Do you merge sooner, or later?

[newbury]

I asked her why her dad had sold her car and she said that she was late getting home and was going to miss her curfew and her dad clocked her at 102. He was a Nebraska Highway Patrol.

That brings up one of my wife's favorite driving stories.
Seems that in high school (circa 1965) she lived in Fulton, Ms. and the parties were usually in Tupelo, Ms, about 20 miles away. Connected by one prime rural road. Her father, a Doctor, had a strict curfew. So one night after a ball game she was late getting home and drove a "wee fast". The local constabulary knew the car and her father and her well. So when they clocked the car going like a bat out of Hades across the river bottoms they just let her continue on without stopping her. But they did call her father.
The reports were that the muffler was red when she got home. Her father put the car up on cement blocks for about a month.

Now back to merge -
If I'm driving a larger vehicle, like my dually, or dually plus towing a trailer I get over as soon as I can. With the Ford Escape I'll usually continue to about the merge point and try to slip in. I try to let semi's in in front of me which tends to get people honking at me

 

[dodge man]

I wait until the last possible second, I’ve learned that orange barrel paint buffs right off. I actually merge early and just watch the idiots try to get a couple of cars ahead.

 

[ruffdog]

I would merge left as soon as I knew I had to and could do it safely and with plenty of room. Then, I would leave plenty of space in front of me and not worry about people "cutting in". It's not like a couple more cars in front is going to cause the end of the world.

If some LEO wants to make a big deal out of that, go for it.

As I've gotten older, I realize that the goal in driving is to get there safely with as few conflicts as necessary. It's just pointless to try to "teach other drivers a lesson" by not letting them in when merging, tailgating, honking, gesturing, yelling or whatever.

It's not worth the fight.

^^^Exactly how I look at it too. I just want to get to where I'm going.....safely....for everyone. Less drama is the best goal.

 

[Fixastuff]

When going from 2 lanes to one at capacity the obvious solution is to double the speed not to lower the speed.

One day with all auto driving cars this will be the norm. Cruising at 70mph, construction ahead so let’s merge at 140. An easy time saver with O downside

 

[TractorTYMe]

Mergine lane is a big failure in 'Murica, people zip immediately to the left while they are still slow. Then they get mad when I come up from behind and accelerate up to speed limit and then merge in front of them. I think most drivers has this "I wanna be 1st in line" syndrome?

 

[ericm979]

Yea a lot of people trundle down the on ramp and only consider speeding up when they're actually on the highway/freeway. In Pittsburgh PA they stop at the end of the on ramp to wait for a break in traffic!

When there's a 2>1 merge I try to do what other people are doing. If everyone is merging in early I'll do that, just so I'm not that guy that people are cursing for cutting the line. If people are going to the end and zipper merging I'll do that. I see both done in California. I think zipper merging is better but the other is fine too.

 

[dstig1]

If people merged into the thru lane when they saw the first merge single lane ahead sign then slowed down to 55 (its the law here) then everybody could go thru the construction zone at 55.

Unfortunately that only works when traffic volume is low enough that one lane is sufficient to carry the volume - and it works great in those situations. If both lanes are full at rush hour, it is going to stop no matter when or how you merge as there are just too many cars for the available space. In that case, use both lanes up to the end and you will at least pack more cars into that distance. There is no magic bullet...

 

[Oaktree]

And is against the law in several states. And some states like IL does make an attempt to enforce the law.

I wish more states did this. Practice seems quite rampant in Virginia, at least every time I've been thru there.

 

[MossRoad]

If people merged into the thru lane when they saw the first merge single lane ahead sign then slowed down to 55 (it's the law here) then everybody could go thru the construction zone at 55. There would be no waiting to merge at the last minute, no cutting in line, less stress and less horn honking and road rage. The first merge sign is usually 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the single lane which would allow easy lane change and reduce the bottleneck but too many won't do that because they are in a hurry and would rather pass the smart ones who merged and are doing 55 already.

Unfortunately, an unbeknownst to many, that's just not the way it works.

It's impossible for everyone to go the same speed. And if the first car is going 55, everyone behind that car will be doing less. The more cars, the slower the ones at the back. Then all of a sudden you get surging traffic. fast slow fast slow....

Studies have been done on it. I'm sure most have seen it. You're driving along and traffic comes to a near stop. Then it picks up again. Then stops again. Several times. Then takes off like normal again and you look around and there's nothing that would have caused a traffic jam. No wreck. No lane restrictions. No merging traffic. What just happened?

This explains it pretty well.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a timelapse of phantom traffic jam.