To merge:
Match your speed with the traffic with which you are merging, as you travel down the onramp.
Find a spot to merge into
Accelerate or decelerate to get in that spot
Using your turn signal to indicate your intention to merge, smoothly drift into moving traffic, again, keeping your spped matched with the speed of traffic.
Thatisall.
10 comments Og | Uncategorized
Lemme guess. More crappy drivers ?
swmbo
It has always amazed me how so few people know how to successfully perform so simple a task.
I usually make it a point to go faster then traffic when merging on my bike. I’ve never been run over by someone going slower then me. :)
You should also mention that when finding the spot to merge into, one should pick that spot somewhere BEFORE the far end of the ramp. Blowing past a line of cars and then jamming oneself into line at the last possible moment is a sure way to incite unkind thoughts in those affected by such boorish asshattery.
It was also taught (and this was years ago, just after things went from black and white into full color) that if you were on any given super highway/freeway/tollway with limited access, that it was partially YOUR responsibility as well to adjust your speed for incoming traffic. In other words, if you saw that someone would be merging into traffic at about the same time you would be arriving at the merge point, then if possible, slow down to allow them the chance to enter (quickly) the flow of traffic. Being civil while driving … now there is a vanishing concept.
Do not pull in front of someone going faster than you are.
M
I’ve tried leaving the gap for people to merge in but the assholes of the world think I’m holding it for them as they speed to the end of there life. I guess I can’t figure out what the all fired hurry is anymore. Im not in any hurry to get to the end, I guess.
Used to not like anyone with no where to go and all day to get there, but I’ve started to resemble them.
This technique works very well, as long as the person who you’ll be merging in front of doesn’t decide “YOU WILL NOT GET IN FRONT OF ME!!!” and speed up.
Being a real rural country boy, I don’;t deal with this too often. Man you city folks really ought to learn to slow down and enjoy life. Leave a few minutes early and take your time. Life is too short. Twin Cities sucked for a country bumpkin. California wasn’t much fun with a 22 foot horse trailer with 7 colts in the back either! :) Hell it wasn’t much better with just one stud horse when we came back!
Here’s a letter I wrote to the paper a couple of years ago:
My wife and I travel quite a bit, using a pickup truck and travel trailer.We find it best to travel at about 62 or 63 Mph, so we’re nearly always in the right lane and are being passed pretty often. When we are passing an ‘On’ ramp, it’s pretty usual to NOT be able to move to the left lane to make way for an entering vehicle. If we are able to move over, it’s sometimes a problem getting back to the RH lane.
Yet, the usual method for people to “merge” onto the freeway is to simply drive down the ramp at whatever speed they feel like, paying little attention to who might already be there. If I move over for them, they invariably merge right alongside us, fool around for a bit, then accelerate to 65 or 70 Mph, leaving us to get back to the right lane. Often, they’ve fooled around for just long enough that others have caught up with us, and some of those will be impatient enough to pass on the right, preventing us from moving back over.
If we can’t move to the left because of other traffic, the ‘merger’ will fail to notice that until I lay on the horn and/or disengage the cruise control to slow down and let them in front of us. Of course, they will do the same routine as above, finally accelerating to the speed limit, leaving us to burn the Diesel fuel like it was free to get our rig back to speed.
A couple of days ago, I was chatting with a friend who drove truck for several years, and asked him whether people bothered HIM in the same way. Figuring that maybe those clowns might notice a huge tractor-trailer quicker than my pickup/travel trailer and give way….
Well, I’m here to tell you that car drivers pay no more attention to the big rigs than they do another car. My friend had lots to say, with a high percentage of the words being those that aren’t used in polite company.
As I understand it, it is the law that someone entering the freeway must yield to those already on the road. Years ago, ‘On’ ramps had yield signs, yet those seem to have disappeared in most places. Maybe it’s time that the States reinstall the signs?