# Do you move over when someone is merging onto the highway? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869 "2014-11-17T17:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/21 "2014-11-17T19:45:39Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > In our state, “keep right except for passing” is the law. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA _wipes tear_ oh man, that’s a good one. I thought every state had this on the books as their “least enforced law in history” law. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/22 "2014-11-17T19:52:41Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Because when I am exiting and entering, there you guys are, blocking traffic, slowing it down, by driving 30 mph when other people are trying to get up to speed to get on, and have to slow down quite a bit because you are there tootling along at 30, oblivious to everyone else you are blocking, whistling your little tune thinking that everyone must yield to you and that they are driving like maniacs thinking that they are assholes for flipping you off, when in fact it is the asshole tootling along at 30 that is a hazard to everyone on the road. The only thing worse is being trapped as a passenger with a driver like that. Right lane drivers are only slightly less dangerous than drunk drivers. Learn to drive. Most highways I drive on have a minimum posted speed of 45 mph. I agree, if people are doing only 30 they don’t have any business being on the highway. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/23 "2014-11-17T19:56:14Z")
If I see that the person merging is obviously going to ignore me and cut me off regardless of our speeds, I’ll move over. Otherwise, I speed up or slow down a few mph as necessary so that they have an easy in. It pisses me off when I’m the one merging and _I_ know and _they_ know that the lane I’m in is merging in 75 feet, and they’re getting in my way almost on purpose because “hurr durr it’s all on you 'cuz I don’t need to move a single inch faster or slower to make it easier for you, because _the law_” ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/24 "2014-11-17T20:02:37Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > HAHAHAHAHAHAHA _wipes tear_ oh man, that’s a good one. > > I thought every state had this on the books as their “least enforced law in history” law. Heh, right? Who do I have to bribe around here to get officers to start ticketing people for \*that \*shit instead of harassing people about seatbealts. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/25 "2014-11-17T20:03:22Z")
**Eonwe** ’s guide to interstate exits: 1. If you are merging onto a highway from an entrance ramp, it is your duty to get as close to driving speed as possible before merging. You do not stop at the yield sign or otherwise impede traffic behind you. If you get up to speed, you will be able to merge safely. 2. If you are on the highway in the right hand lane, and people are entering the highway ahead of you, your duty is to either shift left (if doing so doesn’t abruptly cut off faster traffic), maintain constant driving speed. Or, if you are traveling at significantly above the speed limit, you may slow down slightly to enable merging traffic to match speed in the space allotted. Failure to do either of these two things makes you an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/26 "2014-11-17T20:07:45Z")
I always move over if I can. I was taught that in drivers ed, if you can safely move over you do. If I can’t I will try to adjust my speed to let them in. What I hate are the people who are in the left lane, see you are about to merge, and they change to the right lane. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/27 "2014-11-17T20:09:57Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > HAHAHAHAHAHAHA _wipes tear_ oh man, that’s a good one. > > I thought every state had this on the books as their “least enforced law in history” law. I hate right-lane passers with the heat of a thousand suns, but it’s actually legal in many states, including mine, to pass on the right. (Preoccupied right now, but can provide cites on request.) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/28 "2014-11-17T20:26:18Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I checked the New Hampshire driver’s manual, and people on the freeway there are supposed to make room for people merging. Just to expand a little, it’s nice if they do but the burden is on the enterer: [http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/dmv/forms/documents/nhdm.pdf](http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/dmv/forms/documents/nhdm.pdf) pp 70-71, bolding mine: You enter an expressway on an entrance ramp. These are short, one-way ramps that allow for safe and easy entry onto the freeway. The entrance will take you to the acceleration lane. As you approach and enter the acceleration lane, increase your speed to match that of vehicles on the expressway, if possible. Watch for an opening, turn on your signal light and merge smoothly with the other traffic. **Drivers already on the expressway should allow room for those entering, but the driver entering the expressway must yield to them if they do not.** DO NOT come to a full stop in the acceleration lane unless traffic conditions are such that you have no other choice. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/29 "2014-11-17T20:31:55Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Most highways I drive on have a minimum posted speed of 45 mph. I agree, if people are doing only 30 they don’t have any business being on the highway. The freeways I drive on have no minimum posted speed. And if I ever averaged 45 on them during my commute I’d wonder which holiday I had missed. If I average 20 on my way home I’m lucky. And in California passing on the right is perfectly legal. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/30 "2014-11-17T20:37:16Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Because when I am exiting and entering, there you guys are, blocking traffic, slowing it down, by driving 30 mph when other people are trying to get up to speed to get on, and have to slow down quite a bit because you are there tootling along at 30, oblivious to everyone else you are blocking, whistling your little tune thinking that everyone must yield to you and that they are driving like maniacs thinking that they are assholes for flipping you off, when in fact it is the asshole tootling along at 30 that is a hazard to everyone on the road. The only thing worse is being trapped as a passenger with a driver like that. Right lane drivers are only slightly less dangerous than drunk drivers. Learn to drive. So, you’d prefer someone driving 30 to be in the middle lane as a road boulder? Does your merging method consist of gunning it without any consideration of how fast people in the slow lane are moving? I’ve never noticed anyone driving in the slow lane getting flipped off. Better there than someplace else. And better there if they are exiting than dive bombing in from a faster lane at the last minute. