Which do you do? Wait in line and let cars merge in front of your car when lanes merge into one?

Or do you refuse to wait in the longer line & just expect to merge at the last second?

Neither of these ever seem like a good option.

*sigh*

they will use the whole of the disappearing lane (or at least most of it) to merge, taking turns, alternating lanes as to who goes next.

In an ideal world.

The worst behavior--and the only time I refuse to let someone in--is when a car darts around merging traffic and bombs down the lane in order to jump the line. That person can WAIT till hell freezes over for all I care. :evilgrin:

And they met up with the wrong woman today too. Let's just say I'll probably need to take another route home for a few weeks. *sigh*

Or other giant SUVs? That's been my experience--assholes driving stupid in assholish cars.

Funny how you knew that!

Hard-won experience, I'm afraid. ;)

He thought it just made the traffic jam even longer. Better to safely take turns at the merge than turn 1 mile of single lane traffic into 2 miles of single lane traffic.

if only people would act human!

It depends. If the cars that want to merge in front of me are nice about it, signaling and so on, I generally let them in.

But if they are pushing their way in, no signals, just rude...then I tend to not let them in.

Or if they ran up aggressively next to me, then I try to keep them out. I hate to reward rude behavior.

Is this what you're talking about? Or am I confused?

:shrug:

that aggressive behavior is EXACTLY what I am talking about. :hi:

if the highway departments would just redesign their merge signs to look like a zipper, some people might get the concept of "merge" ;)

They'd just take their pants off while driving.

:P

:P

:P

they probably wouldn't notice, unless it was on fire!!!

I know! We'll put police lights on top of all the signs, then they'll all slow down to look and read :P

...to merge when YOU want them to. (PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT accusing anybody in this thread of doing this.) I've actually looked into this, and as far as I'm concerned, people who drive halfway in each lane or drive very slowly in the soon-to-be disappearing lane in order to stop people from using a LEGAL lane of traffic are creating a dangerous traffic situation (and are probably breaking several traffic laws).

Certainly you don't choose the back, but you have to find a willing entry - and hope they aren't shunned for such sacrifice...

And I have. Twice.

The best one was when the bastard refused to slow down and after sliding along side me hopped a curb and stopped full on a sidewalk. It rocked because it was after a bridge and the sidewalk he stopped on was right in front of a huge, busy office building.

The other wasn't so bad. He nudged me into the concrete divider at a toll booth then he stopped. I scraped the concrete all the way to the person at the booth, handed my money to a lady with her jaw on the floor, then drove off.

Good times.

:hi:

if a bunch of idiots want to move over half a mile before the merge and wait in the long line- more power to them- i'm driving up to the point that the highway department has determined to be the best point to merge.

In a heavy traffic situation of a merge with bumper to bumper traffic, once the dotted lines start, I try to get over when I safely can. Sometimes that is before the end of the ramp, sometimes folks just won't let you over.

In normal traffic flow, I accelerate to just above the flow of traffic, and get over as soon as I can, usually way before the lane ends. I make it so people on the interstate don't have to slam on their brakes. It is the same when changing lanes. So many idiots just want to dawdle, then they cut over in front of you and you have to slam on your brakes. If people just accelerated a bit and got over when they see you in their rear view mirror, then CONTINUED to accelerate, the flow of traffic would continue to move smoothly. I wouldn't get so ticked at people for cutting over if they just made it so I didn't have to chew my steering wheel. It's always when there are no cars in front of you for a while, or no cars behind you that ALL OF A SUDDEN some putz needs to cut over and crawl at a snail's pace.

When I'm on the interstate, and traffic is merging, I judge the flow coming up the ramp. Sometimes you need to slow down to let them in, sometimes you need to step on the gas so they can just get behind you. Whichever way disturbs the flow of traffic the least is the way I go. Many drivers fail to anticipate others. When you are coming up to an entrance ramp, MAKE A DECISION, don't wait for it to be an emergency. You see the entrance ramp, you see the car on it driving right beside you, so ACCELERATE. Don't make them get to where they are at the end of the ramp, then complain about them.

:rant:

I expect to die in a merge lane, but I have no patience with cutters.

the people drive me crazy, they make right turns on the freeway and start clogging up the road before we're even up to the merging lane (which is at least a half mile long). i pass the gridlock and get in the right lane,move over at my earliest opportunity and leave room for others to get over as well. most of the other drivers act like kids in the cafeteria line,as if the merging cars are bullies trying to take "cuts" - maybe the same ones who were making right turns on the freeway to enter the transition lane before it was even legal ...

my pet peeve. every morning, for almost two years now.

if people merged well before the chokepoint, the flow would just blend.

i like to act like a traffic calming device sometimes.

But when it is my turn to merge I allow no one to budge in front of me. If they don't like it - too bad, so sad. They should have considered that before they so rudely tried to cut in front of everyone else.