only trouble was that their exit was all the way over in the sixth lane and coming up fast. So, they did what any Californian would do and aimed their car directly at the exit. They crossed five lanes of traffic directly.

Now, I've seen taking two or three lanes at once, but five lanes?! It was so amazingly bad I can still remember it.

Awesome. He returned home in glory. Then he took a hot bath.

 

[0388631]

I patiented that one...plus exiting from the number one lane! (And for added touch cutting across the gore point.)

Does it count if you used your blue and red whirr-whirr machine?

 

[LizKat]

The proper way to merge in California to accelerate to 100 MPH and then drop off once you find an opening you can squeeze into.

Oh, I thought that was just how it's done settling into traffic on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge, outbound on a Friday night. I feel so much better now in realizing it's at least a bicoastal thing.

 

[Gutwrench]

Does it count if you used your blue and red whirr-whirr machine?

My last whirr-whirr machine was a POS! I was the number two car in a car chase E/B 80 in the number one lane and was getting passed. I had to take a perimeter because the guys took foot bail and I was about the last one to arrive. I parked in the middle of my assigned intersection (so far out of the action) and my car wouldn’t turn off. It kept wheezing and spitting and steaming. What a POS.

 

[0388631]

My last whirr-whirr machine was a POS! I was the number two car in a car chase E/B 80 in the number one lane and was getting passed. I had to take a perimeter because the guys took foot bail and I was about the last one to arrive. I parked in the middle of my assigned intersection (so far out of the action) and my car wouldn’t turn off. It kept wheezing and spitting and steaming. What a POS.

Ouch. I hope BART budgets increased since then.

 

[Gutwrench]

Ouch. I hope BART budgets increased since then.

Sigh.

 

[rbrian]

Where I live (in the North of Scotland), there are no roads more than two lanes each way. Some of the on ramps are very short, with tight curves, so the only way to join the 70mph traffic stream is to accelerate hard, which is fun - until the car in front of you decides that 15mph is a good speed, and the correct thing to do is stop at the end of the acceleration lane.

 

[0388631]

Sigh.

There, there, Felix.

 

[hawkeye_a]

Too often when trying to merge, with my turn-signal on indicating my intention to merge, the other driver speeds up on purpose blocking me.

If i am on the right lane of freeway and i see cars on the on-ramp, i slow down a little so they can merge safely.

It’s not a f’in race, or something to boost/deflate egos. It’s common courtesy.

Driving doesn’t need to be so agressive. And FFS people, if you want to switch lanes use your turn-signals!

 

[Gregg2]

If i am on the right lane of freeway and i see cars on the on-ramp, i slow down a little so they can merge safely.

That can be a problem. If the driver needing to merge is aggressive, thinking you will speed up to prevent him/her from getting in front of you (because that's what he/she would do!) and you slow down, the two vehicles could meet at the terminal point. That will probably produce a horn or that wave someone mentioned. But, that being said, depending on speed, distance and proximity, I sometimes slow down as well to let the merging car in. It's dicey either way (slowing down or speeding up). In an ideal world, the drivers on the expressway should maintain their speed or move over if they can do so safely. The onus is on the merger to adjust the speed to fit in. The same goes for someone passing you on a two-lane road. You're supposed to maintain your speed. It's up to the passer to adjust for oncoming cars.

 

[Gutwrench]

Too often when trying to merge, with my turn-signal on indicating my intention to merge, the other driver speeds up on purpose blocking me.

Yes, yes. True. It’s called blocking for a reason. Go to the back!

If i am on the right lane of freeway and i see cars on the on-ramp, i slow down a little so they can merge safely.

You’re weak. Go to the back.

It’s all a joke unless you drive a Prius.

 

[dk001]

I experienced this on Monday.

Arizona is stupid with it's onramps. In California, where I learned to drive and got my license in 1986, the merge lanes dump right into the freeway lane. You have to adjust your speed.

In Arizona, the merge lane is a single lane from exit to exit. You can enter the freeway in the merge lane, stay in it and get off at the next exit. But if you actually want to merge on to the freeway you have to move from that merge lane into the actual freeway lane.

So in Arizona it becomes a confusing mishmash of people trying to jockey back and forth instead of actually merging.

When you encounter an old style merge (like in California) here though, that's when it all goes to hell - like this Monday.

I had a truck and two cars following a semi on to the freeway as their lane merges into mine. NONE of those people slowed down or attempted to merge with me as they should have (like in California). Because these are native Arizona drivers treating this merge as a normal Arizona transit lane (which it wasn't) they simply maintained their speed.

That had the effect of me passing the truck and slotting right behind the semi. Which freaked out the truck driver because he was expecting ME to brake and come in behind HIM and the other two cars. So he lays on his horn.

Not my fault. I was at freeway speeds and you are merging into my lane. YOU (the truck) should have slowed.

This stupid transit/merge lane that Arizona has makes for a lot of lazy, sloppy drivers.

Every time I visit Phoenix and take the 101. Love to kick the idiot in the ass who came up with this.
Then again Az does have some of the worst drivers I have ever run across in the US.

 

[hawkeye_a]

so the only way to join the 70mph traffic stream is to accelerate hard, which is fun - until the car in front of you decides that 15mph is a good speed

Yes! This is another issue I face daily. The car in front of me going slow and there's only so much road before I have to merge or exit again, between that and the hoon in the right lane of the highway trying to block me from merging....ugh.

I'm a firm believer in "what goes around comes around", so i try to be courteous and defensive as often as possible.

 

[bigjnyc]

This is why I avoid driving in the right lane unless I am going to exit. People just don't know how to merge properly. the worst ones are the ones that initially do it correctly and merge in at the right speed but then panic and slam on the brakes.. ugh

 

[dk001]

Then there is merging onto a highway like the 405.

More like wedge and creep

 

[Mousse]

Does it count if you used your blue and red whirr-whirr machine?

Those guys who own those blue and red whirr-whirr machines are such jerks on the road.

"Hey I'm going as fast as I can, alrite? I'm already past 100mph; no need to tailgate me. And the blue and red light? Tacky, man. As for the whirr-whirr noise..."

 

[hallux]

Too often when trying to merge, with my turn-signal on indicating my intention to merge, the other driver speeds up on purpose blocking me.

I HATE this...

If i am on the right lane of freeway and i see cars on the on-ramp, i slow down a little so they can merge safely.

I even go as far as moving to the next lane to the left if it's open.

This is why I avoid driving in the right lane unless I am going to exit. People just don't know how to merge properly. the worst ones are the ones that initially do it correctly and merge in at the right speed but then panic and slam on the brakes.. ugh

Yup. There's one highway in my area that at certain times on certain sections I'll try to be in the left lane (3 lanes) simply to avoid the merging traffic and those making room for them. Thankfully - I don't have to drive that road during those times too often.