Getting the Bird at on ramps.
 

Over the past 3 weeks since I installed my ScanGauge I have been driving 55 on the limited access highway. (Max speed 70, Minimum 55). Twice now I have gotten the bird when someone is trying to merge and I don't adjust my speed or move over to let them on. A third time the lady gave me a dirty look when she passed me on the right as she took the next exit ramp. All three times I was being passed on the left and couldn't change lanes to let the people on. Does anyone else experience this?

Safety should be before mpg. You don't need to speed up, but slowing a bit further to allow them a ahead of you might be prudent.

People don't know how to merge anymore. Now everyone expects people to move over, that is not merging. That is not the bird, they are saluting your hypermiling efforts!

Being an unsafe driver is not going to get anyone else to slow down, I find alot of the time that I am better off drafting a semi truck then driving under the speed limit as the fuel used tends to be the same or even less, I get there faster and it helps to maintain focus on driving.

You could also try to focus your primary trips during times when the highway isn't likely to have a much traffic. I normally use alternate routes for most of my driving because it allows me to drive slower, enjoy my commute, and still get where I'm going in a reasonable amount of time, at significantly less cost.

In addition to trying to get the best MPG possible in my car, I try to drive in a way that doesn't cause drivers around me to waste gas. Cooperative merging may be in everyone's best interest.

If you are the 55 MPH restriction on a 70 MPH road and you can not choose another road, then Ryland's advice is spot on. Pick up a drafting partner with a large frontal area and the rear end extending down close to the road and just follow them at a distance you are comfortable with. If you can do this in the right lane then you have an escape path is you see a large chunk of debris in the road. I like 3 stripes separation minimum.

In most 70 MPH zones traffic is moving at that speed and you are the cause of much disruption at 55. Sure it's legal but that doesn't make it the best choice or economical.

regards
Mech

Why not just adjust your speed to let them in? The impact on your mileage is beyond minuscule. Very rarely do I need to do anything other than tap the brakes or accelerate modestly to let someone in. Maybe once every 5k-10k highway miles I'll get someone merging at 45mph where I end up braking for maybe a second instead of just tapping them.

I'd have my hazard lights on. People will see you and be able to maneuver around you sooner.
If you can get over a lane without impeding traffic, let the mergee come in, then get back in the "slow" lane once they take off - that would be best. You see the truckers do this all the time as a common courtesy. If you can't safely go over to the center or passing lane, then I'd would maintain speed and let them merge before or after you. Not your fault they can't drive. Also, I'd have my hazards off during these maneuvers and use turn signals profusely.

It's their job to merge safely. It's your job to aide that process. Defensive driving allows you to be in control, and you can more readily control how far ahead of you they are, than how close to your rear end they choose to be.

I agree with Christ. Hypermilers should strive to be great defensive drivers. There are extremely few drivers out there actually practicing true defensive driving.

For the OP's question - Slowing down is the only safe thing to do in that situation. Speeding up wastes a lot of fuel, takes a lot of attention from the road, and puts you in the other cars blind spot, and then the other car in your blind spot as you pass.

You do have the right of way if you're already on the highway, however a very small adjustment in speed is usually all it takes to help someone move - never more than 5 MPH in my experience.

I used to drive a semi truck governed to 60 MPH in states with 70 and 75 MPH speed limits - this technique worked very well for me. I still got flipped off a few times (Some people are total idiots that do not pay attention to anything), but for the most part it works.

Also, in the 75 MPH states I would take the backroads, such as US-30 instead of I-80 in Nebraska, which got rid of the entire problem and gave me a far more relaxing drive.

I'm not even going to mention my opinion of tailgating trucks - other than I'm so happy that some states are finally joining the TACT program :)

people are just as clueless about merging on this side of The Lake too, they get mad that you aren't doing 10 over the limit, or they try to merge going 15 under, and get mad that you don't slow down to let them in (since the guys in the left lane are too busy going 20 over to pay any attention to others on the road)

I think here in Calif, the law allows the right of way for the merging vehicle.

EDIT - just fact checked the freeway traffic has the right of way.

EDIT EDIT - now I'm finding evidence that supports my first hunch...

I slow down to let them in, or try to move over when I am not obstructing faster moving traffic in the lane to the left of me.

