New law I missed??? Merging traffic?

[jeffsw6]

Actually, Indiana has split lane speeds. Not actually posted that way, but they require all trucks in the right lane, and limit them to 55 whereas the "other traffic" is also governed to that speed while in the right lane, and 65 is the speed limit for the other lane (or was it 70? Been a while since I was up that way)

I think your information is out of date. Currently in Indiana, Interstate highways are normally 70 MPH but if you are over 26K it is usually 5 MPH less. Of course the limits are lower in cities. The speed limit is the same in all lanes.

We used to have a lot of signs that said trucks could not use the left lane. I guess either those signs are gone or I don't pay enough attention to the signs anymore, but I think the lane restrictions are history except in some areas where extra lanes have been added on a tight budget and not built well enough for trucks.

However, if the "truck speed limit" is slower than everyone else, maybe you won't want to use the left lane anyway.

 

[Reg]

I drive a tractor trailer, but I am sure many of you experience the same problems when towing your tractors from place to place, if you venture out onto the interstate system.
Since I tend to drive with the slower part of the traffic flow, I generally hang out in the right lane of the Interstate while doing my job. I do have a truck capable of left lane speeds, but that takes fuel and my boss appreciates it when I keep my fuel mileage up. Staying in the right lane tends to have it's problems, with people going slower, but that is ok. The other problem I have noticed is merging traffic. Over the years, as a courteous driver, I tend to notice that the better drivers try to move over for merging traffic, partly from courteous and the other because if they don't, they will get slowed down from them, which isn't something we making a living (or paying for the fuel) want. So we move over as cars come up the acceleration ramps. However, if a vehicle is in the left lane next to us, invisible to the merging vehicle, it isn't possible for us to move over. In the last few years I have noticed vehicle (ok, CAR!!) drivers coming up the ramp and NEVER looking until they are at the end of the ramp. If the truck driver hasn't had the courtesy, the room, or just the inclination to move over, the CAR!! has to jam on their brakes and wait for an opening in traffic to go from a dead stop into 70mph traffic. After pulling out in front of somebody else, the next thing they do is chase the truck down, pass them, and wave frantically with one finger, or better yet, pull over in front of them and SLAM on the brakes, causing the trucker to HAVE to slow down for them. (upsetting the load, the driver, and possible killing the CAR driver, reactions)
I have heard that there are laws on the books in some states (rumored to be CT for one, but not wanting to pick on CT) but did somebody pass a law in the states of Fl, GA, Al, Tn that I didn't know about??? I realize that courtesy should have the vehicles on the interstate move over, but what happened to people LOOKING as they started entering the acceleration ramp for a place to merge into, and adjusting their speed to meet that spot in traffic? And are these "non-looker's" the people who recipocate to us truck drivers by refusing to give us a break as we try to merge into traffic? Trust me, it takes a LOT more to get a truck onto an Interstate than a car, especially if the truck is loaded! Moving over to allow a car onto the interstate takes a little more than most people would think, because we have to find an opening large enough to put almost a hundred foot long vehicle in, without making the faster vehicle traveling in that lane mad at the same time. So we have to judge it's speed as well as room to move over, and don't forget the trucks blind spot needs to be checked (ANY OF YOU THAT HAVE BEEN ALMOST RUN OVER BY A TRUCK CHANGING LANES CAN ATTEST TO THAT BLIND SPOT!) So the easiest thing to do for all involved would be the merging driver simply look ahead and increase their speed to merge into traffic, like the laws I learned under dictate.
In case any of you haven't figured it out...Rant off.
David from jax

I think it is partly due to the fact that "Yield" is a FIVE letter word and therefore beyond the comprehension of many "car" drivers (4 letter limit for many/most).
Note: "car" - 3 letters, "automobile" has more letters than "Budweiser" and has been dropped from the lexicon of many/most car drivers.

