Yes, another driving rant. If you would just like to add your own, feel free to skip this tedious analysis and proceed to the reply button or quick reply box.
Interstate 85 is a major interstate that connects Greenville, SC to Charlotte NC and Atlanta GA and cities beyond. In order to reach downtown Greenville or to head toward Columbia, one must get on 385. Most commuters in the Greenville area, including myself, must pass through this intersection on the way to and from work everyday.
It is here where the madness happens.
Let’s start in the morning. There are only 2 lanes to be shared with the folks merging onto 385 from 85 from both directions as well as the people who are already on 385. The polite thing that most civil commuters do is to stay in the left lane to allow the mergers a clear shot at getting on. This results in a very long back-up in the left lane which, you guessed it, invites people to get out of line in the left lane and speed past all the other drivers who are patiently waiting. They rush down to the merge where there is an equally long line of cars waiting to get on. And everybody just stops. Yes, I realize it takes patience to stay in the left lane but trust me, 40 mph is better than 0. Unless you’re rushing to the hospital, wait your god damned turn.
And now to the afternoon, which has a strikingly similar problem. At this point there are many folks like myself, trying to get on 385 south from 85. If you are going south, there is very long stretch of road with no exits for everyone to get in a nice orderly line in anticipation of the exit. This, like the morning line is sometimes slow, but if everyone was patient, we’d get there. This is simply too much for some assholes. They just have to get out of line and drive right up to the exit bypassing hundreds of cars and then forcing their way into the sluggish line. This causes everyone to slam on their brakes, the chain reaction lasting for at least a mile.
People, unless there is an emergency, just stay in fucking line with everybody else. You have no right to break in line causing safety issues not to mention road rage. It’s the South, we’re supposed to be nice around here. Thank you.
Boy howdy, this is a hot button with me too. Especially the folks who think they’re too important to wait and try to squeeze in at the last minute. They don’t squeeze in in front of me.
I used to live right around the corner (so to speak) from that intersection. I agree with your rant completely… My favorite part was people who got to the ramp, slammed on the brakes and tried to merge from) mph.
Yet another one of the many reasons I left Greenville, never to return.
Same situation on my drive home in the evening. It is amazing how some people get so angry at you because you wont let them in when if they would have stayed in line they wouldn’t have had a problem getting where they need to go. I’ve had people beep at me, curse at me, give me the finger, etc.
This made me laugh- on my very first day in NC, while trying to find the hospital I was starting work at (after having just moved from NY- still had NY plates on the car) I got the long horn beep and flipped the bird by a cabbie in uptown. There was NO other traffic where I was and he could have gone around, but he laid on the horn and flipped me off instead. I waved, of course, and went on my way.
I do feel your pain on the interstate driving issue- people are dumber then dogshit.
I like the people here in Detroit who figure that since there’s traffic in the lanes and there’s no traffic on the shoulder that the shoulder is the best place to drive.
We encountered a similar situation while on vacation in Grand Rapids a year ago, where I-196 and US 131 meet. Suffice it to say we now know it’s not a good idea to use 131 to get to Leonard from 196.
I’m really getting obsessed over this whole situation. I’m now actively looking for people to cut in line. I start thinking about it 1.5 miles before the exit, then look for people just so I can pull up beside them and wave my middle finger in anger.
In Mass, it’s like this where routes 60 and 1 meet. There’s always a long line backed around the corner for people waiting to merge onto 1. What really pisses me off is when people fly past the long line of cars waiting patiently, and cut somebody off in the front. I was driving with someone who did this once, and his response was “Well, why should I have to wait?” WTF, in that defense, why should anyone have to wait?