OK, here's the CA law... it seems to leave a door open for either side of the debate to present their case as being correct.

21804. (a) The driver of any vehicle about to enter or cross a
highway from any public or private property, or from an alley, shall
yield the right-of-way to all traffic, as defined in Section 620,
approaching on the highway close enough to constitute an immediate
hazard, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that traffic
until he or she can proceed with reasonable safety.
(b) A driver having yielded as prescribed in subdivision (a) may
proceed to enter or cross the highway, and the drivers of all other
vehicles approaching on the highway shall yield the right-of-way to
the vehicle entering or crossing the intersection.



Sec. 620: The term "traffic" includes pedestrians, ridden animals,
vehicles, street cars, and other conveyances, either singly or
together, while using any highway for purposes of travel.


My understanding of that gibberish above is the freeway traffic has the right of way when someone is unreasonably trying to merge (not entering safely with correct space or speed), and the freeway traffic is obliged to let him in once the merger has been safe and prudent.

Lots of wiggle room there to support the merger or the mergee...

It's not gibberish, and there is no "wiggle room".

Right of way laws are universally applicable (even on the Left coast), although few drivers today understand the concept of right of way or heed it.

The vehicle ("ALL traffic") on the thoroughfare has the right of way. All entering traffic (read: those about to merge or actually "enter") MUST yield to it.

Part two of your law addresses a car that already DID yield and has entered the highway successfully and safely. Others approaching from behind must then yield to that vehicle. In other words, you can't rear-end a vehicle traveling in the same direction as you are, that has already entered the roadway before you approached it, even if it is moving more slowly than you.

The OP is following the law and does not need to be traveling more than the minimum allowable speed limit, especially if he is in the rightmost lane, which is where slower moving traffic (such as him) belongs.

If they flip you the bird, smile and wave at them. If they hit you, expect to be paid 100% for their failure to yield right of way.

Road limit 62mph or 74.5mph, but my car is only allowed to go 50mph, lot of those situations.

Main problem is that people don't estimate speed of other cars, they just check that there is a car, quick glimpse and think car will drive speed they would drive.

Luckily there is not many those kind of highways in here, but maybe that makes problem even worse.

Slowing down does not much good when there are several of them coming bumper to bumper at 55mph, when they should do 60 or more when merging, that would not be a problem then, but as they do 55 they are too slow to get all ahead, but I can't accelerate every time there is someone merging either, also changing speed is just adding the confusion of merger, so there is not much to do to them.

There is road sign, triangle on it's tip for a merger, it really is their job to do it properly, but I do help them every time it is possible, nobody just can't drive so well that it would made poorest driver to manage ok, there are sometimes situation where poor driver is getting pissed, that is they are so poor that they don't even see their own errors, like presuming speed instead of judging the speed.

It is important to remember that we are all on road together and everyone is just a piece in a puzzle, if everyone work together things work out, but if someone is not playing together then even efforts of all others are not enough to make traffic work, however better to keep trying and eventually more and more are trying, making traffic better.

The British Highway Code states that a driver trying to enter traffic on a dual-carriageway or motorway should (i.e. must) match his speed to that of the traffic. That is to say that it is his responsibility to merge safely, giving right of way to the high-speed traffic by default.

Most drivers (who will often be travelling at much higher speeds than merging traffic), however, will usually change lanes to give space if it is safe to do so or, if they are travelling at a more reasonable pace, will signal to merging traffic to enter, having given them safe distance. Courteous bunch, us Brits.

Officially, however, the onus is on the merger to enter traffic safely.

On heavy traffic trips, which I don't make often (except while on duty), I would rightly say that 30% of my actions involve a signal to another operator, whether it be lane change, slow moving/hazard vehicle, upcoming conditions change, etc.

I signal drivers that it is reasonably safe to merge, or get back into the right side after passing, or that they should pass, so on...

Yep, however they do this by either a) matching speed and looking for a gap, or b) trying to merge in a nose to tail line or by c) merging at 40 (traffic travelling 60+) and when they have no gap, stopping at the end of the ramp until there is a gap - which there never is.

Being confronted with either B. or C. has me diving for the next lane because the former makes it near-impossible to merge and the latter precludes a horrible accident.

