This is my first post so if I am going about this wrong please let me know.
I just have to come in here and get this off my chest. When 2 lanes become 1 whether it be highway or boulevard or whatever, it is 1 car from each side at a time and everyone alternates and then there will be a steady flow of traffic, but people feel the need to speed up and try to sneak in like being ahead by 1 car length will make a huge difference in your life. And while I’m on the subject I would like to discuss lane changes and the use of flashers/blinkers/indicators/turn signals whatever you want to call them, just because you turn it on doesn’t mean you have the right of way and that I should slow down to let you in, but if I do let you in would it kill you to wave thank you and show you appreciate me letting you in when I didn’t have to. Too often people put on said flasher and don’t bother to even check if someone is there like I should see his flasher and just stop to let him in. If you are going to exit soon get into the lane ahead of time and don’t just come flying over from 2 lanes across because that lane was moving…if I have to wait in line to exit…so do you.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to me rant my mental health and I thank you.
Be careful how you reply to me…I am a serial killer, just yesterday I took out Snap, Crackle and Pop. Right now I am stalking Tony.
Might I add, dear kookiecanuck, that my indicator/flasher/turn signal is not an invitation for you to speed up, either. If I have taken the proper precautions to wait for enough space to move over into the lane I wish to enter and signal my intentions accordingly, don’t be an ass and speed up to narrow the gap so that I can’t move in! It’s extraordinarily RUDE.
And while I’m on the subject, if you are travelling behind me and I signal my intentions of changing lanes, it is alsonot an invitation for you to whip around me at great speed and prevent me from moving into that lane!
I agree with you Shayna that is also very rude and if your indicator has been on and you are trying to move over and not cut someone off I would galdly let you in, would you wave to me to thank me for letting you in? just a question
On the topic of flashers (or turn signals, as we whacky Americans call them), I recently decided after 18 years of driving that the distraction created by trying to activate the turn signal during a lane change almost always outweighs the additional safety gained by notifying drivers behind you that you are going to change lanes. Another way to look at it is that if you need to use a turn signal, you probably don’t have enough room to change lanes anyway. Another way to look at it is that about one percent of drivers these days will actually back off and let you change lanes when they see your signal, so it’s pointless anyway. So now I just make sure I’ve got a clear shot, and then go for it. None of this silly turn signaling or flashing for me.
I’m curious, why are you kookie?
hahahaha… ok… I’m lame.
anyway, welcome to the boards, and a word of advice: never go onto the 417 from the Parkdale exit in Ottawa if you hate drivers like that. I almost get into an accident every day there because of idiots.
My other driving pet peeve is when people merging onto a highway from an onramp do so at 50km/h (30mph) and try to merge in and speed up in the highway lane. The PURPOSE of the onramp is to get you to speed up to highway speeds to merge swiftly.
Curious, it’s one of life’s great mysteries. Maybe if we stopped calling them “onramps” and started using the less-common name “acceleration lane”, people might actually get the idea that they are supposed to accelerate before they are in the middle of the freeway. The onramp nearest to my home is a good 1/2 mile long - it’s HUGE. So what do people do? They go 30 mph all the way up the ramp, pull into the freeway lane, and THEN stomp on the gas.
Just more evidence for my theory that people are morons.
Hyperelastic, you sound like an honorary Louisianaian. Apparently Driver’s Ed never covered what that doohickey sticking out of the steering column was for. Or what that line in the middle of the road was for, either.
I absolutely hate it when I am on the highway, passing a car (on the left of course), and find myself suddenly laying on the horn because someone tries to move in my lane. Yes, I was paying attention, but I had committed to passing that person, and when they try to merge suddenly into my lane, I would have liked to know about it at least 5 seconds or so before you did it.
Merging is also another thing that makes my blood boil. I try, if possible, to change lanes when I see people are entering the highway. If this is not possible, I try to slow up a bit, or if I am slightly ahead, speed up. It’s all about compromise in my book.
