Almost road rage... I thought. Who was right?

[mickeyfan2]

Since they were going at a slow speed, I think that car "A" was fine in merging. Both acted like morons after the fact. So car "B" is now 1 car back at the on ramp, who cares.

 

[Christine]

I agree with bicker. Car "B" was in the wrong.

I commute every day in horrendous traffic and I find one of the biggest annoyances is that people don't want to let ANYONE merge. It's like a *crap* fight just to come of an exit and wait your turn and feed in.

It sounds like Car B just didn't want anyone to get in front of him. In traffic, a 5-10 foot bumper clearance is sufficient.

 

[golfgal]

That is a HUGE peeve of mine, especially on highways! I know in some states, there will be signs saying to stay in your lane until the merge point, but around here, you need to start getting over right away. I hate, HATE, when people ride down the merge lane until the very end. It's one thing if they're going at a speed where they can safely get over, but most of the time, they're going dead even with the car next to them and want to cut over into traffic.

I had to laugh one day. There was a guy doing that -- riding down the merge lane and then forcing himself into the other lane. A cop actually pulled him over for it. You could tell the guy was PO'd! I was laughing the rest of the way to school that day.

I have been known to straddle lanes in this situation. There was some major bridge construction near our old house several years ago and it was made much worse by those people that couldn't wait their turn in line. It got pretty bad that almost everyone started stradling the lanes. I refuse to let someone merge if they pull up in the merge lane and want to merge at the last minute instead of waiting in line like everyone else. What makes you more important then everyone else?

 

[delilah]

I think car A was right, and car B was a total %^$#. I do the same thing as car A all the time when there is alot of traffic, and I know I need to merge into the left lane. If I had been in car B, I would have slowed down sufficiently to allow car A to merge safely. We have this same type of situation a mile or so north of where we live, where a main N-S route narrows from two lanes to one lane each direction. At rush hour, this is a total chaos. I try to avoid this area at all costs that time of day, and fortunately, I work in a town about 5 miles south and 5 miles east of this scene, so, I normally don't need to deal with it. A little courtesy and common sense go a long way.

 

[bicker]

What makes you more important then everyone else?

Exactly! One day I'll have to post some videos of the idiocy at the intersection of US 3 and MA 128 in Burlington MA. Is is basically seven lanes merging to four lanes, and the selfish and moronic behavior there, especially on the part of those who are clearly merging onto the highway from the exit ramp, is alternatively shocking and infuriating.

And straddling lanes doesn't work; we've got cretins passing people in the break-down lane, and other cretins passing those cretins on the soft shoulder.

 

[ducklite]

In some states the merging lane will have the right of way when the road is ending. In other states the right of way is always given to the car already in the lane. Either way they were both stupid and should have had some manners.

Anne

 

[DoeWDW]

Car A was in the wrong for being in the left lane and trying to merge right when he KNEW the merge was coming up. Get in the right land BEFORE the traffic light and wait your turn like everyone else.

Yep, this is a pet peeve of mine too! I'll be happy to make exceptions for clueless tourists and people who are unfamiliar with the area, but for those who make this a daily habit - wait your turn!

 

[damo]

Whoever is not in the merge lane has the right of way. Think of it as a ramp entering an interstate. The people already on the interstate have the right of way.

 

[PrincessDeb]

I hate 422 anymore! PD, you should try merging onto 422 up in Pottstown where the exit and entrance ramps are the same thing! That is definitely one of my pet peeves!



Deb

 

[golfgal]

Car A was in the wrong for being in the left lane and trying to merge right when he KNEW the merge was coming up. Get in the right land BEFORE the traffic light and wait your turn like everyone else.

Yep, this is a pet peeve of mine too! I'll be happy to make exceptions for clueless tourists and people who are unfamiliar with the area, but for those who make this a daily habit - wait your turn!

This is what I think, too, like I said earlier. Why would anyone think that car
A was right when all they were trying to do was rush out infront of everyone else and not wait their turn?

 

[LoraJ]

Car A was in the wrong for being in the left lane and trying to merge right when he KNEW the merge was coming up. Get in the right land BEFORE the traffic light and wait your turn like everyone else.

Yep, this is a pet peeve of mine too! I'll be happy to make exceptions for clueless tourists and people who are unfamiliar with the area, but for those who make this a daily habit - wait your turn!

Actually, it is a MERGE, so if car A had gotten behind car B at the light, then whomever would have come up in the left lane would have gotten in front of him anyway if they were merging properly. Car A was ahead and had the right of way. Car B was just being stubborn.

it amazes me how many people do not know how to properly merge. It's one car from one lane, than a car from the other lane, back to the next car in the first lane. I can't stand it when people in one lane follow closely behind the car in fron of them not allowing the car in the other lane to merge.

ETA:
I did a google search abotu merging and all the guidebooks say they want people to merge at the last second. And also, straddling the lanes is not proper.

 

[hiwaygal]

I did a google search abotu merging and all the guidebooks say they want people to merge at the last second. And also, straddling the lanes is not proper.

The idea behind merging at the last second is that the last (or first) part of a ramp is called either an ACCELERATION lane or a DECELERATION lane...it is designed so that drivers use that distance to adjust their speed (as close as possible) to the traffic already on the road. Unfortunately, most folks don't do that.

And, technically, straddling the lanes is illegal (in our state anyway).