Thank you for the clarification - I kind of thought that as well, that b applies only when a is adhered to. But I see that all it would take is a well bankrolled lawyer to argue his point to get the mad merger off the hook by claiming the driver in traffic did not yield once he made the safe merge.

When I have an uptight offending driver, I smile and yell "Jesus Loves You!"

Because I sure the hell don't!

Yep, but the really annoying thing on some on-ramps is lights intended to 'ration' the number of cars joining busy intersections.

This means that the joining traffic all accelerate at the speed of the slowest truck / van and end up trying to 'merge' as a solid nose to tail line.

Even if the traffic already on the motorways moves over, you then end up with a line of drivers who have just joined - who seemingly have issues with their masculinity - desperately trying to pull out into the passing lanes as soon as possible to pass that slow truck / van.

And when they do they then tailgate the car in front in an attempt to bully anyone out of their way because they have to be first...

Audi and SAAB drivers usually, although I have noticed that the new Mazda 6 is becoming a favourite amongst the inadequate male driver these days.

Rant over. :D

If I'm on the ramp I will hang back in those situations, leaving the buffer intact (in front of me anyway) and room for me to adjust at merge time (and I absolutely do not care what the guy behind me thinks, the whole point is to merge safely).

If I'm on the hiway, obviously if it is safe for me to move to the left lane I would be doing that. But if I'm faced with a wall of mergers and no where to go, one of them is likely headed for the shoulder (ok, I'll throw in a friendly wave too). In my POS cars, I don't care what you are driving, and the way fault works around here if I make any drastic changes I can become liable, so steady as she goes :)

Agreed - a gap is a solver of all sorts of problems and is safer, unfortunately few people (Mrs A included :D) bother to leave a gap. And sometimes if I do anyone behind me sees that act as a crime against their freedom and liberty.

Added rule where one that did merge from ramp should not move to left lane for 1/4 mile after joining from ramp, would cure one issue, imo.

Road where there is one lane in each direction are most where I drive, yesterday I got overtaken by a RV, there was on coming traffic, but RV driver ignored that and surely he plowed onto oncoming traffic, which did slow down quite fast while I did move completely out from lane to right, making room. With those kind of drivers it is no wonder there are issues on bigger roads with ramps and two lanes to same direction.

It was about half mile after that where bigger road started where was two lanes to same direction, RV driver did win perhaps 10 seconds by that move.

Daily issues on our roads, too many incapable drivers on road.

Search of lost gap, that is bit of issue indeed, there is no any logical reason for driving so close, usually those drivers have brake lights coming on constantly too, it does amuse me, as I can easily drive 200 miles without touching a brake pedal.

I have come to conclusion that it is because many don't think, they feel, so they drive with their emotions and as any one having even tiny bit of education knows, emotion is similar to alcohol, both will cause poor judgement and increase potential to disasters, however only one is banned when driving.

Cool rational thinking should be requirement to be able to drive a car, that way there would be a lot less of issues on roads.

I don't drive without using my brakes, but I rarely have to use them for a quick stop. I do use them for slowing though - brakes are cheaper and easier to maintain than clutches...

There is something here call the 2 second rule - choose a fixed point and see if 2 seconds elapse between the car in front passing that point and you doing the same. If under 2 seconds, drop back.

I don't use clutch either, well only when starting to move from standstill. Not using brakes teaches eye to see lot further ahead and to plan ahead, which results better fuel economy.

Still I do use brakes occasionally, but then I push them firmly, like on downhill with speedtrap on unknown road, I brake quick and firmly, that makes parts move and does not wear pads so much, keeps brakes functioning perfectly.

That I have learned from circuit racing, brake temps get high if riding the brakes, when braking it should be done stong and quick, then back to power.

Of course traffic sometimes gets on way, but healthy gap helps with that quite a bit.

2 seconds is told to be average reaction time, car travels over 40 meters in that time, stopping on dry asphalt takes additional 50 meters, so anything less than 100 meters is quite little gap on speeds of 50mph, ~5 seconds gap is minimum recommended, more is better.

That's only half the rule.

The missing part says your 2 second gap will get halved within the next 2 seconds :mad:

The 'average' driver is unfortunately that muppet in front of you checking their iPhone instead of setting off on a green light, the one that must be at the head of every queue and is of course a driving god driving the best supercar in the world...

...or whatever had the most toys for the budget when they chose their SAAB, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Mercedes salesman special saloon.

