Lets assume that a two lane street has a lane reduction on it. There is a huge lit up sign with a yellow arrow on it indicating that drivers must merge into the left lane. You are in the left lane and the car to the right of you doesn’t notice the sign until the last minutes. He/she thinks “whatever” and completley cuts you off to get in the left lane. You have to break to avoid hitting him/her.
Would you be pi**sed off? Discuss.
No. I would not be pissed. I have learned to expect this kind of behavior. As long as they give me enough time to ‘brake’! to let them through, I can deal with it. I actually get more annoyed when people spell ‘break’ when they mean ‘brake’, even though I have come to expect that sort of thing also.
Go figure…
Excuse the typo:rolleyes: B R A K E is that better? Now can we get back to the subject at hand?
The most efficient way to do this, really, is for all traffic to use both lanes up until the point where one lane is closed, and then, each car in the non-closed lane let one car from the closed lane in.
There are people who ditch the lane as soon as they see the closure sign, and there are other people who think they are using it as a way to get a couple of cars ahead. At this point everybody’s mindset governs how they drive (i.e., “No, she thinks she’s gonna get ahead of me, I’m not letting her in, she should have changed lanes as soon as she saw the sign”) but the courteous thing to do is to let one car in. You shouldn’t have to brake. You should already have slowed down because of the possibility of another lane merging in.
“Break” as “Brake” isn’t a typo. Its just a mistake. Either one is understandable. Though personally, I get upset when people get upset about being corrected in spelling. Not saying you were, just sayin’.
On topic: I get upset when anyone drives like a jackass. But being cutoff is something I expect.
It annoys me. I can’t do anything about it except yell and scream at the driver in the other car who is pulling away and ignoring me. And they did too see the big yellow arrow, they’re just pretending not to notice.
I would be annoyed, but you should never be “cut off” in that situation. Consider all the information you have – you see the car in front of you, you see that his lane ends. Only 2 things can happen. 1) He moves in front of you at the last minute, or 2) he slams on his brakes and moves in behind you. Or 3) he drives through the orange barrels, I suppose.
My standard operating procedure is to assume that 1 is a distinct possibility, and back off a bit. Then he when inevitably moves over, he’s not “cutting me off,” because I’ve left him plenty of room to be a moron. If he ends up slamming on his brakes and getting behind me, all I’ve lost is a little bit of speed, and that’s what the go pedal is for. No harm done.
Anyone who gets cut off in that situation was either not paying attention or is being stubborn. And you never want to be stubborn behind the wheel. It’s not worth it.
I don’t tailgate, so it’s not a problem when people merge at the merge point in front of or behind me.
I agree. You know the other person’s lane is ending, so leave space for them to merge.
Of course I would, the way you describe the situation. When you have to merge, you moderate your speed to fit with the flow of traffic, and use those pretty little lights on the back of your car. They are called ‘directionals’; using them is called ‘signalling your intent’, as well as ‘common courtesy’, and ‘common sense’, both which aren’t, I know.
I was taught to merge like a zip - so it would depend on what had happened to the cars ahead of me. If the car in front of me in the new single lane had come from my lane, I would have been prepared to give way; if the leading car had come from the other car’s lane it would piss me off if they tried to tailgate it to push in front of me. From your OP there is not enough information to determine who should have had right of way.
I try to live my life by asking myself: did it really change the quality of your life? If the answer is no, I forget about the issue.
I am not perfect at it. A year or so ago the guy in front of me stopped at a green light while making a right-hand turn. If I had not had a good breaking distance I would have nailed him. Most people barely stop at a red light when turning right, what kind of nut stops when it is green?
I was pissed for about a 1/3 of mile before I stopped and asked myself the question. Then I tried to let it go and did an OK job of it.
No. I marvel at people who are able to function in life with absolutely no situational awareness whatsoever. I wish I could be like them sometimes. Life would be so simple.
There was a huge sign that no one could have missed WAY before the 2 lanes were reduced to 1. Some guy in a huge truck didn’t see it. I was in the left lane which is the open lane with no cars ahead of me. So he speeds up and totally cuts me off.
Oh yes. the green light stopper…so fricking irritating.
I do not allow myself to be cut off in these situations. When I see a lane merge is occurring, I let in one car and then ride their ass so that I don’t let in any more than that. If someone tried to cut me off in this situation, they would have to collide with either my car or the car in front of me. In which case, enjoy the bill sucker.
It sounds like he sped up and merged. Did he immediately brake after moving into your lane? If so, that might be cause for consternation, but not the moving into your lane (or cutting you off as you say it).
Yes, regardless of their reasons any maneuver that causes me to slam on my brakes was a stupid one. They can stop if need to be to wait for an opening.
I hate those people that ride the closing lane as long as they can and try to cut in front of everyone. I never let them in but someone usually does. Not sure who is worse.
I really don’t understand why the zipper merge is not taught in more driving classes.
Some places put out helpful signs like “zipper merge ahead, use both lanes until merge point” to encourage people to behave rationally. Fortunately I’m sure posters here at SDMB are all rational enough to automatically use the zipper merge approach.
What?
Riding in a legal lane until it closes isn’t a problem. You might not really like it and prefer to merge earlier, but don’t blame them for doing what is legal and is more efficient.
Merging over quickly in a manner to cause you to slam on the brakes is wrong, regardless of what led up to it.