Now, the drooling IDIOTS who don't know what a leading left is and sit there for three light cycles not turning left deserve to burn alive in their cars. That's a story for another day though.
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Proper way to merge.
- Thread starter Captain Chaos
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I've been accused of being an aggressive driver by the more "cautious" drivers among us. However, what I am is an assertive driver. I don't tailgate. I stay in the merging lane as long as possible and "zipper" in. I change lanes to pass five or six slower cars, but always use my turn signals. I don't use the passing lane, except to pass. I flash my brights at passing lane nanny's to let me by. If they don't, I eventually get by them via the rightmost lanes, again, always using my turn signal when changing lanes. And on the 80 miles of two lane traffic I drive on every work day, I pass an average of 6-10 cars. I always do it in a passing zone and always use my turn signals.
I even found out that it is legal to pass a school bus with the orange flashing lights on, but I only do it if there are no kids waiting at the left hand side of the street.
Assertive, not aggressive. But everything is relative. To the less skilled drivers I appear aggressive. Most of them don't really know the traffic laws and think their own sensibilities, such that they are, are the law.
I've probably turned left from behind those guys several dozen times in my life.
People really have no idea how stupid and controlling they look when straddling the line in this kind of traffic. They are the most fun to pass. But it's important to wave and smile when you do.
On an assignment in Minniapolis, my salesman did most of the driving. It was like being in a car with a little old lady peering through her steering wheel. The part that was most annoying is that he did NO thinking ahead. He would react to things I saw coming many hundreds of feet back as if they were sudden events. Drove me nuts.
So I worked it where I'd drive one day. We got there in literally half the time and, I believe, safer, but his comment to me when we got there was priceless: You'd make a great NYC cab driver."
When I was learning to drive, after a few months when I got comfortable, my dad had me drive into Manhattan and just drive around. It was terrifying. Taught me a lot about taking initiative and driving without fear. Fear causes a lot of accidents.
This is why some of us get to appointments in fifteen minutes and those that are not good or attentive drivers take a half hour. In my case, it's also FAR less stressful to be moving at a reasonable clip than stuck in lines. I drive 80 miles to work and it takes 75 to 80 minutes and I arrive refreshed. When I lived in Seattle I lived 8 miles from work and it took 30 minutes and by the time I got to work I was ready to kill somebody, ANYBODY. And it's much longer now.
Waiting in endless lines, especially when you don't have to, can be very stressful. If you like waiting, go for it. It is not the morally superior route, though. It is also not considered the safest or most efficient. The zipper DOES keep traffic moving, but those who merge in early may not benefit.
HAHAHA! That reminds me of taking my nephew bike riding from Bellevue to downtown Seattle. He was an avid mountain biker. We rode all around downtown, Capital hill, Queen Anne hill and the U-District.
When we were stopped at a light getting ready to turn on to Dearborne and head back across the lake from town, he looked at me and said, "Man, when we got into this traffic I said, 'boy, this sucks!' But after being in it, it is a serious rush and a real blast!"
Knowledge and experience is power. It also allows you to appreciate rather than fear a thing.
The distinction between "assertive" and "aggressive" is an important one. "Assertive" means taking what is rightfully yours; "aggressive" means taking what isn't.
I think regional variation in driving is largely about differences in average "assertiveness." There seem to be plenty of "aggressive" drivers everywhere.
One thing's for sure, it looks like he can see right through you and "clearly see the situation". I have to confess that his use of the word "Adorable". I was thinking the passive-aggressiveness was annoying. I like "adorable" better.
I read about that a while back as well. We may have read the same article. The interesting thing is that ONLY self driven cars would be allowed on such roads. Human driven cars could not work, for obvious reasons. On that note, one of the things I've had to come to grips with after driving 46 years is that it's ok that not everyone is a highly skilled driver.
When I see these "fraidy cat" and "dangerously cautious" drivers I have to remember that it doesn't take much to get a license and it is not their fault. I just need to watch out for them: e.g. be prepared for the guy in front of me to stop at the end of a freeway offramp because he's scared of thinks he needs to merge in at the very end of the gore strip. He/she can't help it. It is the state that allowed them on public roads. There is a reason EVERY SINGLE BLOODY CORNER OF THEIR CAR HAS BEEN DAMAGED IN A FENDER BENDER.
That being said, I think one thing that would make roads considerably safer it to make the qualification for a drivers license slightly higher than the ability to FOG A MIRROR.
Yep. But you nailed it in the first two sentences. Some think it is "aggressive" to pass on a two lane road, even in a passing zone. Or pass a school bus, EVER. I actually had a guy in a pickup who was the first car behind a school bus we were all following actually pull out in front of me when I tried to pass. I thought he was trying to pass and just didn't see me. Nope. He pulled back in. The second time he did it, I passed him as he was pulling back in (he thought I was giving up again. I wasn't.)
As an assertive driver, I really don't care what others do, but I'm flabbergasted by the self righteous attitude of the "safety nanny's" out there that are making roads LESS safe and often based on their own internal "rules of the road" that run counter to the actual traffic laws. Is this a bad time to bring up those that camp out in the passing lane at exactly the posted speed limit?
