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Re: Freeway Etiquette



In <48gb1f$muu@borg.svpal.org>, jennett@svpal.svpal.org (Rex Jennett) writes:
>The problem with staying in the right lane except to  pass is that most 
>people don't know how to merge. I wind up speeding up or slamming on my 
>brakes trying to let people merge. They either merge too slow for the 
>speed of traffic on the highway, or there's a line of cars trying to 
>merge, with no space between them. If drivers would try to bring 
>themselves up to speed where the onramp allows it, space themselves so that 
>cars in the right lane can merge smoothly with them, then I'd drive in the 
>right lane more often. It would also help if drivers already on the highway 
>would allow space for cars to merge smoothly. But people seem determined 
>to drive bumper to bumper, making merges dangerous and frustrating for all.

I agree with everything that you said.  I generally try to drive in the rightmost
lane possible without excessive lane changing due to slower traffic.  One
problem around the Wash, DC area is that when there is stop-and-go traffic
on, say, I-395 outbound in the afternoon, some people will use the acceleration
lanes to pass a few cars that are stopped in front of them.  Many of these
acceleration lanes are long enough so that the driver that these cheaters 
merge in front of can't tell if they are cheaters or are actually trying to get
onto the freeway from another road.  This makes some (many, perhaps) people
resistant to letting anyone merge in front of them.  I'm sure this must happen 
in other places as well.

-Andy



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