Stop Honking at Me! and other Driving Woes

[kaytieeldr]

At a four way stop one driver telling another to go when it is MY turn/right of way.

At a four way stop the person going north to south going but the person that should be going south to north waiting until they are through to go, when now it should be my turn to go.

North/south has zip effect on proceeding at a four way stop. Roads don't only go north and south. They can technically go in 360 different directions.

Anyway, short and sweet, courtesy of the Louisiana DoTD:

 

[kaytieeldr]

I haven't been down Danvers/Swampscott Road recently. Guess it's time to visit Stop & Shop

I will seriously get back to you. I'm very familiar with how it used to be, having been on it multiple times in 45+ years!

 

[Moliphino]

I did this once, in Las Vegas. I was watching not just the road directly in front of me, but ahead of that as well - watching for any potential issues. I saw the light turn red, so I stopped. But I wasn't at that light yet. "My" light was green. Lucky for me, the driver behind me was driving smart, and honked

I hit the brakes randomly myself yesterday, though thankfully there was nobody right behind me. There was a spider on my dashboard.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The honking at a stop light to turn right has happened to me so often now I don't care and will just sit there even more. I'm not going until I feel safe enough to do so.

Good! The law allows right turn on red after stop. It doesn't demand drivers turn.

 

[kdonnel]

I wish they'd get rid of the East Longmeadow rotary. Talk about a cluster. Seven roads come together and cars in the rotary don't have the right of way.

?

Cars in the rotary don't have the right of way?


When roundabouts first sprang into existence (contrary to everything I thought, they are a US invention) they had a 50/50 chance of picking the correct yield method. Either give priority to traffic entering or to traffic in the roundabout. They chose wrong. And as a result roundabouts were inefficient and dangerous.

About the time someone said lets flip it so those in the roundabout have the right of way the US gave up on roundabouts and they got adopted by the rest of the world.

Roundabouts have had a recent resurgence in the Metro Atlanta area. There are still the idiots I sit behind who wait until there are no cars in the roundabout before entering but for the most part it has greatly improved traffic flow at the ones near me.

Roundabouts need to become more prevalent again. They are a much safer intersection. If accidents do occur they are at a much lower rate of speed then a light controlled intersection and unless something has really gone wrong the collisions are glancing blows and not head on or t bone collisions.

 

[Moliphino]

North/south has zip effect on proceeding at a four way stop. Roads don't only go north and south. They can technically go in 360 different directions.

Anyway, short and sweet, courtesy of the Louisiana DoTD:

I don't think they meant the direction mattered, just that the "north" and "south" drivers should have gone at the same time, not one after the other as that held up the "east" and "west" drivers.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I haven't been down Danvers/Swampscott Road recently. Guess it's time to visit Stop & Shop

I will seriously get back to you. I'm very familiar with how it used to be, having been on it multiple times in 45+ years!

At this point, it's fairly new so people haven't adjusted their habits and seem to be approaching it at too fast a speed, but hopefully people will adjust. But like I said, the other issue is the big trucks that are essentially traveling downhill when they're approaching from Highland Ave - hoping they can slow down when the roads are bad!

I wish people in my town would view that 4 way stop video!

 

[Moliphino]

?

Cars in the rotary don't have the right of way?

Yup. Cars in the circle have to yield to the ones coming in.

 

[kdonnel]

Yup. Cars in the circle have to yield to the ones coming in.

View attachment 434760

That should be replaced with a true roundabout, it is not large enough. Time to use eminent domain to take some property.

 

[robinb]

My driving pet peeve is people who don't "zipper merge". Instead, the get out of the lane that is closed wayyyy too early, causing a huge backup and then give the zipper drivers the stink eye. Believe me, traffic flows much better and everyone waits the same if everyone would just wait until the where the lane is closed and do a "you go, I go" zipper merge.

 

[DietCoke18]

In NY the person entering the traffic circle must yield to those in the circle.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My driving pet peeve is people who don't "zipper merge". Instead, the get out of the lane that is closed wayyyy too early, causing a huge backup and then give the zipper drivers the stink eye.

Now you've done it! Road rules and common sense be damned - you must remember how many DISers think merging early is right!

 

[Praying Colonel]

My driving pet peeve is people who don't "zipper merge". Instead, the get out of the lane that is closed wayyyy too early, causing a huge backup and then give the zipper drivers the stink eye. Believe me, traffic flows much better and everyone waits the same if everyone would just wait until the where the lane is closed and do a "you go, I go" zipper merge.

