I can’t imagine any driver’s ed manual would call for you to stop in the left lane of the interstate in order to merge into the right lane. Merge when you can, but for god’s sake, keep moving.
Weirdly enough I had a similar thing happen to me except this guy kept matching my speed even after the complete stop. Finally I got it up to about 70 or so and whipped right at the last second and made an exit he couldn’t stop in time to make.
I pulled off onto a side street where I could see the exit and watched this fool come by twice looking to see if he could see where I went. After he gave up I went and got a motel without incident. Definitely unsettling.
Sadly, in the LA area, this seems to happen most often not at exits, but at the intersection of two freeways. So you’ll get someone who has realized too late that they’re heading for the wrong freeway, then pulls over into the little wedge between two sets of freeway lanes—all going full speed—waiting to back up and somehow jump onto the right freeway from a dead stop.
I often find myself wondering how long those poor souls are waiting to jump in, but I’m generally glad I’m not around to find out.
