When it is less than full light outside (twilight, rain, etc.), and other cars on the road are less visible than usual, don’t you think it might be of some help to turn on your headlights so other drivers can see you more easily?
And then next door in Illinois you can be cited for merely driving in the left lane with no one around you.
Oh, gosh, yes, this, a thousand times this. Almost every day on my way home from work, I get on the entrance ramp (or, as someone specified the proper name is “ACCELERATION RAMP”) and I’m usually behind a car or two.
Why do they always meander their way down the ramp at 30 mph? Until they see an opening on the freeway when they’re about 25 feet from merging, and THEN they gun it? Meanwhile, I’m still stuck at 30 mph behind their slow, sorry asses, and I have a heck of a time finding a spot I can merge into while at the same time getting up to highway speed.
Acceleration, people. Use this ramp (it’s a long one, too) to get your rustbucket up to highway speed, then pick a spot. Geez louise. I swear nobody learns proper merging in drivers’ ed anymore.
(On another merging topic, in the past few years on some city arterial streets we have added some right turn lanes that become their own lane on the cross street. There’s a solid white line between that lane and the lanes of the cross street, not to mention a concrete island that prevents the cross traffic from merging into you as you turn right. You can guess what our local drivers like to do when traffic is busy … yes, they STOP in that right turn lane, as if they think traffic has to be clear before they proceed. There’s not a YIELD sign there for a reason, moron! Move your car!)
Depending upon where your car was in the queue, you would have been liable too, or should have been. Always be able to stop comfortably if someone in front does something stupid.
[I love preaching about dribing)
I hate it when drivers talk on their cell phones! I was nearly hit by one such driver.
Also, any driver blasting music.
Well, in defense of these poor drivers, sometimes you hit highway speeds on the ramp and there simply is no place to slide in. As a result, some may prefer to go a little slow and make sure there will be an opening before getting up to speed.
I don’t get mad at other people when I’m driving. The only thing I won’t put up with is when people think they are being “so smart” by trying to merge into an offramp/onramp after cruising past most of the cars that have been waiting patiently as traffic trickles through.
I will hug the bumper of the car in front of me as if my life depended on it to keep these people from merging in front of me.
Other times though, I’m a very nice and agreeable driver and I’m always waving people in and whatnot. But not to the jerks who wait until the last minute to merge into a constricted, backed-up lane.
And then again, most of them are just Clueless Inobservant Morons.
“Oh, I wasn’t paying attention. I was only on the ramp.”
Re: merging from the ramp onto the highway. It’s a no-brainer in most cases–get up to speed, check for your opening, and zip in.
However, my in-laws live in southern CT and I occasionally have to merge onto the Merritt or Wilbur Cross Parkway at rush hour. I like to think I’m a pretty competent driver, but I’ll be goddamned if I can figure out how to accomplish that merge seamlessly. Ramps are very short and traffic is very fast. Any hints?
- I’ve mentioned this 100 times already but I hate when people already driving on the highway try to “help” you merge by slowing down to let you in. Trouble is, because I’m the person who is trying to yield, I’ve slowed down to slide in behind you. Then you realize what I’m doing and speed up at the exact moment that I’ve decided to gun it. For several terrifying seconds, we’re caught in the dangerous slow down/speed up dance that at times results in one of us driving onto the shoulder.
When I was teaching my girls to drive, I impressed upon them that the most helpful thing they could do was to either move into the left lane or MAINTAIN THEIR CURRENT SPEED.
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If you’re driving on a 2 lane road, don’t go the same speed as the person driving the same direction of you, as that results in an unfortunate Parcheesi blockade. Speed up and get in front of the other driver. You’d think that this was common sense, but as evidenced from my drive on 75 south through northern Ohio, it is not. One dude from Indiana Parcheesied a 20-car train for about 15 miles. It was maddening.
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I hate when people speed like a demon to pass me, then put on their blinker to turn within a few feet of getting into my lane.
You must have never have spent much time on a farm. Peeves are sterile.
I’ve never seen any one drive one either.
In my residential neighborhood I frequently drive on a nearby street and come to a stop sign, where I stop. The cross street does not have a stop sign. A car will be travelling down the cross street and when they near the intersection, they stop and commence to wave me by. Again, they do not have a stop sign.
I’m sure they think they are being courteous or friendly or something positive. But to me they are being dangerous and unpredictable, because they are not following protocol.
I am compelled to vigorously wave them by and point to my stop sign. Sometimes this turns into a stand-off of sorts. I end up getting agitated and feeling like a jerk for “correcting” them, but geez - WHO TAUGHT THEM HOW TO DRIVE?
I can relate to the bad ramp situation. Bangor, Maine has some screwed up ramp designs. Here is one where, as you can see, the off ramp and on ramp actually criss-cross each other. Just a ways down I-95 is the cloverleaf interchange with I-395. The acceleration lanes double as deceleration lanes. At both of those interchanges entering (accelerating) traffic must yield to exiting (decelerating) traffic. It’s like they were** trying** to over-complicate the process.
The only thing I can say to your situation is “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” 
In traffic that heavy, if you stop, you’re never getting in. Try to get going as fast as you can, and hopefully the other drivers will cooperate. I find that CT drivers are a bit better at that than their Massachusetts neighbors (affectionately known around here as Massholes).
Stop visiting your in-laws.
Well, not to disagree with your Massholes moniker, but they got that way from having to drive on the roads down there. The I95/I93 interchange is identical to the one bolded above except that the traffic there is bumper to bumper going 80mph pretty much 24/7/365. I’ve been through both intersections (Maine and Mass) many, many times. Trust me, there’s no contest in fuckupedness between the two.
And we won’t discuss the length of the ‘on ramps’ on Storrow drive and most other limited access highways down that way (they are to laugh). Route 2 heading west has some real winners too.
And then there’s the stop signs going onto a four lane limited access road. How the fuck are you supposed to get from 0 to 60 instantly? Rather like the Merritt and Wilbur Cross. Driving in Massatwoshits is always an adventure.
I agree with fachverwirrt - best not to go there. Ever.
Guess where we’re headed at the end of the week.
I95 from Bangor to NYC with a stop in downtown Boston via I93 :eek::smack:
Oh, I fully understand why Mass drivers drive the way they do. I’ve driven through plenty of times and … well… you know what they say, “when in Rome…”
That’s why I say “affectionately known as…” above, because, when I need to, I can fit right in with them. It helps when you drive beat up jalopies, because in Mass, vehicles in worse shape than your own ALWAYS have the right of way.
There are times when I’d rather share the road with Massholes than Maine drivers.
Massholes will cut you off, but gun it and get the hell out of the way afterwards. Maine-iacs will cut you off, do 15-20 mph under the speed limit, and refuse to move over to the right lane when a passing lane appears. Maine drivers do everything in their power to get in the way.
I never drive my peeves anywhere. I make them take the bus.
OMG I deal with this stupid shit all the fucking time! “YOU DON’T HAVE A STOP-SIGN ASSHOLE!!”
I hate those guys, too, and have been known to adopt your approach.
This!
Somewhere in the split second you have to make a decision when you’re driving in Mass, you have to asses whether the car blocking you/trying to cut you off is in worse or better shape than yours.
Our last trip into the big city a jackass blew across the front of our truck from the far right lane to make a left turn (surface road - Somerville). Fortunately the truck is relatively new and has good brakes. Also fortunately, husband spent years driving in England and has good reflexes.
Yes, yes they do.