I can only go 65. speed limit is 70. car races me to merging point to only go 50 mph. My near miss yesterday was that a pickup did something I didn’t anticipate. My fault, but I wouldn’t have slammed my brakes in front of a truck. I was about a good 6 seconds or so away. Needed to be at least 8, and really ten because I was a little weary. Can’t really piece what happened except that I saw light turn Yellow, took a second to decide whether I could stop, decided to stop, proceeded to stop and to my surprise, the pickup slammed her brakes on to stop. Normally, I travel slower than traffic, but sometimes, you have people eveb going slower than that.
I was referring to when you have the needed space in front of you and everyone thinks that’s a merging area and cuts into it, especially if the traffic is stopping.
I was following just a tad too close to that pickup, My perception time was just off, and if it was a kid running out, I would have anticipated it way before the pickup probably would. Think ahead.`
I was referring to when you have the needed space in front of you and everyone thinks that’s a merging area and cuts into it, especially if the traffic is stopping.
I was following just a tad too close to that pickup, My perception time was just off, and if it was a kid running out, I would have anticipated it way before the pickup probably would. Think ahead.`
I was driving down the interstate. This family of four was pulled over on the shoulder and and they were all outside the vehicle, so I got into the left lane to make it safer for them and some wazoo gets in the right lane, passes them at 80+ and then cuts me off. Also, almost took out motorcycle.
What is with the people who don’t believe in merging? I had to merge from the right lane into the single left lane in a short amount of space (less than 1/4 mile). The people in the left lane would not make space, so I had to either speed up and cut in, or go off the road (no shoulder, a metal barrier).
The person I “cut off” proceeded to tailgate me for several miles. When I got to my destination, she got out too. Turns out she was one of my friends’ housemates. Her comment? “Be careful who you cut off next time!”
Ummm, bitch? Learn how to merge. It’s not about your ego. People will run out of lane if you all drive bumper to bumper and don’t let them merge, and will hit a freakin’ metal barrier, or have to stop in moving traffic and wait for someone without mental problems to allow them to merge into one lane. Morons.
Hey, liberty, if you’re a truck driver, you might appreciate this recent thread about all things truck driving related.
Seconded.
I also second everyone who thinks that stretch of the Harrisburg Pike is evil. Because it is.
Robin, SU class of '05
So in which of these United States is it a requirement that a driver run a yellow light? 
Contary to your opinion a yellow light does not mean go like hell cause it is going to turn red soon.
What about people that know their lane will end after the light, but instead of merging before the light, they stay in their lane and then cut the people that are in the right (left, actually) lane off after the light? This road has been like this for years, and there are signs that say “lane ends”, and still it was a big surprise?
I will reluctantly let them in rather than force them completely off the road, because I’m not an asshole, but it really chaps my ass to do so.
Maybe they haven’t been driving that road for years. You reminded me of that scene in westerns with the “outsider” going into the saloon…
There are two lanes at the light. Once you go through the light, the merge is in effect and you don’t have long to get over. The people on the left seem to have some issue with this and drive bumper-to-bumper so there is no way to get left. What are you supposed to do? You have your left signal on, you try to get over, and soon, you’re coming up on a metal barrier. Isn’t the courteous and wise thing to do to allow the folks to merge in? I mean, the alternative is the right lane to come to a stop until someone leaves an opening. Or no one wait at the traffic light in the right lane (which is NOT a turn lane, it’s a legitimately 2 lane road with a dedicated right turn lane). Not gonna happen.
I do think it’s some sort of ego thing with these people. They can’t stand the idea of a person getting in front of them. I don’t get it. I make a point of letting people merge because when you don’t, traffic slows for everyone and it’s dangerous.
At the speed she was going, she would haved made it just fine. Ever wonder why trucks don’t stop sometimes at a red light thast just turned red? Because they are heavy and sometimes can’t stop. This happened to me right in front of a dot officer and he just turned the other way and went his business. I just love it when a car decides to honk her horn at me when I couldn’t stop my heavy vehicle going down a hill when the light changed yellow just several hundred feet away.
What chaps my ass (not really) is people who expect everyone to merge way before the actual merge, then don’t allow space at the merge, leaving acres of empty asphalt and more backed up traffic. This especially applies to highway merges, where some people expect everyone to merge as soon as it’s indicated that a lane will end, even if the actual merge is a mile away.
The engineers put the merge after the light instead of before the light for a reason. The reason being, they want 2 lanes of straight moving traffic at the light instead of 1. I don’t see what the problem is with using the road the way the designers intended.
If people just accepted merging at the point where the merge is, and allowed merging cars the space they need, traffic would flow smoothly, nobody gets cut off, and nobody would have to get their asses chapped because someone “cheated” by driving down empty road before a merge.
I hate people who wait to the last second to merge causing traffic to back up.
And I did say that I do let them in, and that I do not run them off the road. Please read carefully.
I think it’s an ego thing with the mergers. They can’t stand the thought of having to get in the back of the line- they want to be in front, and fuck everybody else.
It is not an ego thing; it’s the law: the person merging into traffic yields right-of-way to through traffic. Not the other way around. If you cannot merge because there is too much traffic in the lane you want to get into, you do, indeed, have to stop and wait for someone to let you in.
If you do not want to be trapped, waiting to get into the through lane, you need to plan ahead – and merge back when everyone who’s ass is being chapped did.
Which is why the zoom-up-and-cut-in drivers inspire road rage: they come across as behaving as though they are exempt from having to plan ahead.
*Hear! Hear! * On my commute home, there’s a point where, within a few hundred yards, an on ramp brings traffic into the right lane, the right lane turns into an exit-only lane, and the two remaining lanes go into a tunnel. Drivers are warned a mile before this point that the right lane will become an exit-only lane. Nevertheless, even though I do try to let people in during the mile-long stretch leading up to this, a surprising number of drivers will wait until they are at or past the on ramp before merging into another lane. In my experience, this means that if I leave a gap for someone merging in from the on ramp to get in ahead of me, most of the time that space will be taken by someone who’s been sitting in the right lane for the past mile. I often see such people squeeze out people trying to get on at that on ramp. I’ve also seen people who are so desperate to gain a few car lengths, that they’ll wait until they’re past the point where the right lane starts exiting to begin to try to merge.
I understand hating rush hour traffic and wanting to get home. I’ve considered using their tactics myself. I haven’t, in part, yes, because I haven’t quite got the nerve, but more importantly because I’ve seen what effect it has on the rest of the traffic and it’s an efficient and, in my opinion, rude way to go about things.
What I hate worse is pea brained road planners who have an on ramp with no merging area or signs saying no mergiing area.
Ok, how about the ones who have there own lane to turn into after an off ramp and decide my lane looks better. Even though I’m in it. The best part is that I was the only one around. I saw him stop. (they have a stop sign even though they get thier own lane) He looked both ways, good I can tell he saw me, right? Watever, He then proceeds to make his turn right out of his lane into mine. Luckily there was no one to my left. If there was I’d a pancake.
While you get a little leeway for being human, knowing your truck’s limits, and being allowed to skirt the red light by a few tenths of a second, in general, this is complete bullshit. If you can’t stop between the time the light turns yellow and the time the light turns red, you’re driving too fast and should know better.