Hell, yes.
I hated driving in Boston. Several lanes merge to enter the tunnel under the harbor.
It is a kamikaze race to get to the tunnel and force your way ahead of everyone else.
In neighboring New Hampshire it is a race to the toll booth. I read of an accident where two cars were melted together in the resulting fire. A driver was quoted as saying, “I wish I could have helped him, but there was nothing I could do.” othing but continue the race to the toll booth uninterrupted.
Even in my beloved Arkansas, a juncture between freeways has a sign asking the left lane to merge for two miles, and the bastards still drive like hell so that they can get ahead of everyone.
I drive through the ghetto on North Little Rock to avoid it. Much better for my blood pressure.
How many times have you been in a long line of cars merging onto a highway where all the cars had a full car length between them? I’m gonna bet not a lot. Just because there’s some space doesnt mean theres enough space for me to move by myself and let another car in.
All that would have done is allowed someone to cut in before we even got to the merging point. The time to start separating enough for other cars to get in is at the point of merging, or you’re just holding up traffic.
I understand the reasoning behind the zipper merge, and I agree it works great and is the most efficient merge method - when everyone else is using it too. When the majority of people are getting out of the soon-to-disappear lane far ahead of the merge point, that’s a recipe for anger, fist-shaking, curse words and evil, evil thoughts.
Fun story: I was driving on Interstate 24 south of Nashville quite a few years back. The DOT had helpfully provided signage saying the left lane was closed ahead. Multiple such signs. Therefore, the vast majority of drivers took that to mean it was time to move to the right lane … many, many miles ahead of where the left lane actually was closed.
Soon, the right lane ground to a near stop. Meanwhile, other drivers took advantage of the wide-open left lane to zip on down the road (for all those extra miles). What do you suppose happened when they neared the merge point? Yup, the right lane drivers had to slow or even stop to let those cars move over, which only slowed the right lane more, and caused more distress in that long line.
So, sure, people in the right lane could have pulled over to the left and moved ahead to the merge point, but it just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do. Yeah, if everybody was doing things the proper way, it all works out well - but have a majority of the traffic overly anticipate the move over, it’s anarchy. Call of the wild, fang on fang stuff.
I blame driver education. That and the Tennessee DOT for putting up those signs 25 miles ahead of the closure.
In my guide to merging you always look for the guy on the phone and cut his ass off. Yes, a surprising number of people are happy to drive in heavy taffic while doing business on the phone. When you want to merge, find that guy. It isn’t hard, they are legion. A driver on the phone will do ANYTHING to avoid destrubing his super important call, that is why they leave huge gaps in front.
Right - I can deal with those clowns - its the ones that want to merge that have a phone held to their LEFT EAR - they have eliminated any possible chance of looking over the shoulder, using the mirror or any other number of things.
I get right beside those fuckers and let loose with the horn.
I’m about to install an aircompresser and a ‘train horn’.
My favorite is when we’re at highway speed and the right lane runs out, like at the top of a hill and the maroon in the right lane who’s been sitting in my blind spot or just behind it for the last quarter mile decides at the last second maybe he ought to move over and either goes flying into the breakdown lane to pass me or has to slow down rapidly and come in behind me with the maximum amount of drama. And often when there’s hardly any traffic to speak of. What is that?
Yeah, those idiots you have to watch out for. They have already made the decision that their call is more important than the lives of those around them. Fortunately, most of them drive really slowly so when they decide to merge their massive SUV across 3 lanes without looking they will be nice and safe.
Forget ALL the cars, you only need to worry about your car and the space you can control
Look I know you think this is true, most people do, but it is simply false. Yes some times someone will move into that space…who cares? The reality is if you leave a 2 second gap between cars (while driving at 60) and Maintain that gap as you slow to merge it will make your life easier by far. Leave a 4 second gap and suddenly your life is simple as hell because now several cars can freely move into that space.
If you want to get insane create a 10 second gap starting a mile or so before the merge and see what happens. Crowding and tailgating are a major cause of traffic flow issues. The day people realize its not a fucking race, that guy who “Cut Me The Fuck Off” was actually just trying to lane change, and instead learn a little patience is the day traffic radically improves for everyone.
I don’t consider pulling in front of knuckleheads who leave 10 car lengths of space cutting off. Where I drive most of the people who do this aren’t even on cellphones, they are just stupid, or have the reflexes of a slug. Cutting off someone involves them braking because there really isn’t that much space. I don’t cut anyone off, but I’d really never cut off a cell phoner - I like my rear bumper, thanks, and I wouldn’t trust them to see me and brake.
And when you slow down to keep the 4 second gap, and cause all the cars behind you to brake in a chain reaction, what happens? This is why merge points cause congestion, but for on-ramps it can’t be helped. We have metering lights to space the cars merging which significantly speeds up the flow of traffic on the freeway.
It is fairly easy to see the progress of a merging car, note that he’ll probably be arriving at the merge point, and gradually slow down enough so he can smoothly merge. That seems like the least disruptive strategy to me.
FWIW I refuse to let people merge who have been in a lane that is clearly marked as “Ends in 1/4 Mile” or words to that effect who decide to wait until they’re scraping the retaining wall before trying to get over.
And if it were legal, I would commit assault on those who zip through a construction zone right up to the orange barrels and then expect everyone else, who read and paid attention, to let them into the line 20 cars ahead. Nope. Never.
I learned to drive in Michigan, but I live in Jersey and work in Philly, and spend 3 hours a day on the road. Navigating New Jersey traffic is like being in a foreign country. I wouldn’t call Philly worse, but it’s horrible in a different way. Everybody drives in a very specific way, and if you don’t have a clear set of directions, and don’t know what it is the people do, driving can become very nasty business. It’s almost like they force you to drive as badly as they do because otherwise you will cause a traffic incident.
Merging mostly consists of people flying past all the waiting cars and then trying to cut in at the last minute. Fuckers always get away with it too. If you put on your blinker in New Jersey, you aren’t asking for permission to get over. You are telling the other drivers, ‘‘I’m getting over now.’’ I’ve become a much more aggressive driver living here (though I’m still pretty cautious) and I worry that I’ll leave here and discover that I’ve become a terrible driver.
But when a car pulls in front of you, you now have a 2-second gap. I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen plenty of people who leave even larger gaps than that hit the brakes when a car pulls in front of them, despite there being tons of room. On the roads I travel we’re going no more than 20 mph, but this braking with no one near them is a bit disconcerting. I don’t know how you handle it, but that’s what I’ve seen.