I don't have a solution, other than to watch the on ramp and try to anticipate who will do what.
There is an incredible variety, all the way from nervous Nellie who is not at all sure of their ability to even get on the interstate at all, to racer dude impatient to pass other vehicles as they are still merging.
I haul horses a lot and basically don't have the option of sudden lane or speed changes.
BTW, driving in the right lane with high beams on ALL THE TIME doesn't work any better than warning flashes.

 

[TO_Bud]

David, I haven't read such an entertaining thread in a long time, I've had a few chuckles reading the various posts and agree with most. Something I haven't seen though is the viewpoint from the "mergers" side of the coin, unless I missed it. Around my neck of the woods (southeast Michigan) a lot of the highways offer a poor design for the merging on ramp. The merge lane is way too short to attain proper speed prior to the merge and your vision is blocked regarding the approaching traffic in the right lane of the freeway as you descend the ramp to merge. In a lot of circumstances you have less than a second to make a decision about accelerating or slowing to safely merge into the traffic flow. If you are diligent about attaining freeway speed coming down the ramp your "proper speed" sometimes become the detriment if you have to now slow down (or in fact stop) because of traffic conditions. Stopping on the ramp is a very poor choice in my opinion because of the guy behind you on the ramp is not expecting it and is himself looking in his mirrors at the freeway traffic. So to avoid a major asspack accident most people try to fit into the flow, sometimes incorrectly. My point here is there are a lot of variables affecting the merge process (mostly personalities of drivers), some are too aggressive and many are way to meek (or simply in never, never land). The best option, as angry as it makes me sometimes, is to give up my "right of way" when I'm on the freeway and let the person merge. I try to give the truckers a break as well when I'm in the left lane and I see them in the right lane with a car trying to enter the from the merge lane. I'll slow down enough to give them room to move left as long as traffic behind me will allow it. It doesn't take long for traffic to settle down enough for the trucker to move back right and we are all on our way.

 

[sandman2234]

David, I haven't read such an entertaining thread in a long time, I've had a few chuckles reading the various posts and agree with most. Something I haven't seen though is the viewpoint from the "mergers" side of the coin, unless I missed it. Around my neck of the woods (southeast Michigan) a lot of the highways offer a poor design for the merging on ramp. The merge lane is way too short to attain proper speed prior to the merge and your vision is blocked regarding the approaching traffic in the right lane of the freeway as you descend the ramp to merge. In a lot of circumstances you have less than a second to make a decision about accelerating or slowing to safely merge into the traffic flow. If you are diligent about attaining freeway speed coming down the ramp your "proper speed" sometimes become the detriment if you have to now slow down (or in fact stop) because of traffic conditions. Stopping on the ramp is a very poor choice in my opinion because of the guy behind you on the ramp is not expecting it and is himself looking in his mirrors at the freeway traffic. So to avoid a major asspack accident most people try to fit into the flow, sometimes incorrectly. My point here is there are a lot of variables affecting the merge process (mostly personalities of drivers), some are too aggressive and many are way to meek (or simply in never, never land). The best option, as angry as it makes me sometimes, is to give up my "right of way" when I'm on the freeway and let the person merge. I try to give the truckers a break as well when I'm in the left lane and I see them in the right lane with a car trying to enter the from the merge lane. I'll slow down enough to give them room to move left as long as traffic behind me will allow it. It doesn't take long for traffic to settle down enough for the trucker to move back right and we are all on our way.