Well, I consider that having otherwise-naked men wearing trenchcoats at a point where traffic is trying to merge is not a good idea! :eek:
However, activating one’s signal light a short ways in advance of where it becomes clear that one will need to enter an adjacent lane is an alert to oncoming traffic in that lane that there will be a vehicle moving into the clear space ahead of them. In certain places such an alert is useful to the driver who may be fatigued by distance driving, e.g., on I-95 southbound in Virginia a short ways south of Petersburg just south of the on-ramp from I-295, where the rightmost of the two thru southbound lanes becomes an exit-only lane for US-301, and the lane which has brought I-295 traffic onto I-95 as a left-side on-ramp becomes the left thru lane. Bringing to the attention of a driver who has been on the road for six hours or so that a lane change is imminent ahead of him is nothing short of a needed courtesy.
The problem I have heard is that people avoid using their indicators because they believe that what Shayna discribed is going to happen.
<pit mode ON>
Don’t be an idiot, just because the other person might be shit slurping pig fondeller. Use your blinkers.
<pit mode OFF>
I totally agree with you there. Another bad one is trying to merge on the 417 at Bronson Westbound as people are trying to get off. Bedlam at rush hour!
One of my personal pet peeves when it comes to driving are people who suddenly decide they need to be in my lane, cut me off, then turn on their turn signal. Couldn’t you do that ahead of time? Maybe I could even slow down a bit and give you more room to get in safer.
[sweeping generalization]
I am the only sane driver in the Northern Virginia area.
Thanks for reminding me what I have to go through after work. I drive home from Vanier Parkway to Parkdale. It takes me longer to get from Bronson to the next exit at Parkdale than to cross the city before Bronson.
kookiecanuck, there’s a special device on some cars that you may have heard of. Its called a ‘manual transmission’. When a driver operates one of those cars in north america, they’re left hand is permanently on the wheel, while they’re right hand is on the shift. In traffic, anything less would cause an accident.
If I had an automatic tramsmission, I’d happily wave at you. Since I don’t, both you and the National Enquirer will just have to wait until a third arm grows out of my chest.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by quietman1920 *
**kookiecanuck, there’s a special device on some cars that you may have heard of. Its called a ‘manual transmission’. When a driver operates one of those cars in north america, they’re left hand is permanently on the wheel, while they’re right hand is on the shift. In traffic, anything less would cause an accident
I drive a manual on occasion as well and when I pass you or merge into your lane, taking my hand off the shifter for the 3 seconds (or less) it takes to wave thank you does not cause any accidents.
If your hand is on the knob for more than 3 minutes…you’re playing with it.
So, were you an ass because this was the pit and you felt compelled to be since no one had piled on her yet?
I drive a Standard car. I have no problems raising a hand to thank a person when they are courteous to me. It only takes a second, and 99% of the time, even when you have to shift, you still have a few seconds leeway no matter which way you have to shift.
If you do not, may I suggest that you are a terrible driver. If your car is constantly red-lined or below 1000rpm, then you do not know how to drive a manual transmission. If you require keeping your hand on the shifter on the highway at every second, then you shift way too often and do not know how to drive a manual transmission. My advice: buy a new car, or stay off the roads. In my opinion, your driving habits cause more accidents that kookie’s ever will.
Let me just say that the reason I felt compelled to post my admonishion that my indicator light is not an invitation to speed up is precisely because this happens to me so damn frequently! I still, consistently, use my indicators. Just because other people choose to drive unsafely doesn’t mean I will stoop to their level.
And I mentioned part 2 of my rant because that very thing happened to me just this morning on my way to work… by a woman driving with a baby in the back seat! I watched oncoming traffic in the lane to my left, waited for a safe opportunity to move over, checked and double checked my side and rear-view mirrors, signaled my intention to change lanes and, without signal or warning, the bitch behind me decided that she wanted to get there first and prevent me from moving over by whipping her car around mine at an accelerated speed. I really hate it when drivers drive like asses. I hate it even more when they do it with children in their cars!
And kookiecanuck, if we’re sitting in heavy, bumper-to-bumper traffic and you see my signal on and make space for me to move in front of you, you’re damn straight I will wave my sincerest thanks to you for your accomodation. On the other hand, if all I’m doing is making a safe lane change into your lane, when there is already enough space there for me to safely move over without you having to accomodate me by slowing down or changing your driving in any way, then no, you do not get waved at. That’s just a normal part of driving and you’ve done nothing to “deserve” a “thanks”. What for? For not speeding up, which was my complaint in the first place? If you maintain your speed and I merge in front of you at a safe distance, don’t hold your breath for a thank you.