Merging redux onramp, lane reduction, junction 2998

Daniel W. Rouse Jr.

Sure it does, so long as "block out" means keeping a constant speed and course.

There is a gap there. It's between the cars going by. I have very seldom seen traffic moving at above a crawl where it was literally impossible to merge in between two cars. Now you may have to take a space a little shorter than the "recommended safe following distance" in exceptionally heavy traffic, but just take the space and keep moving. You'll be able to space yourself back before the next onramp, as will the guy behind you.

I've seen this happen MORE often when people "let them in."

Yes, and that's why I don't let in slow mergers.

Again, how slow is traffic going to really slam the door on someone? less than 20 MPH? at that point it doesn't matter what you do. Around here when things get really, truly stop and go, people tend to treat a merge as a zipper, which works after a fashion but has the drawback of allowing more people onto an already congested highway. But everyone does eventually get where they're going. But what I'm talking about is when everyone's doing 65-70 MPH even in the rightmost lane and some jackbutt can't adjust his speed to make a hole. Even at a 1-sec. following distance, at 65 MPH a merger still can squeeze in between cars as long as everyone holds their position. If you slow down to let him in, you're an even bigger butt than he is. Better to gradually space yourself back out before the next onramp, rather than all at once to "let someone in."

Yes, they do, if it's close to the tipping point. I see it happen all the time. It starts with slowing to 45, but eventually it slowly grinds to a halt.

DON'T SLOW DOWN ON THE GODDAMNED HIGHWAY UNLESS SOMEONE ACTUALLY FORCES YOU TO BRAKE. HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND? Geez, if we could just get it through the heads of the people around here, traffic would be SO much nicer. We have nothing like the volume of other major cities (Boston, NYC, Chicago, etc.) but because people drive like they really don't care whether or not they reach their destination, and their instinctual reaction to anything they don't understand or find unusual or interesting is to jam on the brakes (including a cop pulling someone else over, or some poor schmuck changing a tire on the shoulder well out of the way, or some kind of incident on the other side of the Jersey barrier) it is extraordinarily difficult to get anywhere in anything resembling an expedient manner, and it's hard on your car and on fuel as well as you're constantly accelerating, braking, accelerating, braking, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. Just keep the hammer down!

Can we import some Boston drivers for Driver's Ed teachers? PLEASE????

Absolutely! But my experiences is it's drivers like you that make traffic go stop and go; and around here, there's really no necessity for even what you call "slow and go" except a few spots - yet it happens everywhere unnecessarily, again, because of drivers like you. Sorry, but I cannot agree with your theory about letting mergers in. IME, it just doesn't work out.

Finally, before you accuse me of being unkind t omy fellow motorists - I don't feel that I am being unkind at all, I just act like I would like other drivers to act. When I am merging in, I do my very best to slip into an existing hole with minimal interference with other motorists. I don't want them to slow down for me; for all they know I might be planning to lift off and slip in behind them. I just expect others to act similarly. If they have been taught to expect "courtesy" from other drivers in the form of slowing down to let them in, all that says is that they have been taught by and surrounded by pee poor drivers.

nate

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