The quickest, most efficient way to merge for a construction zone probably isn’t what you think it is. The “zipper merge,” in which vehicles run in parallel until one lane physically narrows, is better for traffic flow than when vehicles form a single line early.

Yes, that means the driver you cursed for “cheating” by driving by you in the empty lane after you politely merged to the through-lane a half-mile before the construction zone was helping traffic flow more than you. Sorry.

An increasing number of states, including Michigan, encourage drivers to use the zipper merge. Some even created flashing signs showing how and where to merge.

“It’s important to merge smoothly not to make sudden lane changes,” Michigan State University associate professor of urban and regional planning Teresa Qu said.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...iving-commute-traffic-zipper-merge/761350002/
This is one where DW and I absolutely disagree. I try to zipper merge whenever possible, citing the efficiency of it as discussed in this article. DW insists that traffic should merge as soon as the driver realizes it's necessary, even it's very far away, and zipper merging is the height of rudeness. We haven't gone to counseling over it--yet.

 

[robinb]

Now you've done it! Road rules and common sense be damned - you must remember how many DISers think merging early is right!

Oh, I do remember!

 

[disneychrista]

North/south has zip effect on proceeding at a four way stop. Roads don't only go north and south. They can technically go in 360 different directions.

Anyway, short and sweet, courtesy of the Louisiana DoTD:

Yet your video doesn’t really address when there is a line of cars not just two or three. And IN your video N / S both went at the same time.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Based on your posts in another thread, I might be wrong but I *think* we're MA neighbors...how about that new roundabout on Danvers Road? I have my doubts about how things will go when winter comes.

Massachusetts, yes - but I'm not familiar with this roundabout. What city are you in? The newest one I've encountered (that works pretty good) is in Lynn at Federal Street and Western Ave. It's about three years old now.

Don't get me started on Mass rotaries - we had two perfectly good ones in my part of the state, and they messed both of them up recently! There's one on Rt 44 in Middleborough that all of a sudden added an extra lane (increasing, not reducing, accidents) and one around a park in Bridgewater that suddenly grew stop signs - as if "yield" didn't make sense!

 

[luvsJack]

My driving pet peeve is people who don't "zipper merge". Instead, the get out of the lane that is closed wayyyy too early, causing a huge backup and then give the zipper drivers the stink eye. Believe me, traffic flows much better and everyone waits the same if everyone would just wait until the where the lane is closed and do a "you go, I go" zipper merge.

Are you talking about the lane closed as in construction?

How does moving over early cause a back up? If they are going the speed of the traffic around them it shouldn't do that.

All the truckers that I hear on DH's radio, say just the opposite. Its the ones waiting until the last minute to merge over that cause the back up. Merging sooner, keeps traffic moving into the one lane.

I do know that once DH was coming up on closed lane. He had already gotten into the other lane. Some guy in a car came up the lane that was closing and try to "merge", hitting Dh's tire and a bit of the bumper. Didn't really hurt the truck but did a LOT of damage to the guy's car. When the police go there, the guy basically try to demand they give dh a ticket. The cop asked him why and he said because dh didn't let him merge. The cop told him that dh didn't have to let him merge and he should have gotten over in the open lane back when he saw the sign. Could have just been the opinion of that cop, I guess.

 

[Momager]

Get out of the left lane unless you're going 10-15 MPH above the speed limit on the parkway or turnpike.

I'm from Jersey, just stay outta my way, and we're good!

 

[robinb]

Are you talking about the lane closed as in construction?

How does moving over early cause a back up? If they are going the speed of the traffic around them it shouldn't do that.

All the truckers that I hear on DH's radio, say just the opposite. Its the ones waiting until the last minute to merge over that cause the back up. Merging sooner, keeps traffic moving into the one lane.

Your DH may not like it and I've seen truckers block the soon-to-be closed zipper lane, but it really does work out better for everyone.

From the Minnesota DOT:
https://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/traffic-lane-zipper-merge.htm
https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...g-late-recommended-states-experts/1748026001/

 

[dez1978]

've posted my biggest pet peeve on here before and gotten roasted for it but I'm going to do it again: If you (or your car) are incapable of doing the speed limit on the interstate, please take the back roads. It is dangerous to be putting along at 45mph on a 70mph interstate.

OMG so much this. Also, if you are incapable of not driving near the speed limit on back roads (obv not talking about farm equipment) stop driving. If the speed limit is 55 or 60 and you are at the bottom of a hill doing 30, that is dangerous. Where we live there aren't shoulders on most of the 2 lane roads. When you come around a corner and down a hill where the speed limit is 50 and someone is doing far less than that when the conditions do not call for it, that is dangerous and stupid.