Quote:
Originally Posted by Arragonis
I like to look forwards when accelerating, its a habit I formed early. Also leaving a gap means you have more time to react, and it allows merging - so a win-win.
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Don't you check your mirror to merge?
Just to put this in context, yes I was looking forward while accelerating, absolutely. The person in the VW in front of me was near the end of the merging ramp 100 feet ahead of me when I put my hand on the blinker to signal left, in the 1-2 seconds it took for me to align between cars and check that it was safe to merge, I had gained 90 feet on the VW. He must have piled on the breaks at the exact moment I checked my mirror. I would hate to see what would happen if a less attentive/more hesitant driver had been behind that guy!
Another situation I see from time to time is two cars will be coming down the ramp to merge onto the highway in front of me at a normal speed. The guy behind is in a lowered civic, cavalier, or other economy car with a 4"+ exhaust pipe hanging out the back
. He gets down the ramp and pops over two lanes and guns it to get around the guy in front of him, cutting me off in the process, even though I was already in the outer lane. Questionable regard for human life at best. Loud pipes save lives!
Maybe my city just has a higher density of moonstruck individuals. Who knows.