If there are people entering the highway, it is generally best to let them. Through areas where you go many miles between exits, then be in whatever lane you want. But if you are passing an exit, it often means that the people trying to get on get blocked by the cars already on the interstate. Worst is the cars on the interstate that change their velocity, either in a poor attempt to let people in, or in a deliberate attempt to keep people from merging in front of them. I’ve seen people run off the road by people in the right lane not letting them merge into traffic.
On my way home, if I am stopping by the bank, I stop in the right hand lane of the intersection right before it, as its entrance is right after, and trying to get over in that short a space can be a bit of a pain. OTOH, there are cars coming off the interstate that want to turn right. I pull up as far forward and to the left as is safe to allow the cars that want to turn right to do so. Usually I’ll let one or two through before someone comes up that is going straight as well.
I’ll pass you on the right if you are driving slowly in the left lane. If I am approaching on the right, I am not going to slow down so that I don’t pass you, and if I am approaching from the same lane, if you are not willing to move over to the slower lane, then I will eventually pull into the right lane and pass.
I do agree with the people that are essentially swerving through traffic are quite annoying, though. I will be in the left lane, see someone coming up, and start to get over to let them go, when they swerve into the right lane and pass me over there. These are usually the people that I end up passing later, because, even though I am not driving as fast as they want to go, I am better at actually navigating traffic, and they find themselves getting themselves boxed in.
What, you expect them to put down their phone?
Though, to be fair while I try to give a wave, it is usually pretty short, and it could easily be missed and there are times when the reason that you are letting me in is because it is a bit of a complicated maneuver, and I have both hands on the wheel. When I drove a manual (I miss those days), this was obviously compounded by the fact that I had one hand on the stick, one on the wheel, and had no free hand with which to wave until after I have completed my maneuver and you are no longer able to see or are no longer paying attention.
Whenever I let someone in, I just operate under the assumption that they waved and I just missed it. Easier that way. I have specifically been a passenger in a car with the driver complaining that someone they let in didn’t wave, but I, as a passenger and less distracted, did see the wave.
While I agree with that, and I find it rude in a passive aggressive sort of way, I don’t fight it and just go. If they wave me through, and there is nothing else obstructing the intersection, I just go, rather than go back and forth about it.
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When I was a professional driver, I got into arguments with others about this practice. I had one driver who was late because he was trying to turn left across a busy road, and he complained that he sat through several light changes before he was able to go. I tried to explain to him the concept of “taking control of the intersection”, but he didn’t believe me, even when I pulled out the Ohio driver’s manual and showed him the relevant law.
BTW, there is only supposed to be one car in the intersection looking to turn left. If the car in front of you is controlling the intersection, you are supposed to stay behind the line. But that’s just the law, meh, if it means more cars get through the intersection, then as many cars as can fit should be in the intersection.
That’s when you have to pay attention to the cross road. If it is so slow that you have no where to go, then you are not supposed to pull into the intersection at all.
It is courteous, but not always practical, and if it is impractical enough, you may be doing a greater discourtesy to other drivers than you are a courtesy to people behind you that may want to turn right.
Merging traffic is supposed to yield to through traffic, and should try to line themselves up to fill existing gaps in traffic flow without expecting that anyone will yield the lane to them. Barreling down an on-ramp just expecting people to get out of your way is a dangerous way to merge, especially since they have the right-of-way to begin with.
Moving left for mergers is a courtesy, but there are numerous reasons a person might choose not to that have nothing to do with being an asshole. Maybe there’s an upcoming exit that he needs to take, and moving left might make it so he can’t get back over (plenty of mergers repay the “courtesy” lane changer by refusing to let him back over to the right). Or maybe the driver thought the lane change would be unsafe for one reason or another.
Then there are the numb people who are already lined up with a suitable gap, but for some reason, decide to accelerate into the space already occupied by vehicles ahead of them on the highway. Plenty of times I’ve passed people coming down on-ramps, only to have them speed up to be parallel to me as we approach the merge point, even though there was enough room for 20 cars behind me!
