On Topic? Cars, anyway: 55 MPH speed limit...

When the option is to move over a lane, or lift off the gas to let somebody in that has arrived at the end of the ramp, or force another driver to stop, I'll argue that pulling over is always the better choice.

You should NEVER force a car to stop on the onramp.

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Reply to
Jeff Strickland
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"LOL! One of my favorite sayings is, "THAT'S WHY WE HAVE BUSES!!!"

See many buses in rural area making short trips on the highway or interstate? Not in our area.

I'm sure if everyone were to trade rural life for city life there'd be buses for everyone. I've lived in both areas and I prefer the rural life and being a little more neighborly toward my fellow drivers.

dennis in nca

Reply to
rigger

Yep, I like Toys as well. I've now got just over 800 miles on my Rav4/6 cyl./Ltd./4WD. If you can believe the hype the 0-60 time is about 6.3. Not bad for a little station wagon, eh?

dennis in nca

Reply to
rigger

Nope, not bad at all!

Reply to
Hachiroku

Jeff!!! In Vermont, the ramps have YIELD signs! There's an implied yield at the end of an on ramp. Are you saying traffic on the highway is supposed to stop?!?!?!

Reply to
Hachiroku

You have my sympathy!

Reply to
Hachiroku

I'm in a rural area, and we actually have a fairly decent bus service. They'll even send a bus to your house to pick you up, and from there you can go anywhere in the county, and the next county.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Of cousre not. That's absurd.

I'm saying that you should pace yourself so that persons attempting to enter can do so. If you have to slow from 55 to 53, big deal. If you have to move over a lane, big deal.

My salient point is that the guy on the ramp is obliged to be going at the prevailing speed of the traffic. This means you should get up to speed on the ramp, and slow if needed to merge. DO NOT go slow on the ramp in the hope that you can gain speed in the last 50 ft.

If you are in the righthand lane and notice that some slowpoke is going to need to merge at the same moment you get there, then you should plan accordingly so he can merge without you forcing him to stop. You can easily see this situation developing, and you should take steps -- get out of the lane, or reduce your speed -- so the poor bastard can get onto the freeway.

When I drive my BMW, I'm normally in the left lane where I never have to consider the poor slobs stuck in the right lane. But, when I drive my work truck, I usually stay in the right lane. While there, I keep an eye on each and every onramp so that people there can get on with the least disruption. I will speed up, slow down, or change lanes, whatever is needed to make a hole that will allow the person on the ramp to merge. Im my BMW, I look down on the freeway lanes (when the ramp is above) and set my speed so that I can get over two lanes, and three or four is better, all at one time. I can't always do this, but I believe in getting the hell out of the way.

One can lead or follow, I lead when in the car, follow in the truck, but get the hell out of the way no matter what I'm driving.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

True. But my original post on this matter said that there's cars to your left on a two-lane Interstate, and a guy behind you, and the person coming up the ramp has no intention of stopping...

Or even slowing.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Then you gotta slow, or be dead right, and there's no benefit in that.

When the guy behind you is paying your bills, he can dictate the pedals you elect to use, until then, he's behind you and his main goal in life is to not hit you.

MY original post on the matter is that the guy on the ramp has to speed up to the flow of traffic or faster, then slow a bit if needed to fit into the line, as opposed to dragging his merry ass down the ramp at 40 and trying to get up to speed at merge time.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Yeah, that's true too.

I take the ramp at the highest speed physics will allow! ;)

But I also *don't* expect the people already on the highway to bow down to me. Dude was right: brakes are more powerful. But if you're almost up to blend speed, and conditions allow, then I let the right foot on the right pedal rule!

Lest I sound reckless, I have had one at fault accident in my life, and that was on ice, because a woman came to a dead halt at the bottom of a steep hill, and stayed there. When she initially stopped I was about 7-8 lengths behind her and would have had plenty of time if she had MOVED!!!!

Reply to
Hachiroku

When traffic density reaches a certain point, one has to resist the temptation to "give a driver a break" esp. if they are slow or hesitant. The act of slowing from, say, 70 MPH to 40 MPH to allow a driver to merge when you have a solid line of traffic behind you can cause a braking wave that ends up with a guy half a mile behind you doing a panic stop.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

If someone "has" to stop on a ramp, and you (as the through driver) aren't tailgating the car in front of you, it's not your fault, it's theirs. They could easily speed up a little to merge in front of you or slow a little to merge behind you (assuming that they're coming down the ramp at the proper speed. If they're not, well, that's not your fault.) Someone has to be inconvenienced in this situation; it might as well be the guy who can't drive as opposed to the ten cars behind you.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Often moving over a lane isn't an option, as there's a wall o' traffic (tm) in there, going fast enough that I'm not comfortable increasing my speed to join. (typically, around here, by the time you get into the second lane, the speed is already in "reckless driving" territory.)

YES.

If he's trying to merge into 70 MPH traffic at 40 MPH - I'd rather he stopped. If a driver is that incompetent, to be blunt, f*ck 'em. He SHOULD stop at the end of the onramp, then back up, carefully turn around, drive home, park his car, and put a "for sale" sign in the window.

nate

(very little sympathy for the grossly incompetent drivers that I see far too many of every day.)

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Then he can ride the shoulder. And hopefully get pulled over and cited for driving like an a-hole.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

And buy a bus pass...

Reply to
Hachiroku

"You have my sympathy!"

No sympathy required. The pounding carbon monoxide headaches are gone (damn that Loop) and almost all that remains are the good and interesting memories; nice how that works.

Never got robbed or even cheated on a fare, don't know if things would still work as well these days (this was about 35 years ago).

This was my second job: 5:30P to 1:30A (and week- ends). The whole point was so my wife could stay home with the kids; I like to think that worked out well. :)

dennis in nca

Reply to
rigger

Nice. Unfortunatly we're just ouside of such services.

dennis in nca

Reply to
rigger

Sorry Jeff, but you're completely wrong on this one. Merging traffic must ALWAYS YIELD to oncoming traffic in EVERY situation. A car approaching a merging car on an on ramp should NEVER EVER SLOW DOWN to allow that car to enter. This impedes and potentially creates a hazardous situation for the general flow of traffic.

As the "merging vehicle" it is YOUR job to be completely UP TO SPEED when you MERGE in an available space. If no space is available, you MUST YIELD, including coming to a complete stop.

Agreed it is common courtesy for a driver to move to the left lane if that's available to open up the merge lane, but it is NOT required nor is it law in any state.

Willy

Reply to
Willy

Several years ago when I lived in Indiana, the Interstates there had signs at every entrance, "Yield to merging traffic". I do believe it was state law that it was the responsibility of traffic on the Interstate to either move over or slow down to allow merging traffic onto the road. I have seen some really bad wrecks because some asshole refused to allow a driver to merge from an on-ramp.

Jack

Reply to
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