It has been interesting, no doubt. I got a smile when I noticed your location, because I delivered in Fargo once upon a time, and went to St.Clair to pick up my next load. Ran into a little bit of traffic on the way, caused by construction narrowing down to one lane. I got in the left lane and watched people race by me up to the front of the line and jap their way in, causing the wait for the people who got in line that much longer. By the time I got up there, I had let several people in, but they were the "using blinkers, nobody is letting them in types". As I neared the head of the line, at the merge point, a little p/u decide that he was going to jap me. I didn't like his let me in attitude, and just stayed on the car in front of me rear bumper. This guy was bound and determined to push me into the wall as we neared the narrowing row of cones on his side. I got stubborn and glued my bumper to the one ahead and he finally backed off and got behind me. He got off at the next exit, never getting a chance to get in front of me. When I backed into the dock at St.Clair, I walked around the truck and noticed that all of my chrome lug nut covers were chewed up and the wheel studs had fresh paint on them. Guess I got a little closer to him than I realized. I called the police immediately to protect myself, but never heard another word about it. It was an almost new truck if I remembered it correctly.
There were a couple of pro merge lane law changes people who posted. I got onto one kind of harshly, but he took it in stride. (One of the reasons I like this board, basically good people)
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

I think your information is out of date. Currently in Indiana, Interstate highways are normally 70 MPH but if you are over 26K it is usually 5 MPH less. Of course the limits are lower in cities. The speed limit is the same in all lanes.

We used to have a lot of signs that said trucks could not use the left lane. I guess either those signs are gone or I don't pay enough attention to the signs anymore, but I think the lane restrictions are history except in some areas where extra lanes have been added on a tight budget and not built well enough for trucks.

However, if the "truck speed limit" is slower than everyone else, maybe you won't want to use the left lane anyway.

Whaattt??? My information out of date??? That is hard to believe. Heck, I try not to leave the state of Florida anymore, as I seem to be able to max out my hours of service right here. Guess I need to get out more....lol.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

I thought about this post a couple days ago while waiting on a State Trooper to arrive at the scene of a minor fender bender. I was in the second lane from the right, and the VERY LONG lane to the right of me was ending in 5:00 traffic. With no blinker and no warning, a Santa Fe moved directly into the lane I was occupying. I realized it was coming, but a move slightly to the left and onto the brakes did not give sufficient room for the vehicle. My right front and her left rear quarter panels were scratched to slightly dinged. I pulled over on the shoulder behind her, got out, and before I opened my mouth, she asked "why did you run into me, I was merging!". She was on the phone for several minutes, and when I asked if she called the police, she said no. So I called them. Her boyfriend showed up, (who told me that I would be getting a ticket when the Trooper arrived), along with a Road Ranger who placed cones out and then told us that we could do a driver exchange of information rather than waiting on the Trooper. I declined in front of everyone, but quietly told him of her telling me I was at fault. Two and a half hours later, a Trooper arrived, listened to her, after telling her boyfriend to step to the side listened to me, and then wrote her a ticket. (Which she is disputing). I realized later that I was in her blind spot, just outside of the mirror if she looked at it, but that extended cab long bed truck should have been seen with a glance out the left window. Bottom line is, with me at 10 mph in traffic, I really didn't have anywhere to go, although I tried to move over and also laid down on my horn.
Her insurance company, according to mine has accepted 100 per cent of the liability, but I think I will wait on the results of the court when I am required to go to court over her ticket.
Gotta love people who don't know how to merge.
David from jax

 

[JPRambo]

It seems more and more that the merging driver expects you to get out of their way. Even if there is no where to go.

 

[cqaigy2]

I don't mind adjusting my speed a little to let the merging go smoother. As far as a blind spot goes, someone needs to identify it on the vehicle and learn how to adjust for it. Maybe leaning forward or backward a bit so that the mirror covers those "blind" spots.

 

[Jstpssng]

I don't mind adjusting my speed a little to let the merging go smoother. As far as a blind spot goes, someone needs to identify it on the vehicle and learn how to adjust for it. Maybe leaning forward or backward a bit so that the mirror covers those "blind" spots.

I don't mind that either... if the driver doesn't take his sweet time getting up to speed once he's in the lane.

 

[sandman2234]

We were in 4 lanes of very slow traffic, and the right lane next to me had been marked as ending for quite some time, and still had several hundred yards left to go before it actually ended. People usually run up that lane all the way to the end, which is what surprised me when she started moving over when she did.
David from jax