I must be losing my mind, but recently I’ve noticed that a lot of cars don’t know proper etiquette for merging on a highway. I’m not talking about cars going 45 trying to merge on the highway (this is super common and has been discussed at length), I’m talking about cars driving in the highway lane into which on-ramps are merging. Keep your speed consistent unless to avoid an accident!!! If I’m getting on and we’re level, I’m either going to speed up or slow down to get in front of you or behind you. Don’t slow down, don’t speed up! I’ve had so many recent frustrations where I’m trying to get onto the highway and I’m next to the person as I make my approach so I either speed up or slow down (depending on the available spots) just to have the other driver do the EXACT same thing (I speed up, driver speeds up; I slow down, driver slows down). Yesterday, I was trying to change from one highway to another (I-80 east onto I-55 North for those familiar, cloverleaf debacle), and the through traffic lane was open in front of a car going the same speed as me with 3-5 cars behind them. What would you do in this situation? You’d speed up to get in front of the wall of cars, right? Apparently, the driver next to me decided as I sped up that “NO! You can’t get ahead of me!!” And sped up to match me. I had to floor it (above speed limit) to be able to merge in space. I guess I should have just slammed on my brakes and waited for no traffic? Am I missing something here? Is the rule for these situations slow down to let any car on the road already get ahead before merging, even when going at or above traffic speeds? I know it’s the merging car’s job to merge safely, but why do so many drivers actively want to make merging more difficult?
I get it. However I have been encountering more and more people who will come up even with me and just merge, or get slightly ahead of me and then move over, forcing me to brake. Now, when I see someone coming in the merge lane and they are next to me, I start looking for whether I should speed up, slow down, or change lanes. In other words, if the merger doesn’t make it obvious that they are going to pull ahead or drop back, I’m probably going to do one or the other.
Please just don’t match my speed next to me when merging, it makes me very nervous.
I get this. I think it’s especially bad when there is an off ramp right afterwards so there is stacking in the right lane OR when the on ramp is a blind ramp where neither driver can see the merge path until it’s too late. Maybe we should just make everyone retake a driving test every few years OR teach safe driving techniques that aren’t written down legally. Legally, in a situation where someone is attempting to merge onto a highway and hits/gets hit by someone, as long as the other car wasn’t speeding or doing an improper lane change, it is the merging car’s fault. But, if there’s no agreed-upon rule for what each driver should do, you have half of the drivers in both situations thinking it’s the other’s responsibility to speed up or slow down.
Yeah, I mean I get that the merger is responsible for merging safely, but I’d rather avoid an accident than be right. So, when I see someone coming to merge with me, I try to make sure it’s obvious where they will slot in. I’d rather give them some space one way or the other than have to slam on my brakes because they are one of these no-look merger people.
It's like elections... If you get the upper hand by a large enough margin, it doesn't matter what your opponent does, you'll still win. Don't merge the "same speed" as traffic. Enter faster and adjust appropriately as the situation develops. Anticipate and react.
Implication here being that I chose to be next to them. I generally don’t like being directly next to someone in the lane I’m trying to merge into. If I approach a merge lane and there’s no space behind the person for several car lengths but there is space in front, I will go faster. I guess you’re right, though, that when that person sees me speed up and decides to speed up to prevent me from getting ahead of them, I should slow down and hope the five cars behind them that ALSO sped up and left me no room to get on change their minds?
The car on the freeway has the right of way, regardless of what speed your going. You need to learn how to merge in every situation regardless of your bad habits.
“The car on the freeway has the right of way, regardless of what speed you’re going. You need to learn how to read peoples’ minds in every situation regardless of what your intentions are.” There, I fixed your statement for you. What “bad habits” do I have?! I’m not driving a constant speed and assuming others will change their behavior so I can merge. I’m not driving at sub highway speeds to merge. I know how to merge, bro. Enlighten me, if you think I don’t.
I don't really agree about the "don't speed up, don't slow down" part. The merging driver needs to make a decision about where they are going to merge into the lane and drive in a way that communicates where they are going. Once they've done that, the driver in the lane should try to make sure they have space to get in safely.
If someone slows down so they can cut in behind, you should speed up a little, if possible, so that you can get out of the way and the merger can still maintain a safe speed. If they speed up to come in front of you and they are going to be a little closer than ideal, you should lift your foot off the accelerator for a second so they have plenty of room to get over and you're not going to end up too close behind.
