Thread: Does anybody know (or care) about how to merge on a freeway

There are two rules for merging and it all depends on the lane markings. Around here the lanes merging onto the freeway come to an end.
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/Sa...ocketGuide.pdf

Nail it on th ramp and slide in between the cars, it's simple. The most frightening thing that ever happened to me in a wheeled vehicle and I have been upside down and over and off the road more times that I want to remember, was when I had to familiarise all our depot drivers on a new truck. We have a ramp in Wollongong down which every coal truck enters the F6 and they all accelerate to at least 100 to blend with the traffic. I was in the left hand seat and one of our "professional drivers" got to the bottom of the ramp and stopped!!! I nearly went beserk as I could imagine a B double coming down the ramp at over 100 KPH and me getting compo for the rest of my life. I cut short the drive and went back to the depot and refused to get back in the truck with him at any cost.

A bit different but that reminds me of the merging drivers who keep on braking when you've gave them a space to merge into. They either can't judge distance or they need about 50m of left lane to merge into. They come down the ramp at about 80, I can't get over to the left, so I'm forced to brake to let them out, and I give them a good size space to merge into. But they get all scared and just keep braking and slowing while on the merging ramp, and I have to do the same in order to maintain the merging space for them. AND THEY STILL DON'T LOOK OVER THEIR SHOULDER to get a REAL view of the available space, damn they love that wing mirror. Sometimes I just have to floor it and zoom past them because they are showing no sign of getting the confidence to merge. I think that one has to be the cause of the worst profanities from my gob, and the highest rise in blood pressure LOL.

Those drivers should be made to pay for some merging lessons, and prove that they have learned how to merge but more importantly prove they have gained the confidence to do so.

Slightly off topic but a hobby horse of mine is that all drivers should be compelled to do a defensive driving course either just before or just after getting their licence.
Our current system teaches them how to get a licence but not necessarily how to drive.
I sent all my 3 children (now in their 40s) off on a three day defensive driving course shortly after getting their licences and they all admitted it was a great learning experience and in fact saved my son on one occasion.

Originally Posted by Chesand

Slightly off topic but a hobby horse of mine is that all drivers should be compelled to do a defensive driving course either just before or just after getting their licence.
Our current system teaches them how to get a licence but not necessarily how to drive.
I sent all my 3 children (now in their 40s) off on a three day defensive driving course shortly after getting their licences and they all admitted it was a great learning experience and in fact saved my son on one occasion.

Chesand,

I think you've nailed it on the head there. Also I think many have the attitude that whatever they learn in order to get their license is just a necessary evil, and once they've passed their test they make up their own rules that suit them better. Then the blind follow the blind and it gets worse. I mean how can so many be doing the same wrong thing when the Victorian Road Rules book teaches the opposite. An arrogant, don't care attitude has to play a large part.

Originally Posted by artme

** Never, never, ever ever Move to the right hand lane next to you if it is vacant.

Unless you wish to travel well under the speed limit then move to the far right lane and camp there

Sigh, everyone thinks they drive better than everyone else. I bet that everyone who has contributed to this thread cannot envisage that they may have bad habits that others find annoying. In other words we are all perfect drivers? i don't think so. I have been a professional driver for most of my driving life and have seen first hand what happens on the road. In my earlier days I had a two month learn how to drive course from the army, taught advanced driving skills and smashed quite a few cars, both on the road and on the track and in the forests on rallies. I am still not a good driver, I tend to want to be at the front all the time and I get really P'd off if some nerd sits in the outside lane. I also have a car that is fairly quick and will use that power to my advantage which is not always the right thing to do. Others see this as an issue but I don't.

As for teaching skills beyond the requirements for getting a license, forget it. There are several issues, learned skills fade after a very short time unless practised, do you mind if I come out of a corner sideways while I practise or spin a car to stop it? all legitimate skills for the road. The biggest problem is that the average punter does not want to know. If I were to put some contributors here through a skills course and your license depended on it I bet you would not pass and I might not either though I had all these skills when I was younger and a lot more I might add but they fade over time, reality is a cruel thing.

Chris I never said I was a perfect driver, like you I know my limits and my bad habits. I tend to speed and can be impatient. Just because I am complaing about others doent mean I am perfect just means something has annoyed me and I am getting it off my chest.

I was just complaining of others bad habits, that I think are extreemly dangerous, for example stopping in the middle of the road in 80/100 KPH zones, were all other traffic is accelerating to this speed, for no logical reason, oh and I made a joke about the right lane campers that everyone seems to compain about.

My personal opinion is we should all be retested every time we renew our licence.

IMHO one of the biggest factors contributing to the overall poor driver skill set on our roads is that parents (or other non-professional driving instructors, eg family, friends etc.) can teach new drivers how to drive a car. Stick an L plate on the family car and away you go. You are free to pass on your bad driving habits to the next generation.

In most of Europe this is not on. You learn how to drive from a professional driving instructor in a dual control car and it takes a fair bit of time and a fair bit of money before you actually obtain a licence to drive a lethal object on your own.

You only have to drive in most of Europe to see how that improves the skill set of the average driver over there.

I agree that a defensive driving course is a very good thing to do and perhaps should be compulsory before obtaining a licence to drive a car.

Another one of my pet subjects is drivers towing caravans etc. You can go out and buy yourself a 3 ton caravan, hook it behind your car and inflict mayhem on our roads with impunity. No lessons needed, no exam to pass, just go for it! You don't even have to learn about towing weight limits etc in a theoretical exam.

