New law I missed??? Merging traffic?

[Industrial Toys]

I notice that here too. If you are coming on the highway, do something, to merge into traffic. They don't, just like some kind of zombie.

As far as the tailgaters, that's just about everyone here. Not a brain cell among the lot.

 

[ededic]

I notice that here too. If you are coming on the highway, do something, to merge into traffic. They don't, just like some kind of zombie.

As far as the tailgaters, that's just about everyone here. Not a brain cell among the lot.

Self driving cars will yield and are programed to be more courteous than your average driver. Something to look forward to.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I am considering buying and installing a dashcam in my truck. A rear facing cam might be helpful as well. Is there a setup with both forward and rearward cams already on the market?

 

[paulfun9]

As far as I know the merging traffic has to yield to the flow of highway traffic. When I get on an on ramp I check the slow lane traffic and adjust my speed to merge without disrupting the highway flow.

Not to hi jack your post but wanted to state another fact I see a lot.
What I hate is when road crews are working, say on a three lane highway. They post 55 MPH signs almost a mile before the construction area along with signs that say right two lanes closed ahead merge left. As soon as I see the sign I slow to the 55 limit and merge to the left lane only to be passed on the right by everyone else. 80 % of drivers continue at the 65 limit and do not slow down or merge until the last minute. This creates a bottleneck and slows traffic to almost a stop.
If all drivers would slow down and merge when they see the signs traffic would flow through the construction area at the 55 limit and there would be less road rage.

I bottle neck isn't caused by waiting till your closer to the closed lane but rather by people who do not Know how to merge into moving traffic and others who hit the panic button when someone around them does then we have those that slow to 30 and 35 right at the start of the construction area that are also major contributors to this.
Other factors are those who would never be bothered if you flew by in the left lane and they never saw you again when no construction exists but for some reason are bothered by you getting in front of them before the construction zone, so they close up any gaps in the lane making it impossible to merge smoothly.

 

[sandman2234]

I am considering buying and installing a dashcam in my truck. A rear facing cam might be helpful as well. Is there a setup with both forward and rearward cams already on the market?

We use one at work that has forward, rearward, sound, gps, speed, compass. They were about $400 when the school bought about 15 of them. Now they are considering changing them out to one that has the ability to send the video to them without them having to remove the 60 megabyte card. They really take good pictures in the daylight, not sure how they would do at night, as I am usually at home by then.
David from jax

 

[Mikeeemo]

Of all of the behaviors mentioned, no one mentioned the ‘let’s merge while playing with my phone’. I know that can be a whole new category, but I have seen it occur...

 

[Dftodd]

Never realized how bad many drivers are at merging until I bought a RV. An awful lot of people must not have taken a driver training course. :confused2:

My twin brother and I went to highschool in separate states. My drivers ed class was real world driving, in traffic, in the city, in the small town, in sleet, rain and snow. If it was your block to go driving, you drove. I went through drivers ed in Vermont, and took the drivers test for my liscense as soon as I turned 16 in the middle of a snow storm.


My brother went through drivers ed in Florida. His total drivers ed class took place on what was called a driving range. Not the ones for golf They literally drove in circles on a course a little bigger then a large round about. They then get handed a completion certificate to take to the tag office, where they pay a fee, hand them the certificate and they get handed license No real world drivers test. No teaching them how to parallel park, no starting on a hill with out rolling backwards, ect.......

My point being, that some states, drivers education and training is a joke and folks get handed there drivers license.

Best city I've ever driven in, even though the traffic is bump your head ridiculous is Denver Colorado. As long as you use your turn signal, someone will ease off and let you merge without any fuss. Most other areas I've been in, it takes an act of Congress to get someone to allow you to merge onto the interstate in bumper to bumper traffic.

 

[Dftodd]

I notice that here too. If you are coming on the highway, do something, to merge into traffic. They don't, just like some kind of zombie.

As far as the tailgaters, that's just about everyone here. Not a brain cell among the lot.

I absolutely love tailgaters when I'm driving my F550 service truck. They will hug the bumper, get madder and madder, and stew about the fact that I won't move over. When I don't have a clue that they are back there till they pop out on one side so I can see them with a mirror.