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/31 "2014-11-17T20:41:03Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Around here, there are two lanes on the highway each way and not much traffic. I head to work after the busiest time so there are rarely more than a few cars on the road with me. Yet, drivers still insist on staying in their lane when I am entering the highway. I don’t want to say they’re all Massholes but it tends to be them. I wonder if they don’t do it at home because of crowded roads so it doesn’t occur to them to do it at all? > > So, do you move over if there is no one in the passing lane? If I can move over safely and without interrupting traffic flow in the fast lane, I do. If not, it’s the job of the car that’s merging to match speeds with the flow of traffic in the slow lane, and match position with a space between cars, in order to merge smoothly. I’m willing to make allowances for cars entering the roadway via unusually short merging lanes, but even then, they’ve at least got to _try_. If they’re paying no attention to what’s going on in the lane they’re merging into, and just assume the drivers there will make way or give way, then fuck 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/32 "2014-11-17T20:48:53Z")
I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/33 "2014-11-17T21:09:42Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I move over if I can. If I can’t I adjust my speed to allow for a smooth merging, sometimes that means slowing down or speeding up depending on the situation. Ditto, which is old-school for: ‘+1’ ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/34 "2014-11-17T21:12:45Z")
I avoid changing lanes as much as I can, and adjust my speed instead, while staying in my lane. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/35 "2014-11-17T21:32:44Z")
Me thinks I do not ever want to be in a car that has **The Second Stone** behind the wheel. > [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > HAHAHAHAHAHAHA _wipes tear_ oh man, that’s a good one. > > I thought every state had this on the books as their “least enforced law in history” law. I’m glad this is the case everywhere else in the states, but it ain’t so here in Texas. This is especially true coming in to Texas from Oklahoma on 75. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/36 "2014-11-17T21:39:05Z")
Absolutely and always. If i can’t move over, I will either speed-up or slow down to let them into the fray. We’re all just trying to get where we need to go, so let’s all work together out there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/37 "2014-11-17T22:16:24Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > So, you’d prefer someone driving 30 to be in the middle lane as a road boulder? Does your merging method consist of gunning it without any consideration of how fast people in the slow lane are moving? > I’ve never noticed anyone driving in the slow lane getting flipped off. Better there than someplace else. And better there if they are exiting than dive bombing in from a faster lane at the last minute. I’d prefer people who drive at 30 to 50 mph on the open freeway not be let out of their long term care facilities, especially to drive. Unless it is clogged traffic, the speed limit is the only polite minimum speed. As for people who don’t want to drive with me in the car (or on the same freeway) the feeling is mutual. Nervous nellies who plug along at speeds that bore grandmas should not be allowed to have drivers licenses. Morons who putt along in the right lane interfering with all people entering and exiting should read the signs. Just because they don’t see the middle fingers don’t mean they aren’t there, it means they are oblivious to everyone else while the “derp, derp, derp” their little songs as they go down the road. Seriously, get with the fucking flow of traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/38 "2014-11-17T22:38:19Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Well, in my state we have four goddamn lanes for the freeways. Four. It’s called civilization. And only morons drive in the right hand lane. Yes, you have 3, 4, sometimes 5 or even 6 lanes each way going through many cities…but you are aware that there are vast stretches of freeway in California (and every other state, for that matter) that are 2 lanes in each direction, right? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/39 "2014-11-17T22:39:41Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’d prefer people who drive at 30 to 50 mph on the open freeway not be let out of their long term care facilities, especially to drive. Unless it is clogged traffic, the speed limit is the only polite minimum speed. Please tell me that bad weather is also a valid exception? ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869/40 "2014-11-17T22:49:16Z")
> [@Sahirrnee](#): > > I always move over if I can. I was taught that in drivers ed, if you can safely move over you do. > If I can’t I will try to adjust my speed to let them in. > > What I hate are the people who are in the left lane, see you are about to merge, and they change to the right lane. Gawd, I hate this. Unless your exit is coming up immediately after (and I mean within a quarter of a mile or less), WHY? Why can you not wait to move right until after the merge ramp has ended? In answer to the thread question, it depends. Most of the major roads around here (DC) are at least 3 lanes in one direction. I tend to stay in the middle or the left lane most of the time unless I’m exiting soon. But if I am in the right lane, I generally start by assessing if I can adjust my speed without too much hassle, and if I think it’s still going to be a problem, I move over if there’s space. If there’s no space, well, we jockey for position. The one time I will always move over no matter what is if it’s a truck or bus merging. You guys are big and can squish me, you do what you want and I’ll get out of the way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-move-over-when-someone-is-merging-onto-the-highway/704869.md?page=3)