The law in my state is that all traffic is supposed to keep right except when overtaking, and 99% of Interstate on-ramps are posted with yield signs to let mergers know that they must yield to traffic already on the highway. In Maine, a failure to yield at a yield sign that results in a crash is a Class E crime (cite), punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine (cite).
It’s one thing to pass on the right on a highway, or even a multi-laned street. It still pisses me off, but it’s not illegal. Sometimes there’s a reason for a slow person to be in a left lane (an imminent turn, didn’t realize they had slowed down, upcoming speed trap, etc.)
What really gets my goat is when I come to an intersection where there’s enough room for two cars wide, but not two painted lanes. (Or maybe there’s painted lanes just before the intersection to encourage people to make room for right turns, etc.) But there aren’t two lanes after the intersection. People pull up in the right lane, next to a person going straight in the left lane. (Not sure why they do it. Maybe there’s someone turning left behind me and they’re trying to get around them.) But then they try to muscle their way into the left lane or pass on the right to avoid cars parked on the street.
No. This is technically illegal (at least where I live). Passing on the right when there is no separate lane marked is illegal unless someone is making a left-turn or u-turn. Then they get ticket when the person on the left won’t let them in. And even if it’s not illegal where you are, it’s still a dick move to force their way in.
If they’re in that lane to get around someone turning left, they have succeeded in their mission. They can now merge behind the person on the left. Why do they need to be dicks and muscle their way around?
My sister was in a real bad accident under similar circumstances. Turning left on a busy street into my niece’s school. The oncoming driver stopped and wave her through . . . and she was t-boned by a driver in the second oncoming lane that couldn’t see what was happening. Her Blazer rolled 2.5 times according to witnesses.
I was once a passenger in the oncoming car in a similar situation. We were traveling in the left lane, while the right lane was stopped, and a car appeared in front of us from a gap in the right lane. I don’t know if she was waved through, but the car in the right lane definitely stopped far enough back to let her pull out.
I refuse to accept a wave unless I can see that all lanes are clear or stopped. I don’t wave people through unless I’m the only one that needs to do anything to assure their safety—they are pulling out in front of me, and will become the car immediately in front of me.
I turn left out of work across two lanes. Due to a traffic light two blocks away cars occasionally stack up in the right lane (and much less frequently the left lane). Weekly it happens that somebody tries to wave me through and I refuse to go. Sometimes I can’t see what’s happening in the left lane, but other times cars are actively coming in the left lane; they’re waving me to my death.
The worst part is, that sometimes the waving car will sit there while the cars in front of them have moved. Usually when that happens, if they would just go I could go after the cars clear, but because they stayed stopped a backup forms behind them, so I have to wait another light cycle.
Although it is a courtesy to move over a lane to allow cars entering the freeway to merge, it is not always possible. What drives me nuts is those merging onto a freeway, especially a faster one (65mph or higher), who just mosey into traffic expecting to be able to merge. There is usually enough on ramp to get up to speed so that you can merge without disrupting traffic too much, but you have to step on the accelerator.
You must be frustrated every day you drive, because I can’t recall a time when I’ve seen another driver in NH move left when someone is trying to merge. I don’t know why you think it’s a custom, because the other drivers I see every day sure don’t.
If it’s possible to adjust your speed or move over to let someone on the freeway, you should do so. But if you can’t, the entering car has to stop if necessary and wait for a large gap. I see too many drivers who don’t bother to adjust their speed on the acceleration lane as if they have the right of way.
One nice courtesy that is pretty much universal. You’re getting out of an event and the parking lot is emptying at once. You have two lines of traffic for one exit, people are pretty good about observing the “we go, they go” rule where you alternate which lane gets out. You’ll even see it sometimes where a long line of cars is coming off an exit onto a main road, it becomes an unofficial 4 way stop to give the oncoming traffic a chance to get on the road.