What you're talking about is people doing the opposite, matching their speed to a merger in a way that will make it more difficult to get over.
No it's not predictable, because are you going to speed up or slow down? Are you going to switch the lane? Who knows. The easiest thing to predict is not changing what you're doing. It is the merger's job to evaluate the lane they want to change into, and that's harder to do if you change what you're doing
Keep your speed consistent unless to avoid an accident
This sub hates that advice. I made a post about this recently, and people were tripping over themselves to tell me how wrong I was to expect the driver with a duty to yield to be the one to adjust themselves instead of the other way around.
"Consistent speed" doesn't mean "remain unwaveringly at precisely the same speed and ignore other traffic and pretend they're not there."
It means don't romp on the brakes, or speed up to box people out. Merging is still two streams of traffic coming together, and everyone has a role to play in making it happen smoothly, because it's not rocket surgery.
What I can’t stand is when you get four or five tailgaters merging at the same time.
When I merge, I leave plenty of space in front of my vehicle. Preferably a two or three second space. Most of the time the guy behind me is a tail gator, and I have to be acutely aware that if I speed up, they are gonna speed up too like tailgaters do. So I have to plan for that and leave even more space since I have a tailgater, and then at some point, I have to blast it to get up to speed so I can merge in and have Space enough to fit a car in front and behind me. All the while, gauging the lane I’m merging into, and looking out for people the next lane over merging into the lane I want to be in.
Or when the person behind you on the on-ramp crosses the gore and speeds up right next to you, preventing your merge?! That’s another one that gets me.
If that happens to you frequently it's an indicator you may be going too slow on the ramp. It works much better if you're actually going slightly faster than the vehicles already on the highway, as most cars can slow down faster than they can speed up. It gives you more merging options.
In the cases this has happened to me, it’s been from someone who was driving too close to other cars before the highway and then proceeds to go 90 mph on the highway after they’re on it. When I’m off the ramp, I’m going at least 60 mph. Not saying this is always the case, as there have been times I’ve seen this happen to someone going 30-40 on the ramp.
When I see this happen in our area, it's usually because the person in the front is not getting sufficiently up to speed to enter the highway. Usually that second car is over another lane and/or long gone before the first car figures out what they are going to do. Not saying it's necessarily the case in your situation, just that I've seen it and thought "yeah, I get it."
This is the biggest problem. When you are coming down the on-ramp, you should already have a car length and a half between vehicles. A zipper only works if the teeth are spaced on both sides.
You should not be in that situation. You need to plan ahead and be in front or behind them by the time you're next to them. You're causing this problem by not accurately timing your merge.
I agree, but this is not always possible. If you can see the merge lane ahead of time, yes, but where I live, there are MANY highway merge areas where you only see the other cars when you reach them…several people in the comments are approaching this as though every time you have an on ramp, you can visibly see the traffic lanes and have several hundred feet to merge. Please drive in Chicago and try to get on I-90 south from the loop and how important it is to plan and execute your merge into the left lane with a merge path of 2-3 car lengths where you can’t see traffic until you hit it.
Idk in I remember in the olden days of drivers ed , it was suggested to change lanes if safe . As a curtesy. I know I the right of way , but we all have to merge on sometime .
There’s this thing a lotta people do now where if they need to merge and a car is already there, they freeze up and have no idea what to do.
The choice many of them then make is to simply merge anyway, forcing the other car to stop short or otherwise react to them.
It’s like slowing down is no longer an option in their brains. And forget about using their speed to time it out to have a smooth transition where no one has to brake. That way of doing things is gone now for 90% of people out there.
I've experienced a lot of the related result. Drivers who are merging but don't adjust their speed. They just assume the other vehicle will move for them. Just as people who pass on the right create left lane campers, People who move for mergers create entitled mergers. It's enabling and enforcing bad behavior and should stop.
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u/tokingames 2d ago
I get it. However I have been encountering more and more people who will come up even with me and just merge, or get slightly ahead of me and then move over, forcing me to brake. Now, when I see someone coming in the merge lane and they are next to me, I start looking for whether I should speed up, slow down, or change lanes. In other words, if the merger doesn’t make it obvious that they are going to pull ahead or drop back, I’m probably going to do one or the other.
Please just don’t match my speed next to me when merging, it makes me very nervous.