What is the psychological mechanism that causes so many drivers to speed up when someone signals that they want to change lanes in front of them?
At first I thought these guys (and they’re frequently males) were just pricks but then I noticed myself doing this the other day. It wasn’t a conscious decision and it doesn’t happen all the time but I noticed myself accelerating as some guy was trying to merge onto the freeway.
Is the highway is like the internet. Does the anonymity turns people into assholes?
I hate those people. I reflexively use turn signals, even when no one is around. If someone signals to merge, I slow down and let him/her in to encourage the good behavior. Luckily, drivers are relatively good about signaling in Chicago.
When you turn on your signal, that is an indication you want to move into the space I am currently in. Sometimes I want you to wait until I have passed, so you can move behind me, so I speed up. Sometimes I don’t mind you moving in front of me, so I slow down. What’s not to understand? Turning on your signal does not mean “I am the god of the road, all make way for me.”
My counter beef is those people who think turning on their signal is their only responsibility when changing lines. Yes, you’ve indicated your intent, it’s still up to you to change when the way is clear. That may even involve adjusting your own speed.
Yes and no. From what I’ve read, there’s a fascinating psych phenomenon at work. That happens to turn drivers into raging cunts.
The way I understood it, when you’re driving your car becomes an extension of your body as far as your brain is concerned, with all that comes along with that. Specifically, the space around your car becomes your “personal space”.
Now, when someone tries to get inside your personal space while on foot, you give them nonverbal signals so that they know it’s not all right (glaring, coughing, what have you), and in turn they send you verbal or nonverbal signals that they’re sorry to do that. Those signals make it more okay for them to do so. And if they don’t, and in fact send you cues meaning that not only do they know they’re invading your space, but don’t care one bit, they’re assholes.
But a car can’t send those non-verbal signals, no matter how polite the driver. So when another car threatens to invade your space, it tends to piss you right off, because they come off as assholes to you (or to your unconscious brain, anyway). And we all know how to deal with assholes: fight back ! Raaaage !
I suspect the same principle is at work when it comes to merging: your brain probably goes “that guy wants to take MY space ! Bastard wants to jump the queue, does he ? FUCK that guy !” reflexively.
I frequently approach a car from behind that has had its turn signal on for a long time, without taking advantage of the empty lane next to them. I sometimes fly by to avoid their indecisive, potentially dangerous behavior.
Dang, that violates the rule that says intending to merge requires everyone on the highway to jam on their brakes to make way for you. You should know that merging drivers only need to signal and hit the accelerator, and good things will happen.
I only have one rule: merge in front of me all you want but if I am forced to brake because you moved in front of me and then slowed down, I will wish for Satan to eat your soul.
Actually, this is a good point, especially with on expressway onramp merge. If I’m in the right, and I see someone needing to merge, I try not to slow down too much and may speed up to give you access to the space behind me. I don’t like people who slam on their brakes to let someone in. But I was interpreting the OP as more situations where there is no real reason to speed up and box someone out.
When I go to change lanes, I ascertain that there’s plenty of space beforehand and turn on the signal as I begin to move over. Doesn’t give assholes a chance to cut me off, and keeps me on the right side of the law. My turn signal is not a request for permission, it is a warning.
Actually, that does bring up a good question: if you see someone wanting to change into your lane, and the two of you are pretty much parallel, do you generally slow down or speed up, if both are reasonable?
What drives me nuts is when I signal that I want to change lanes, and then I get stuck next to a guy who speeds up whenever I speed up and who slows down whenever I slow down!
Just to add to this - when entering onto a main road/parkway/etc with on and off ramps it is the responsibility of the merger to yield and merge properly. If a person merges and causes a disruption to the existing traffic flow (ie; those in the right lane need to break/slow down/stop) they are improperly merging.
I will say that I do the box out manuever in a few situations:
If the car attempting to move into my lane is travelling slower than me, they’ll get to wait for me to get ahead of them then they can merge behind me. This situation along with improper mergings are what causes most of the traffic in the New York Tri State area.
The assholes that will ride up the entire exit lane and merge left just before the exit so they can now be 1/5 of a mile further up in the traffic. And conversely, the people that travel right up to the actual exit itself before merging right to exit to cut off the 25 cars waiting in the exit lane traffic to exit. These people will both have to smash into my car before I let them in. And since I don’t own a car and usually will be driving my girlfriends piece of shit 97 Taurus, the damage to my own car will matter a lot less than it would to that Mercedes that just couldn’t deal with the extra 5-10 minutes to enter/exit the roadway.
I don’t feel like I’m unjustified in those two scenarios because its the other people who are driving improperly. I may look like a dick for doing it but me being a dick lets the road traffic flow unimpeded. If everyone drove this way, traffic in the area would be greatly reduced.
I’m also a big proponent of left lane-right lane-left lane-right lane when two lanes merge into one. I want to fucking murder the assholes who think they shouldn’t have to take turns when merging. Simple fucking courtesy goes a long way in all aspects of life.
Can I piggy back on this and express my hatred for cars who don’t use their turn signals? It’s an epidemic here, cars refuse to use their left turn signal when stopped at a stoplight, they only apply them after the light turns green. There’s enough traffic that a left turn can take a while to happen after the light turns green, so folks generally pass the left turner on the right.
Except, of course, when the turner doesn’t turn his signal on, and you think he’s going straight, then you’re stuck, and all the cars behind you are passing on the right, so you can’t do that without getting into an accident. At which point, you begin to rage at this asshole who couldn’t be bothered to signal that he’s turning until it was too late for you to get around him safely.
The correct action now is to assume everyone is turning left, and get on his right side, then having to merge back into the single lane when you find out he’s actually going straight, so you feel like an asshole for blocking people who may have wanted to turn right on red.
This is a big peeve for me, too - the only reason I can think of for these assholes doing this is that they don’t want to hear the ticking of the signal indicator throughout the whole red light. Boo freakin’ hoo.
This isn’t a rant against people who won’t slow down for them to get into the lane (so, you’re very close to the car, and will speed up to get past them).
This is a rant against those self righteous pricks who are going roughly the same speed as you (or slower), and there’s plenty of room for the signaler to change lens, who will then suddenly accelerate to take away the available space to change lanes. Those are the real assholes.
I wouldn’t have been quite so specific about wanting the other driver in front or behind me, but I agree that the issue is sometimes a problem with the perception of the signaler.
Sometimes people signal that they want to move into the space immediately in front of me when there is not room and it is not safe. I do not let those people in. Some of them no doubt perceive that as my “speeding up to cut them off,” whereas I perceive it as “physics will not do what their infantile emotional whim wants.”