I slow down, and allow more room for the truck & trailer to get in front of me.
That’s for my own safety. It’s alarming to see a big trailer slide in front of your vehicle. Often requiring me to slow anyhow and maintain two car lengths distance.
Remember the rule, maintain one car length, braking distance for every 10mph of speed?
You ever try doing that in traffic?
It’s impossible.
70 mph, just try keeping seven car lengths distance.
You’ll have a constant stream of cars passing and pulling in front of you.
3 is the best you can do. Even then assholes see that gap as an opportunity to pass and swing back into your lane. Then I have to slow down and reclaim my 3 car lengths braking distance.
IMHO, that is a stupid rule. Stupid because a car length is not a standard unit of length. Stupid because when you are driving, you should be paying attention to what is going on around you, not trying to estimate how many car lengths exist between you and the car in front. I’ll admit, it makes a decent attempt at getting new drivers to recognize that you should leave a longer distance between you and the car ahead of you the faster you are going, but I suspect more people that not are are going to say “Screw it, this is too hard” and abandon the rule.
I prefer the two-second rule. It’s easier to remember and implement, and it helps the driver keep focus on how quickly things can change when they are driving. Leaving two seconds of room doesn’t mean going slower than the car ahead of you, it just means leaving more room.
But, aceplace is correct that when you are in heavy traffic, it can be difficult to maintain a two-second following distance. When you are in heavy traffic, you have to change they way you drive. In heavy traffic, for example, nobody is going as fast as they want to, so the idea of slower traffic keep right becomes ridiculous (it’s all slower traffic). In heavy traffic, moving to the left lane when approaching a merge lane can be dangerous.
Now, you may often run into congestion on the highway even when traffic is not particularly heavy. This can be because of a disabled vehicle, an emergency vehicle, or other hazard on the side of the road. It could because a driver is confused and isn’t sure what he wants to do. It could be some jerk camping in the left lane for no other reason than “he can and there’s nothing you can do about it” (The reason is pretty much irrelevant). For me, this is when the two-second rule works best. When you see a knot of cars ahead of you, said knot will unravel itself much faster if you keep a couple of seconds back than if you get mixed-up in it.
Yeah, we were always taught 2-seconds in high school drivers ed in the early 90s. And 4-second-rule for rainy conditions. It’s pretty easy to estimate while driving. I do my best to keep within it, but sometimes here in Chicago, it’s difficult, as every time you leave a 2-second gap, somebody swoops into it, now making it a 1 or less second gap. So then you lay off the gas, and someone else moves into the space created. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. But in open traffic situations, it works just fine.
One jackass move that I see around here a lot is when two or more cars are attempting to make the same sort of maneuver: let’s say you’re both merging onto the highway. Invariably, the second of the two cars pops into the lane and speeds up before the first of the two cars has a chance to get over, thereby making it almost impossible for the first car to get over without really hitting the accelerator.
A similar example is when you’re turning. Let’s see you’re turning onto a road that has two lanes in each direction. If you’re coming off another road that has two lanes in each direction, and both of those lanes are allowed to turn, you’re supposed to go on to the other road into the comparable lane. In other words, if you’re in the left of the two lanes you’re supposed to turn into the left of the two lanes; if you’re in the right of the two lanes you’re supposed to turn to the right hand of the two lanes on the new road. I believe that if you’re coming from a one lane road turning onto a 2 Lane road, you’re supposed to go into the nearer of the two lanes: in other words, if you’re turning right, turning to the right hand lane; if you’re turning left, turning to the left hand lane. Typically, however, the car behind me will turn directly into the other of the two lanes. That’s not a problem, unless I need to move over after the turn. This is an example where it’s actually safer to go against the rules because then you’re in the desired target lane.
