And what about places where people entering are forced to come to a complete stop with no room to accelerate? I always slow down to let people in if it’s possible.
Like where? I’ve done a lot of driving, and I have never come to a complete stop when merging onto a freeway. (Well, except when the freeway traffic was also at a complete stop.) Certainly there are configurations where it’s difficult to get up a lot of speed, or where it’s difficult to get a good view of highway traffic for choosing your merge point, but difficult does not equal impossible.
Are there a lot of stop signs on freeway on-ramps in your neck of the woods?
Leave an appropriate gap between you and the next guy. Pay attention to the flow of traffic. Unless there’s been some sort of catastrophic accident you should really be able anticipate the flow of traffic without using your brakes. We’re all going 75-80mph, maybe use your fucking eyes and you won’t be slamming your brakes.
But yeah, by all means pile into someone, that’s obviously what I meant.
In a great many states, it is in fact the law that when a lane reduction is in effect (either permanently or temporarily), cars in both lanes have equal rights of way, meaning that cars from each lane alternate in accessing the one remaining open lane. You do in fact have the right of wazy to your lane over a car wishing to change from another lane which remains open – but not in the instance under discussion, where a lane ends or is temporarily closed.
The 2-5 lane traffic on the stretch of I-90 I drive is urban enough to piss me off and if Kootenai County and Washington drivers would remove their heads from their collective sphincter and drive the way I outlined my Fridays would improve. YMMV - mileage, ha!
There’s a middle ground where people don’t slow down to a crawl and act like feeling one scintilla of g-force will kill them.
Let’s not drag out the tired old “you’re not entitled to speed” argument. How about we all just drive properly?
Here in W. PA, PennDOT is having their semi-annual You Can’t Get There From Here Festival and it’s quite common to have stop signs at the end of freeway entrance ramps during construction.
May you be fortunate enough to never have to experience this.
Bri2k
I love how people create sentences only they can understand.
You misspelled “brake” as “break”.
How fast do you drive? There’s no need to slow down that much.
You don’t always accelerate on an on-ramp. You don’t eyeball. You check your side mirror to make sure that you are clear to merge.
Well, I would riposte with, “I’m certain freeway traffic is not going 80 through a construction zone,” but you did say Pennsylvania, so I won’t. 
When the person trying to merge is going 20 or 30 and freeway traffic is going 60 or 70?
Oh. You said you were a defensive driver. You didn’t make clear that you are an incompetent driver.
Yawn
If you’re only using your side mirror, and you haven’t looked at the highway at all, what’s in your blind spot?
Okay, I probably misspoke there so I admit I was wrong on that. I do check the high-way as well as the mirror. I’m not exactly sure why I wrote that I don’t check the high-way.
That made me laugh out loud (mostly because Calgary likes to have those every summer, too - we were trying to visit Jim’s parents a couple weeks ago, and hit three or four different constructions blockages and bottlenecks, one right after the next).
I have to drive through a notorious speed trap on my way to work, and I can always tell the people who don’t drive that road on a regular basis. The speed limit is 30, most traffic goes 35, but there’s always one joker who flies through at 60. There’s a sound barrier wall along one side of this road, and about two mornings a week there’s a cop hiding behind that wall. It makes me smile to have someone go flying past only to see them pulled over by the cop further up the road. You don’t know which morning the cop’s gonna be there, so if you have any sense at all you drive at a reasonable speed!
Some people just think they are invincible when they drive, which I never understood. I’ve seen some people just screech their tires and go full blast down the road with no respect for anyone on the road. I just think people need to be careful when they drive. Driving a big hunk of steel is a huge responsibility.
If you drive like that, you’re an accident looking for a place to happen. While accelerating on the on ramp, quickly turn your head and check your blind spot, then merge into a preselected open space. Quit expecting others to adjust to your driving. Plan ahead and merge.
Thank you for the advice even though I never asked for it. Also, thanks for assuming. It’s great when people make such broad assumptions about people.
In Mpls/St. Paul (and in other places too, but that’s the one I know for sure) they have ramp meters which are essentially stop lights near the end of the interstate on ramp. Admittedly they are only in use during expected rush hour in the AM and PM but the highway traffic isn’t necessarily (or even usually, in my experience) stopped when the meters are on. Trying to get from a complete stop up to speed before trying to merge into bumper to bumper traffic in a relatively short distance is something a lot of people haven’t mastered and when somebody from a location that doesn’t have ramp meters sees them for the first time, they think it is the most retarded thing ever.