Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique Merging... How Not To

I expect you guys have more sense than to do this... but just in case...

On the way in to work this AM (I95 HOV northbound in north VA to DC) I spy a cruiser pulled over in the breakdown lane just before an entrance ramp. Pulling over, he gives me the high sign that he’s ok and just checking his saddlebag for security. I give him a thumbs up back and since I’m behind him will let him go first.
He has an entrance ramp lane that doesn’t have much traffic and miles of breakdown lane, and the cars in the slow lane are whizzing by at 70 with little room in between.
I expect him to accelerate using the ramp and breakdown lane and smoothly merge.
Of course what he does is pull out into traffic at 35 and accelerate to 50. The first car behind him to lock up the brakes and stand on the horn has no affect on this guy. He just putts along. I almost expect a multi-car pileup behind him.
Every car driver, especially the one behind this guy, who saw this was saying to themselves “there’s another organ donor” and cursing everything with 2 wheels.

Man did he make us all look bad.

Please think about what you’re doing and be careful out there.

I knew I should have gone first. My mistake.

Maybe he was going as fast as he could :-)

I drove right thru there on the way back from GA, stayed in Alexandria actually.

Every once in a while... ok ALL the time, down here people love to SLOW down on the onramp and wait for an opening!! I always say, you can't merge from a stand-still! Merging requires speed. Plain and simple. Get on it! I cam around a decreasing radius curve on ramp to find a lady STOPPED at the bottom! Yikes! Good thing I was in the Charger She had a whole lane to herself... I think sometimes people get confused by the yield sign at the bottom, doesn't mean STOP, it just means look out, others are coming. Grr!! I hate people who don't use common sense... Ok end of rant. Time to go play in traffic.

I think merging (or lack of) is one of the biggest problems with traffic nowadays. I just dont think people have the concept of it any more. Ever notice that most of the back-ups on the freeway are near on-ramps? It's not because of too many people getting on the highway. It is because idiots dont accelerate and MERGE into traffic. I have seen people get to the top of an on-ramp and stop to wait for a place to get into traffic. Absolute morons I tell you.

Soren

As soon as I saw he was taking too long looking for an opening rather than using the acceleration on-ramp and breakdown lane, I should have taken off, but then I figured that he'd decide to roll at that exact moment and whack me.

He who hesitates is lost...

Merging is a two-way street.. there's a joke in there somewhere....??

Anyway, it's sometimes hard to "merge" when people don't want to let you in. I have seen people speed up near on-ramps just to make sure no one gets in front of them. The "competition" can be fierce out there.
Ask anyone who has driven the Parkway in or out of Pgh. Pa. - it's more like a NASCAR race than a highway.

I agree Grump. Nobody wants to "lose their place in line" or whatever. It's crazy... it's like they take everything personally!

In CA, Use your turn signals when getting on the freeway. It creats the illusion that you have someplace else that you can go, so they don't try so hard to keep you out.

Try driving in NYC...the first thing you learn is to drive like a cab. Never signal when changing lanes in traffic. And if there's 4 lanes & a car in each lane, but room enough to fit in between...go ahead and squeeze in between them. Oh yeah...never hit the brakes to slow down for pedestrians...just give them a horn blast!