None of us here are driving gods, but I bet the average ecomodder takes more notice of what is happening around them than the average of the population...

Yeah, and when you were fighting to the front of the queue it mattered. Fighting the numbers instead - who cares who goes in front ? In my old guise that X-5 in front was an annoying roadblock, now its someone stupid enough to finance the fuel to move a house who is also punching a house shaped hole in the air that I can sit in - without tailgating obviously.

They win by being in front and I win spending less on fuel...

You too? I guess we have something in common, for that :thumbup:

My tested reaction time was bit above 0.6 seconds when tested in advanced driving class, but it is mostly because paying attention and estimating other drivers at front and back, so there really is not much of surprises coming on road, I'm sure it is same for others who pay attention on their driving, like average driver on ecomodder, we all are trying to beat our best FE numbers, which requires lot more active driving than that average bored commuter does.

I suggest collecting bird sightings and submitting them:
The Field Guide to the North American Bird: Blank, Adam; Blank, Lauren - AbeBooks - 9781580085748: Country Books and Things

;)

Yep. I'm afraid I am no driving god so I have to make compensations.

Although I did get 'Driver of the Day' at Knockhill on my 40th birthday track day :D

(and no, I didn't just buy the trophy - although you can...)

As a professional driver, typically in charge of 4-8 peoples lives at a time, not including my own, I feel like I HAVE TO BE a better than average driver. More alert than the guy near me, etc.

I'm apparently the only driver in the company that feels this way, as the rest tend to done down the road with traffic, making the same stupid mistakes as the guy right in front of them... As a bonus, I average 16ish mippigs in a '08 GMC 2500 Savanna, sometimes up to 17. Multiply that by an average of 5 people, and I'm getting the best mileage on the highway, eh?

Our other drivers can't best 15, many falling under 14.

My job includes quite bit of driving, so I feel like that too, if only sake of my own life, but as I spend so much time on road, it is more likely to get into situation where life can be in danger so I feel that I'm making difference to odds by being as much aware what is happening around me as possible.

Quite often I get sensation of knowing before other driver what he will do next, their signaling comes lot later than I know they are about to signal, that is ability to read telltale signs of others, which comes when you drive more, it helps also to get better fuel economy and also to cheat odds a bit. However if I continue to drive as much to retirement age, it is more than likely that I will have bad accident, that is by numbers, maybe that too can be cheated with being very alert, at least I hope so.

I have driven only about 2 million km from 1995, but I think that there is not much surprises on roads anymore, not even those bad mergers seem to surprise me anymore, hopefully it is not just that I'm becoming blind to my surroundings...

Personally, riding a motorcycle has made me a much safer and relaxed driver, if only for the reasons that mine is ruddy slow and the mirrors are useless. I'd like to think that I'm a better driver than yon average motorist, but being a self-deprecating Englishman, I'll never state it as fact.

As for merging, I'm always on the look-out for these signs: http://www.driving-test-success.com/...tion/00001.gif

Whilst everyone is roaring by on the left, trying to battle their way through the traffic to the front of the queue, I'm poodling along in the right lane, knowing that I don't have to merge :D

You probably have guessed by others comments that learning to get along in traffic and not pissing people off is better than an accident involving you no matter how right legally you may be and how wrong the other driver may be. Like the commercial said “He was right, DEAD right”.

Sadly its not hard to be above the average skills of drivers it seems either side of the Atlantic...

By coincidence I had to explain to A-junior why the bike in front of us tonight could not just set off as soon as the light turned - just before the taxi ran the red light going across our path.

And yes, the bike rider did express his opinion of the taxi with a bird...

Today I was ridng down a 3 lane (each way) section of Jefferson Ave. I had to go left at the next light.

A BMW M5 SUV pulled out from the right side of the road and went across 5 lanes to get in the inner left turn lane of two available. We pulled to the left turn lanes beside each other and he honked his horn and rolled down the passengers window to apologise to me for cutting me off.

I told him he did not even come close to me as I was expecting him to make that manoeuver since most people went left at that light to get to the Interstate, but apology accepted and appreciated although unnecessary. He told me he rode bikes and felt bad since he couldn't see me when he came across 5 lanes.

I told him I expected his move and it was fine.

regards
Mech