My favorite though was when I was coming to a stop and the truck jumped from 30 to 50 mph, then came to a sudden and complete stop in the middle of the road. Went to pull out of the road to see what happened. Truck stalled. Put it into granny gear, and started creeping out of the road. At this point, I start hearing a horn honk After I get out of the road, I walk back and see a mid sized car attached to the trailer hitch on my truck :cool2:

 

[LMychajluk]

A couple of years ago, they opened a new traffic pattern by my house. On a major 6-lane highway, they widened an overpass over a river and created 2 'side lanes' for exiting / entering vehicles. There's now a 'pre-exit' that leads to the 2 side lanes, with the right lane being an on-ramp from the local streets that has a sharp turn just before merging, so you're going real slow at the beginning of the ramp. At the end of the overpass the right lane is an off ramp onto another road, while the left lane feeds back onto the main highway. Cars have the entire length of the overpass (at least a 1/4 mile) to merge left or right as needed. You would think that cars coming off the main road would actually wait to merge right until they've slowed a bit and are at least 1/2 way across the overpass, getting behind the cars that came up the on ramp and are accelerating while merging left, but no.... they come in off that main road at 70mph and immediately dive into the right lane while at the same time trying to stay in front of the cars coming up the on ramp, usually not even travelling far enough to pass the solid white line at the end of the off ramp.

I think that ramp was open for about a month when a car coming off the highway sideswiped a motorcycle coming up the on ramp, knocking the rider over the side and into the river.

 

[George2615]

I am considering buying and installing a dashcam in my truck. A rear facing cam might be helpful as well. Is there a setup with both forward and rearward cams already on the market?

Yes, there are dual camera dash cams at reasonable prices. I looked at a few but settled on a single dash cam setup. I bought the one as seen on TV.

I bottle neck isn't caused by waiting till your closer to the closed lane but rather by people who do not Know how to merge into moving traffic and others who hit the panic button when someone around them does then we have those that slow to 30 and 35 right at the start of the construction area that are also major contributors to this.
Other factors are those who would never be bothered if you flew by in the left lane and they never saw you again when no construction exists but for some reason are bothered by you getting in front of them before the construction zone, so they close up any gaps in the lane making it impossible to merge smoothly.

The bottleneck is usually caused by an accident due to the idiots that don't merge early enough. They wait till the last second to merge because they are in a hurry. The smart ones that did slow down and merge early don't want to let the ones in a hurry cut in front of them. If everyone slowed down and merged back at the first traffic warning sign traffic would flow through the construction zone without any problem.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yes, there are dual camera dash cams at reasonable prices. I looked at a few but settled on a single dash cam setup. I bought the one as seen on TV.



The bottleneck is usually caused by an accident due to the idiots that don't merge early enough. They wait till the last second to merge because they are in a hurry. The smart ones that did slow down and merge early don't want to let the ones in a hurry cut in front of them. If everyone slowed down and merged back at the first traffic warning sign traffic would flow through the construction zone without any problem.

That doesn't happen though. There always has to be that one person who is more important then the rest, so when we slow down and merge, he goes blasting up through to get to the front of the line.

 

[Oldoak]

If, if, if, is never going to happen.

People are way to impatient today with the "all about me" attitude! And it's only going to get worse as the population continues to increase and the highways get even more congested.

 

[George2615]

That doesn't happen though. There always has to be that one person who is more important then the rest, so when we slow down and merge, he goes blasting up through to get to the front of the line.

My point exactly and if I could control the cars of everyone else I would not allow Mr. Important to cut into line. Semi drivers also don't want Mr Important rushing to the front of the line and they will straddle 2 lanes to prevent him from passing.

 

[paulfun9]

Yes, there are dual camera dash cams at reasonable prices. I looked at a few but settled on a single dash cam setup. I bought the one as seen on TV.



The bottleneck is usually caused by an accident due to the idiots that don't merge early enough. They wait till the last second to merge because they are in a hurry. The smart ones that did slow down and merge early don't want to let the ones in a hurry cut in front of them. If everyone slowed down and merged back at the first traffic warning sign traffic would flow through the construction zone without any problem.

I will argue that with anyone and take them out and show that they are wrong by sitting alongside the highway and watching.

