If I have to put on my brakes while going on the straightaway while

[Tuesday Afternoon]

the person merging gases it, who has actually yielded?

[Tobin S.]

1. Highway on-ramps are a source of major fuckery for truckers

1. People getting on the highway don't know they are supposed to yield to oncoming traffic.

2. People do not merge at the proper speed, usually too slow. Trucks can't help it most of the time because they are already speeding up as fast as they can. But cars should be up to highway speed before they reach the merge point. Don't drive to the merge point at 45 mph and then try to merge with 70 mph traffic.

3. People expect other vehicles to move over for them when they have failed to merge properly. I'll move over every time in that case, but there are times when I simply cannot. Some people are so slow to adjust their speed that they will actually end up driving on the shoulder when I can't get over.

4. People who dart out on the highway and jump across three lanes before they actually reach the merge point and usually from behind slower moving traffic. That's a pretty good way to kill people in short order.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. #1

really pisses me off. :grr: People do not even know the meaning of the word: Yield :wtf:

Where/How did they get their driver's license? :shrug:

[kentauros]

20. In New Zealand, I noticed that they didn't have "Yield" signs.

Instead, it said "Give Way". Maybe people over here would understand that better ;)

The New Zealanders I related that to thought it was quite odd to have a sign that said only "Yield".

[Tuesday Afternoon]

24. on CBS Sunday Morning they did a piece on no signs whatsoever!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4633209n&tag=contentMain

Roads without either traffic lights or signs to guide you? As CBS News' Charlie D'Agata reports, officials in the U.K. are attempting an experiment to increase pedestrian safety.

[kentauros]

26. How does that increase pedestrian saftey again?

Now, in both NZ and Australia, they are getting rid of traffic intersections and replacing them with roundabouts. I have never gotten the hang of roundabouts. Invariably, I end up on the wrong exit.

[Moondog]

3. OK, my pet peeve -

apparently due to budget cuts, etc, drivers education isn't taught in a lot of public school High Schools any more. Apparently it hasn't been in a while. That does not help this highway merging issue at all. It was a mistake to cut it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. it is a shame.

I understand having problems merging...but, to not understand the word Yield just blows my mind.

[jobycom]

5. I'm coming over, one way or the other.

I see constant mistakes on both sides of the merging into traffic issue. The car on the highway is supposed to maintain a steady speed, but invariably they try to adjust to your speed, either to help you out or to cut you off, depending on personality. So when I'm merging, I spot an opening as I get onto the ramp, I accelerate to match the speed for that opening, and some yahoo slows down or speeds up to ruin my plan. Either way, I'm coming over, and if someone has to tap their brakes, that's their problem--they should have driven consistently in the first place. I'm not holding up merging traffic or risking an accident because the person on the highway can't drive.

When I'm on the highway, I do everything I can to not be in the right lane when cars are merging on. If I am in the right lane, it means the highway is too full for normal procedures, so I play it by ear. I drive at whatever speed I am going, leave a gap in front of me for someone to merge over, and don't change speed unless I have no choice. But I wouldn't block someone out to maintain a speed the rest of the highway can't maintain anyway.

It's rarely a problem. I have more of a problem with people who can't maintain a reasonable speed--50 in a 65 is not reasonable, even in the right lane. They should stay on the frontage road if they can't do the speed limit. And don't even get me started on the left lane drivers. They are my greatest source of road rage. I've lost all control before, pulled in front of them, and slammed on my brakes to make them swerve into the right lane. I'm not proud of that, but I've done it. I put 30K to 40K on my car a year. Driving laws are very simple and intuitive, and I have no patience with people who hold up the whole system for whatever selfish, idiotic reasons they have.

Oh yeah, and truckers are working for a living, so I give them a lot more leeway than I do other drivers. That, and I don't want an angry trucker behind my little Dodge Neon or Toyota Prius.

Just my little way of doing things. If I don't die on a highway, I'll be surprised.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. this particular spot to which I am referencing is only one lane...

:hi:

[jobycom]

28. Yeah, then it's clearly the merger's job to adjust.

:hi:

[hedgehog]

6. If I'm following a car onto a ramp and not being closely followed myself,

I'll lay back at the top of the ramp to get lots of space between me and the guy ahead. That way I get to use the entire ramp to get up to merge speed rather than find myself at the end of the ramp doing only 30 because that's all the guy ahead of me was doing.

[hedgehog]

7. No one has described the guy who gets on to the highway

at about 25 or 30 MPH, takes another 5 or 6 miles to get up to speed, then passes all the drivers forced to go around him while he was babying his car's engine.

Folks, that extra power isn't there to allow you to speed; it's there to allow you to get up to speed!

[vadawg]

8. lol i hate those as well, but my biggest is the cheaters, people who are to important to sit in the

traffic, but think they can use the shoulder to advance to the next exit, i can write those tickets all day..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. if there is a wreck who would get the ticket? This is in regards to those places where

the straightaway is only one lane. I do not have the option of moving into the left hand lane.

[vadawg]

10. if there is a yield on the merge then the vehicle merging has to give the right of way to the roadwa

it dosent matter if there are 10 lanes to the left, the merger has the yield sign..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. that is what I thought. --

I think this one thing irks me more than any other. The sign says YIELD!

I still brake to avoid the accident. what choice do I have?

:shrug:

[vadawg]

12. i brake, let them get in front of me then i light them up

and then i get ready for the lamest excuse why they didnt yield to a marked cruiser, and i hear some doozeys..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. I hate to see people get a ticket (!) but honestly in this case, they deserve it.

I would rather see people stop and go at redlights or stop and then turn left on redlights.

YIELD means YIELD.

[vadawg]

14. i tend not to write a lot of tickets, it all depends on the driver

if you bullshit me then im more than likely to write the ticket if you fess up then im more than likely to give you the lecture. Its all about the teaching moment rather than making it a bad day for you..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. yes. These people need to be educated as to what the word YIELD

means...........

cheers to you for a hard and often times thankless job. :yourock:

[tigereye]

27. what if both ramps have yield signs - that's pretty common around here

we have crazy merge points here in Pittsburgh - there are even stop signs!! on a couple of our "parkway ramps" , where you have to come to a dead stop before merging onto 70 mph traffic.

One of em is in the right lane, down a hill, before you have to cross over 1-2 lanes of traffic to move through a tunnel. It's crazy! :crazy:

[rug]

16. Real Americans never yield.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. I am such a bad American

:D

[petronius]

21. I read a quote in a short story years ago, and I've never been

able to find it again, but it stuck with me. To the best of my recollection, it was: "Driving in Dallas is a constant test. If another driver gets in front of you, he clearly has a bigger dick than you. Rather than let that happen, it is better that both of you die."

:rofl:

[rug]

22. I'm tattoing that quote on my penis.

[petronius]

23. In 24-point font, right?

:)

[petronius]

19. When I went to grad school, I had constant arguments with fellow students from other

states (TX in particular), who claimed that the car on the highway was supposed to yield. Here in CA it's supposed to be a mutual working-out, but the general belief is that th merging car should adjust...

[kentauros]

25. Anyone from Texas that told you that, obviously doesn't remember

their driver's training. Doesn't surprise me, though. I remember an incident of being stuck in a long line of people trying to get on a normal speed freeway (as in, there were no slowdowns going on) because the person at the end of the acceleration lane had come to a complete stop!

When we all finally get on the road and get past her, I was not the least bit surprised to see that it was an immigrant driver. I have nothing against immigrants, other than their overly cautious driving "habits". If you either don't have your papers or you are too afraid to drive, don't get on the freeway. However, in Houston, no one has yet taught them that.