And all the road safety ads hammer on about is speed and alcohol.

Originally Posted by Gra

My personal opinion is we should all be retested every time we renew our licence.

Amen to that

Boy, how many of us would fail?

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Sigh, everyone thinks they drive better than everyone else. I bet that everyone who has contributed to this thread cannot envisage that they may have bad habits that others find annoying. In other words we are all perfect drivers? i don't think so. I have been a professional driver for most of my driving life and have seen first hand what happens on the road. In my earlier days I had a two month learn how to drive course from the army, taught advanced driving skills and smashed quite a few cars, both on the road and on the track and in the forests on rallies. I am still not a good driver, I tend to want to be at the front all the time and I get really P'd off if some nerd sits in the outside lane. I also have a car that is fairly quick and will use that power to my advantage which is not always the right thing to do. Others see this as an issue but I don't.

As for teaching skills beyond the requirements for getting a license, forget it. There are several issues, learned skills fade after a very short time unless practised, do you mind if I come out of a corner sideways while I practise or spin a car to stop it? all legitimate skills for the road. The biggest problem is that the average punter does not want to know. If I were to put some contributors here through a skills course and your license depended on it I bet you would not pass and I might not either though I had all these skills when I was younger and a lot more I might add but they fade over time, reality is a cruel thing.

And your point being, regarding this thread ....................... ?????

Sounds like you are just saying don't whinge, but I don't hear anybody claiming to be the perfect driver. Well I'll tell you something there's a lot to complain about on the roads here. Downright dangerous aggressiveness, driving up your backside, erratic hurried lane changing to get one or two car spaces ahead, idiots in the fast lane going exactly at the same speed as the vehicle at the left and blocking the freeway, pratts shooting a cats whisker in front of you as they squeeze the last dregs out of the merging lane. The list goes on and it's all very common day in day out stuff. A lot of this is not "bad habits", it's arrogance, aggressiveness, complete stupidity, casting aside what they were taught because it doesn't suit them, etc. Australia is supposed to be a developed country yet the roads don't make it seem that way, far from it. As was said before a trip to certain European countries may open some eyes. An attitude of don't whinge just keeps things the way they are. I'll be teaching my kids about all the bad things I see so they don't contribute to them and help improve things for everybody. The more voices are raised about something the more the awareness about that problem grows. Even the powers that be clearly don't care about the low standards of driving, only squeezing more revenue out of drivers. I look at it as a form of legal corruptness, disguised & justified by their advertising campains of safety and speeding accidents.

I sometimes think we have too much of an attitude of don't be a whinger but saying nothing causes nothing, no change. Whingers also puts pressure on themselves to be better because they'll feel like idiots if they do the thing they complained about.

If I have a bad habit, I'd be happy for someone to point it out so I can improve myself. The difference with a lot of drivers is that they don't give a toss, I know this from face to face talks about the driving here.

Originally Posted by beefy

a trip to certain European countries may open some eyes.

Like Rome or Paris, startling evidence that good driving does not start in all of Europe. In Freeway conditions most of Europe leads for good driving but only because they have 50 years lead, we didn't see freeways until the 1970's and a lot of people did not drive on them until the 80's. I anticipated that my post would lead to strong rebuttal from some, in fact I would have bet a year's wages on it. Why don't people merge properly, some are s**T scared of driving on freeways, none have been trained to do it properly and a smaller proportion should not be driving. As to Fred's point for teaching, we all have at one stage or another taught people to drive, did anyone admit that they may not be qualified to do that? we do not have a credential but we in general are all prepared to do it. I have seen this debate in many other places and to a man no one points the finger at themselves before criticising others. To prove how good we all are, we are conceited enough to teach someone to drive exactly the same way we do and not by best practise. It is reality and human nature to do so. I know it is a touchy subject, ask yourself why.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Like Rome or Paris, startling evidence that good driving does not start in all of Europe. In Freeway conditions most of Europe leads for good driving but only because they have 50 years lead, we didn't see freeways until the 1970's and a lot of people did not drive on them until the 80's. I anticipated that my post would lead to strong rebuttal from some, in fact I would have bet a year's wages on it. Why don't people merge properly, some are s**T scared of driving on freeways, none have been trained to do it properly and a smaller proportion should not be driving. As to Fred's point for teaching, we all have at one stage or another taught people to drive, did anyone admit that they may not be qualified to do that? we do not have a credential but we in general are all prepared to do it. I have seen this debate in many other places and to a man no one points the finger at themselves before criticising others. To prove how good we all are, we are conceited enough to teach someone to drive exactly the same way we do and not by best practise. It is reality and human nature to do so. I know it is a touchy subject, ask yourself why.

My parents did some inital teaching, but I then got an instructor, the same with my sisters. This wasnt uncommon in my circles.

And that scenario is not uncommon. It then leaves the professional to unlearn all the bad habits/skills that have been taught by the parent. I am with Fred, no uncredentialled driver should be allowed to teach a student initially. What I would like to see is that the student is taught as needed for an initial period then the parent take over to obtain the necessary huge number of hours needed these days. god help those who had twins or triplets as the financial and time impost must be huge. before the parent can supervise they too must have done some hours with the same instructor. It would lead to an overall lift in driving standards for the parents.