So some need a mile to merge left or right due to a lane closure? I would guess most likely correctly that that is the same type person who cant merge onto the highway with a limited acceleration ramp or has to slow all traffic to 40 or 45 before and then hit their brakes while still on the interstate before they feel safe enough to turn onto the exit ramp even when the ramp is a half mile long and they drive it regularly.

 

[paulfun9]

My point exactly and if I could control the cars of everyone else I would not allow Mr. Important to cut into line. Semi drivers also don't want Mr Important rushing to the front of the line and they will straddle 2 lanes to prevent him from passing.

One of the younger family members is a state Police officer and loves nothing more than to start writing tickets for those drivers who block two lanes to prevent people from moving.

What most don't think about is how much farther back and how many other ramps are effected when we don't use both lanes to the merge point.

Lately I have noticed many signs telling drivers to "USE BOTH LANES TO MERGE POINT" Wonder what that's about?

 

[MoMower]

Definitely the cops fault....lol...stupidity.

Now into the real reason, for lane elimination merging, no one knows how zippers work anymore, between the idiots (cars and big trucks) that attempt to block the lanes and the other idiots closing the gaps up.

Their as bad as the jackasses that drive like mad for the two lane sections with passing lanes and then slow down to 5 below after the merge point on rural highways.

Merging in general is issue because no one knows how to find a hole big enough for their cars and put it in, they look at the cars instead of the holes. No one knows the size of what their driving anymore, it is a lost art. Spatial awareness is almost non existent.

And of course the self importance

 

[cqaigy2]

One of the younger family members is a state Police officer and loves nothing more than to start writing tickets for those drivers who block two lanes to prevent people from moving.

What most don't think about is how much farther back and how many other ramps are effected when we don't use both lanes to the merge point.

Lately I have noticed many signs telling drivers to "USE BOTH LANES TO MERGE POINT" Wonder what that's about?

If both lanes have intelligent drivers, then fully utilizing both lanes to the point of merge would work. Alternating one vehicle in each lane. But....

 

[rd_macgregor]

I'm not necessarily fully endorsing this article's conclusions, but found it interesting and relevant to the discussion...
Rules of the road: There's little law but lots of anger when it comes to merging | PennLive.com

 

[zing]

One of my favourites is when I am on the on-ramp with a heavy trailer in tow and the guy behind me doesn't think I am getting up to speed fast enough so he pulls into the highway lane and tries to pass me in the right lane while I am still working my way out there. Not sure where he thinks I am going to go, maybe drive forward into the ditch? Anyway, I just continue pulling out with my signal on and let him slam on his brakes instead of running into the side of my rig. If he has the option to go over two lanes good for him he can have the left lane, but if there is only one lane available the guy who is on the on-ramp behind me doesn't get to take possession of the right hand lane.

 

[Jstpssng]

One thing to note is that here in Maine we have yield rather than merge signs for the onramp:. I don't remember what other states have, its been a few years since I've been out of state.

One of the younger family members is a state Police officer and loves nothing more than to start writing tickets for those drivers who block two lanes to prevent people from moving.

What most don't think about is how much farther back and how many other ramps are effected when we don't use both lanes to the merge point.

Lately I have noticed many signs telling drivers to "USE BOTH LANES TO MERGE POINT" Wonder what that's about?

Yet what about people who decide to pass after that merge point? I see that more often than early merging. On a similar note- just about 2 years ago I headed out after work to look at an attachment I saw on Craigslist. I was on the interstate, about 1/4 way into a 300 mile round trip ride, when I came up behind 2 beer vendor trucks riding side by side at 45 mph. (Speed limit was 75)
At first I thought one was trying to pass the other; but as time went on and traffic piled up behind them I realized they were just playing games. I got on the CB and warned them that I had records their truck numbers and planned to file a complaint; but doubt they had radios.
One pickup driver got so PO'ed that he passed them in the BD lane; not really acceptable in this state. I followed them about 8 miles before we got to 1 lane bridge construction, so they were forced to split up. Once it went back to two lanes the traffic erupted going past them so they were unable to block it again.
I followed through on my threat, and wrote a letter to the company telling the exact place, time, and truck numbers, also mentioning the pickup passing in the BD lane; I got a reply but doubt very much that the drivers even heard about it. If I'd had a dash cam I would have been tempted to go to the SP barracks and show it to them.