Friday, February 29, 2008

On Merging

It's time for my "grumpy old man moment" this week.

Do they not teach people any longer how to merge into traffic on a highway or any roadway for that matter?

Unfortunately, I have to drive every day to and from work through two particular areas that, at first glance to some, might appear problematic when merging into traffic. One, admittedly, can require a stop. But more often than not, instead of people stepping on the gas pedal to merge into the traffic, they instead slam onto the breaks. I've seen plenty of people get hit in the rear end of the car because they decide last minute to apply the brakes instead of the gas.

Lesson people: You must match the velocity of the traffic you are merging into for them to let you in. It can't be done any other way. They aren't going to stop for you.

1 comment:

Mattjumbo said...

God in Heaven, yes, brothers, yes!

If I can get over, I am happy to but it seems that people who merge these seem bound and determined that they are going to do so at 49 miles per hours and if you don't get our of their way then you are some kind of jerk.

I mean it is a simple process..

1. Get on ramp
2. Survey highway traffic
3. Identify gap and speed up accordingly to get your car in said gap