Priceless! I also learned the benefits of riding a bike (both motorized and human driven) in that traffic hell hole.
Funny thing about one weakness of Washington state drivers (doesn't seem to be as much of a problem in other states) that can be summed up in a brief story: I was driving to Seattle aftger wedding in Billings, Montana on I-90. We were hundreds of miles from Washington state.
Most of us were doing about 90, but occasionally we'd come upon a car that was slower and they almost always pulled into the right lane. Six didin't, and we all passed them on the right. Of those six, four had Washington plates.
Nails it! Well done.
I will add one thing. Keeping strategic caps in front of me and watching my rear view mirror has prevented at least two rear enders.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
Absolutely. Being overcautious and reacting instead of planning is a disaster. People who slow down to change lanes are a crash looking for a place to happen. Needing an engraved invitation to move into traffic is also a crash looking for a place to happen. It's called the acceleration lane for a reason. Yield doesn't mean stop and sit there until there's a quarter mile hole in traffic. It means zipper in.
Today's commute was pretty easy. Beats me why I'm feeling cranky about traffic.
Yup. On a similar note, I learned how to drive in snow and, more importantly, the physics of what a car wants to do in snow, by driving around and spinning donuts in snow in an empty parking lot in my 1963 rambler classic in 1970. In all seriousness, I apply much of what I learned then to this day, refined, of course.
We learn through experience. Better to get it in an empty parking lot than a crowded road.
I consider myself a chill driver. Don't drive aggressively but not fearfully either. Not knocking Gorn we just have a different approach. If I lived in New York I might drive the same way as him.
I do my best to zipper merge and try not to worry too much about what other people do as long as it doesn't endanger me. I say try because I don't always succeed at that.
I used to have to deal with "last minute Johnny's" merging on to the freeway on ramp at an old job. It wasn't a 30 minute wait, more like five minutes. One lane that only went into the freeway on ramp. If I left any space at all in front of me the last minute guys would merge in right before getting on the freeway. I was cool with one or two but when it starting getting to 4 and more I got annoyed. That is when I tightened things up so no one else could merge at the last minute.
Yup people playing games on the road look ridiculous and childish. Not only the person trying to block the merge but also the person trying to force the merge. The guys I left blocking a lane of traffic because I decided not to back off the car in front of me to let them merge at the last minute looked really stupid too. I'm guessing they turned their radios up so they couldn't hear all the horns shouting their displeasure.
I use my horn to avoid accidents I usually don't use my horn to voice my displeasure with other drivers. Sometimes you can tell how upset someone is by the length of their honk.
I have been known to return a honk and shout out my window "Hey, I have a horn too."
I do my best to zipper merge and try not to worry too much about what other people do as long as it doesn't endanger me. I say try because I don't always succeed at that.
I used to have to deal with "last minute Johnny's" merging on to the freeway on ramp at an old job. It wasn't a 30 minute wait, more like five minutes. One lane that only went into the freeway on ramp. If I left any space at all in front of me the last minute guys would merge in right before getting on the freeway. I was cool with one or two but when it starting getting to 4 and more I got annoyed. That is when I tightened things up so no one else could merge at the last minute.
Yup people playing games on the road look ridiculous and childish. Not only the person trying to block the merge but also the person trying to force the merge. The guys I left blocking a lane of traffic because I decided not to back off the car in front of me to let them merge at the last minute looked really stupid too. I'm guessing they turned their radios up so they couldn't hear all the horns shouting their displeasure.
I use my horn to avoid accidents I usually don't use my horn to voice my displeasure with other drivers. Sometimes you can tell how upset someone is by the length of their honk.
I have been known to return a honk and shout out my window "Hey, I have a horn too."
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I had a motorcycle that had little round intake nozzles on the front. I used to have daydreams about putting rocket launchers in those nozzles. The rockets would disintegrate people who did dumb things in front of me, like blocking the left lane, or worse yet, coming up to a slower car and then shadowing that car and creating a solid blockage that creates an irritated backup for some distance behind the blockage. ZAAAAP! Problem solved! It was a wonderful fantasy. Alas, it was only a fantasy.
I used to hit two or three birds a day on the way to work. I found out that if I use my horn I can reduce it to zero or one. The ONLY adult use of a horn is BEFORE an event, not after. I confess that when I get honked at after the event I make a point to smile and wave.
HAHAHAHA!
My fantasy when I lived in Seattle: Full sized hummer with lots of state patrol style bumper guards. I hit the passing lane on I-5 in light traffic (for Seattle). When I come up on a passing lane nanny, I flash my brights quickly. They do nothing. I do it a second time. They still do nothing. I ram them off the road into the guard rail to the left and I'm on to the next one.
Just a fantasy. I'd never really do that. I know people have lives and, really, I blame the state for giving these people drivers licenses. Truth be told, if we had the technology to enforce it, I think it would be really good to have a two tiered licensing system. You would need a "special" license to drive on any limited access highway. And the driving test would be brutal.