 

[bicker]

To be fair to the aforementioned cretins, if they yielded the right-of-way to those of us on the Interstate (MA 128 is I-95, by the way), they would never get to work. Good words don't make good highways. There have to be more practical rules in place to make the roads we have work for everyone, but hopefully with less hazard and less rage.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I had a scary roadrage incident a couple of years ago. It was a BIG truck. A tractor trailer. I was in the middles lane, and needed to get over to the right lane, because my exit was coming up. I put my blinker on, and waited until I was a good 2-3 car lengths ahead of the truck in the right lane, then I merged. I never had to slow down. My exit was still a mile away, so I did not put on my brakes.

The next thing I know, I hear this horn that damn near gave me a heart attack. I look in my rearview mirror, and the only thing I see out the back window is the grill to the truck. I never saw anything like it. He is blaring, and right on top of me. I am scared to death. Now, how am I going to brake for my exit? He is so close to me, at 60mph, if I brake, I am flattened. You know what I kept thinking of as I was sobbing with fear? My brother had died the month before, I kept thinking that my dad was going to have to bury another child.

I don't even remember how I did merge the exit with him on top of me like that. I know I was a wreck. I was also was afraid he was going to follow me off the exit.

The world is a scary place.

 

[Chicago526]

If the stop light has two lanes, and the merge happens after the the light, why on earth wouldn't you use the left lane to stop at? Isn't the point of having two lanes to use both of them, so traffic doesn't get backed up at the light? I don't see car A as jumping the line and not waiting his turn. He accelerated faster off the mark, he got to the merge first, he merged, 5 to 10 feet is not cutting someone off (at least not in the Chicago area, anyway). I don't see how car A was in the wrong (other than the one finger salute, that is!).

 

[golfgal]

Actually, it is a MERGE, so if car A had gotten behind car B at the light, then whomever would have come up in the left lane would have gotten in front of him anyway if they were merging properly. Car A was ahead and had the right of way. Car B was just being stubborn.

it amazes me how many people do not know how to properly merge. It's one car from one lane, than a car from the other lane, back to the next car in the first lane. I can't stand it when people in one lane follow closely behind the car in fron of them not allowing the car in the other lane to merge.

ETA:
I did a google search abotu merging and all the guidebooks say they want people to merge at the last second. And also, straddling the lanes is not proper.

That is fine and dandy but the guy in the left lane that jackrabits out of his lane to get ahead of everyone else and cuts off the driver in the right lane is plain rude.

In our state they set the merge lane up at least 1/2 mile or more from the point where the road ends, they want people merging THEN, NOT where the road ends. Those are the people that I refuse to move for, not the ones merging at the proper time. I know that straddling the lane is not proper, but neither is being rude to other drivers.

 

[RadioNate]

Whoever is not in the merge lane has the right of way. Think of it as a ramp entering an interstate. The people already on the interstate have the right of way.

Here's what's funny. In TX the ramps have the right of way. The feeder roads and exits must yield to the ramps. There are posted signs.

Took me forever to get used to that.

That is fine and dandy but the guy in the left lane that jackrabits out of his lane to get ahead of everyone else and cuts off the driver in the right lane is plain rude.

In our state they set the merge lane up at least 1/2 mile or more from the point where the road ends, they want people merging THEN, NOT where the road ends. Those are the people that I refuse to move for, not the ones merging at the proper time. I know that straddling the lane is not proper, but neither is being rude to other drivers.

5-10ft isn't cutting someone off. How is refusing to yeild to someone in a proper merge lane not rude?

There were 2 lanes that merge into 1. There for it should go 1 car left lane, 1 car right lane, back and forth. If you in the right lane is straddling the lane and not letting anyone from the left lane in how is that 'less rude' than the person in the left lane who tried to beat the right lane?

If everyone would use BOTH lanes and do the one car left lane, one car right lane thing...traffic would keep moving and everyone would get to their destination.

 

[LoraJ]

That is fine and dandy but the guy in the left lane that jackrabits out of his lane to get ahead of everyone else and cuts off the driver in the right lane is plain rude.

In our state they set the merge lane up at least 1/2 mile or more from the point where the road ends, they want people merging THEN, NOT where the road ends. Those are the people that I refuse to move for, not the ones merging at the proper time. I know that straddling the lane is not proper, but neither is being rude to other drivers.

Sorry, but you are not merging properly and could be breaking the law in your state. You are the one being rude, not the person trying to merge. Youare the one causing the problem and not the person who is properly attempting to merge.

 

[bicker]

In our state they set the merge lane up at least 1/2 mile or more from the point where the road ends

You're in a for a rude awakening if you get behind the wheel out East, then. The scenario the OP posted is very common out here -- sometimes the merge is less than 50 feet! Sometimes it is 0 feet -- there are actually traffic lights with two lanes, plus a left and right turning lane, but the two "going straight" lanes feed into a single lane on the other side of the intersection.

 

[DoeWDW]

Boy, a visual sure would help! I made an assumption that might not be correct. I assumed that there were 2 lanes at the intersection. After the intersection there was a left lane that continued, and a right lane that turned into a ramp onto a highway. In that case, car A was in a traffic lane that continued and he should not have cut over to the ramp / merge lane.

If, in fact, there were 2 lanes at the intersection and after the intersection, those 2 lanes are reduced to one lane headed onto the highway, then whoever gets there first, gets there first. Car A was fine, although a bit aggressive in driving style. Car B should have backed off the gas and politely let car A go.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.