As far as camping in the right lane on a highway: I heard that there are places where merging traffic legally has the right-of-way. I haven’t seen any signs to that effect anywhere I’ve driven in the US, but it’s certainly possible that some areas have that law. In any case, the courteous thing to do when you’re in that lane is to be aware of merging cars and wherever possible ease off on your accelerator just enough to let them in. It costs you basically no time, and makes for much safer experience for everyone.
Mine is honking when a car is stopped at a green light. In my region, we never, ever honk in that situation. We figure they’ll figure it out eventually and get moving. Honking is something you do as a greeting or if there’s a real problem. When some out-of-state driver starts honking because someone is looking at their phone for five extra seconds, I either start looking around to see if I know them or if my gas cap is off. It drives me batty. It’s five seconds and if you miss the light, don’t worry, there will be another one, no reason to be so impatient about it. The guy who didn’t move feels embarrassed enough, no reason to make it worse by drawing attention to it. Anyway, there’s my ‘isn’t illegal, but should be’ rant.
I’ll agree with the fact that you should’t be laying on the horn the instant the light changes, but yeah, people have places to be, and some idiot sitting there at a green light can be holding up dozens of people due to their inattentiveness.
I’ll usually give it a couple seconds, and do a light tap. That almost always makes them look up and drive. If not, they may get a bit more of a wake-up.
And no, several people missing a light and having to sit through the cycle again is not worth not interrupting some poor guy’s text.
Of course, I wouldn’t honk if I was allowed to use my bazooka.
Regarding slow drivers in the left lane on the freeway, there is one particular habit that I find especially annoying and mysterious. Some people will drive below the speed limit in the left lane when there is a car in the right lane, driving next to that car and going say, 50 in a 65. As soon as the person in the right lane exits the freeway, the person in the left lane that had been going 50 then speeds up, sometimes even up to 70 or 75. I have no idea why some people do this, but it very annoying.
Here in California heavy trucks and vehicles towing trailers have to follow the same rules. Maximum speed of 55 mph and are restricted to using the two outside lanes on freeways (although I do sometimes see trucks towing jetskis in the HOV lane). It should be law that merging vehicles have to be going at least 55 before getting on the freeway. It is extraordinarily frustrating having to regain momentum when some yahoo decides to pull in front of me at 30 mph when I am towing. To add insult to injury it is often a person in a 500hp BMW or MB not some shitbox 65 hp hatchback from the 80s.
I’m with you K9. Especially if this person is in a turn lane, with a shorter window of opportunity. I hate it when I’m trying to turn and the person in front of me just doesn’t notice. Maybe two people get through instead of the four that can normally get through… and then those two people are stuck for another light, and 4 more people line up behind them. (If the light has a four-car window, it’s probably because traffic analysts determined that roughly 4 cars need to go through each cycle.) Now you’re not just making the people who were already there wait until the next cycle, but the people who came 5 minutes later. And if they can’t all get through, the people who came after that. It’s a butterfly effect at in the left turn lane.
Why should I get stuck waiting a couple cycles later because someone was daydreaming at the light 10 minutes earlier? Thank you to the dude who honked.
Is this a joke? You should be legally required to lay the fuck onto that horn if the dumbass in front of you causes all the cars behind him to miss a light cycle. Where I’m from, a 5-second delay can easily cause the drivers to miss the green light.
And who the hell honks their horn at people as a greeting?
My guess is that most of you are urban or suburban dwellers. I’m rural. It’s different. You know a lot of people and you see them on a regular basis while driving. You also probably know the guy who is at the light or at least there’s a good chance that you know someone that’s waiting in line with you. The rudeness of the driver has an effect on the community, but the honking also has an effect. People will know that you’re the kind of person who cares more about getting to where you want to go than you do about how the person ahead feels. That’s not a signal you generally want to send. You don’t want to be at the store later and someone comes up to you and says, “Wow, must have been in a hurry yesterday. Where were you headed?” To which you can only sheepishly shrug and say, “The market.” You’re sending the message that you’re so important you can’t wait for a 90 second light cycle. It’s not a good thing.
