Getting the Bird at on ramps.

[BurningDinosaurBones]

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.

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.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by BurningDinosaurBones

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!

Oh - one of those who stops. You did right to go round.

Originally Posted by BurningDinosaurBones

Maybe my city just has a higher density of moonstruck individuals. Who knows.

Have you been to Scotland ? We have 5 million of them.

[Pappnese]

Here in Norway, there is in most cases (by far) mandatory "zipper merging", both on on-ramps and where two lanes narrow down to one, which is common as two or more lanes in the same direction for more than a km or two is a rarity here. This is however always denoted by signs either way, and I think it is a good system.

I'm sometimes nervous when in other countries where the traffic on the main road always has the right of way, since according to my experience, people there does much less to help ease merging, since they don't have to. Indeed, I had to emergency brake at the end of an on-ramp to a two-lane (in my direction) highway in Paris once in the middle of the night with no traffic: I had the pedal floored the whole ramp, but with an underpowered and probably slightly overloaded car, I couldn't get up to full speed before the end, and the truck blasting away in the right lane at a lot more than the limit didn't bother to change to the empty left lane. I haven't looked up the details in the French traffic regulations, but he could legally do that as far as I understand.

[larrybuck]

Other people just don't want to be safe.

A few Saturday's ago, for 2 weeks in a row, this guy with a pickup w open flatbed trailer
w a low dollar jalopy race car on it was near me as I entered the freeway on the same ramp.

With my CRX, I work hard to keep it wide so that following rampers won't shoulder
cut beyond the ramps end passing me on the right.

This 2nd time, he managed to get his nose into the slow lane 1st.

I kept pulling out to force him into the empty middle lane (of the 3) , but he wouldn't
have it, so all I could do was to play tough (2 inches to the side of his trailer)
and not flinch to give him any additional giggles. Let me go, or I'll wreck you must
be his racing motto, but he didn't leave any room, seeming to care less if we were going to touch or not.

Don't have any idea why he was there at identical time both days w same race car

VERY much in winter's off season???

Takes all kinds I guess!