Subject: Freeway: Lane change vs. merging from onramp

From: Steven Blackwelder <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 Jul 1995 16:30:56 GMT

Suppose:
The rightmost lane on the freeway has reasonable space for one car.
At that place, an onramp approaches its end.
One driver is merging his/her car from the onramp.
Another driver is in the next-to-rightmost lane and wants to move his/her 
car to the righmost lane.
There isn't space for both of them there at that moment.

Who has the right of way in this situation?

The right of way is clear to me when a car is in a lane and another car's 
driver intends to move into that lane (whether merging or changing 
lanes), but it's not so clear to me when two vehicles are moving into the 
same empty space.

Steve Blackwelder
<[email-masked]>

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From: [email-masked] (John Robison)
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 22:28:15 GMT

>Who has the right of way in this situation?

This question was asked in a Traffic School class I had the
opportuntiy to attend :-) :-)
The basic answer is: "BOTH people".
Many accidents are resolved to a situation where
"Both parties are at partial fault".

Quite a revelation RE: pushing "your" right-of-way.
There is no black and white - only gray... :-)

Regards,

JohnR

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[email-masked] (reliable - checked every day or two)
[email-masked] (sometimes flaky - checked frequently)

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From: [email-masked] (Dan Hepner)
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 23:19:34 GMT

>From: Steven Blackwelder <[email-masked]>

>Who has the right of way in this situation?

First, it's a lot easier to understand if one starts from the correct 
perspective regarding right of way law.  No one ever has the right of 
way; rather, cases exist where it is required by law to yield the right 
of way.  In some cases it may make sense to refer to a car which is not 
required to yield as "having the right of way", but thinking in terms of 
"having right of way" is what creates ambiguity in the question as posed.

Both cars are equally responsible for making a safe lane change, which
is the law covering the case.  In effect, both are required to yield.

Neither "has the right of way", in any sense of the term.

Dan Hepner

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From: Gene Kennedy 95SL2 <[email-masked]>
Date: 2 Aug 1995 23:23:51 GMT

Steven Blackwelder <[email-masked]> wrote:

>The right of way is clear to me when a car is in a lane and another car's driver intends to move into that lane (whether merging or changing 
>lanes), but it's not so clear to me when two vehicles are moving into the same empty space.
>
>Steve Blackwelder
><[email-masked]>
>
All cars entering the freeway must yield to all cars on the freeway.
It is not worth a car accident to prove your right if your the one on the 
freeway but if the car entering the freeway has a more expensive car than 
you do - hit em!!!!! Well maybe just lay on the horn or use your finger.
GK

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From: Steven Blackwelder <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Aug 1995 16:46:27 GMT

>you do - hit em!!!!! Well maybe just lay on the horn or use your finger.

I assume you wrote for humor, not for seriousness (the advice seems 
contradictory anyhow). But some people sometimes set aside or lose their 
sense of humor when they get behind the wheel of a car.

I have used my car horn to express my offended dignity, but I learned 
from my mistakes :-) that doing such things gains me no advantage in the 
situation but makes it worse. I prefer to use my car horn as a last 
resort to warn inattentive drivers of hazard, not as the voice of my 
anger when I feel put-upon. Avoiding an incident on the road costs me 
much less than escalating one and trying to prove myself in the right. I 
have been spared the true humiliation of causing an accident in anger, 
but close calls have reduced my productivity at work.

Steve Blackwelder
<[email-masked]>

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From: [email-masked] (KENNY MORSE)
Date: Thu, 03 Aug 1995 12:56:33

><[email-masked]>

And Steve.....

Please be aware there is a law in California for "Excessive Use Of A Horn".  If
you hang on a horn......"Come on ya jerk <hoooooooooooonk>," you can
get a ticket...but in all my years of teaching traffic school, I have had only
ONE guy who ever got nailed on this, in class.  Why???? .....................
............................................................................................................
he honked at.......................................................................................
A cop!

BRAIN DONOR!!!!!!!!!

Kenny Morse
"Mr. Traffic"

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From: [email-masked] ( )
Date: 3 Aug 1995 22:22:54 GMT

>you do - hit em!!!!! Well maybe just lay on the horn or use your finger.

Nothing is proved by hitting another car because according to
California law "Failure to avoid an accident" over rides all errors. So
if you intentionally hit another car you are at fault no matter what
the other car was doing.

I know someone who got ticketed for this when the other car ran a red
light and this guy had a left turn arrow. The cop looked at the road
saw no skid marks while the car that ran the red light had 'em. This
was in the mid 80's.

Never checked, but I wonder if ABS brakes leave skid marks.

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GP