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

Followed one the other night... was overtaken by 'em (we were doing 110kmh) along the side road before they cut in front of us and slowed to 90... then braked all the way down the on-ramp until they sat at 60 in the centre lane of the freeway!!

I've no idea how long they sat at 60, as we'd had enough and got as far away as we could from 'em asap.

There is a lot of arrogence on the roads, about a year ago I took a 8m 3.5T boat up to Yeppoon and back and when traveling back across a mountain range I was nearly wiped out twice by wittless and inconsiderate truck drivers. Yes I know that when in an overtaking lane going up a hill the drivers going up the fast lane have the right of way, however when you go into the left lane to let faster vehicles overtake you eventually run out of road and you have to merge back into the single lane crossing the broken line. What happenned to me was when I was approaching the end of the left lane I indicated that I was merging back in and twice some semi driver insisted on accellerating past me even though I had no where to go except straight into them or the side of the hill and then bounce off into them as well, which would result in us both being wiped out and probably killed. I hit the brakes and fortunately just made it before running out of road and swerved back with a few feet to spare behind the semi-trailer.

These drivers would know and see I had no more room and still insisted on not letting me in and being ahead of me was much more important even though there was a 95% chance of a major accident. So If I do it again I will not be moving over to let the slightly faster vehicles go past as I won't take the chance that I will be let back in, incidently I was doing about 90-95Km/hour up the hill. Yes it is not right but was other choice is there? I will probably get horn blasted but better that than being killed. Oddly though during the day it wasn't a problem but at sunset the truckies seem to change behavior and become suicidal.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Originally Posted by Ed..

There is a lot of arrogence on the roads, about a year ago I took a 8m 3.5T boat up to Yeppoon and back and when traveling back across a mountain range I was nearly wiped out twice by wittless and inconsiderate truck drivers. Yes I know that when in an overtaking lane going up a hill the drivers going up the fast lane have the right of way, however when you go into the left lane to let faster vehicles overtake you eventually run out of road and you have to merge back into the single lane crossing the broken line.

Yep, and when the lane ends you give way. So where is that arrogant on behalf of the road users who have right of way?

Originally Posted by Ed..

What happenned to me was when I was approaching the end of the left lane I indicated that I was merging back in and twice some semi driver insisted on accellerating past me even though I had no where to go except straight into them or the side of the hill and then bounce off into them as well, which would result in us both being wiped out and probably killed. I hit the brakes and fortunately just made it before running out of road and swerved back with a few feet to spare behind the semi-trailer.

Ed, get off and stay off the roads if that is your attitude to driving before YOU do kill someone. They had right of way p you didnt. You should have let them past ands merged in behind them. You even admitted in your last pos tthat they did have right of way. Trying to force in over someone who has right of way is inviting an accident.

Originally Posted by Ed..

These drivers would know and see I had no more room and still insisted on not letting me in and being ahead of me was much more important even though there was a 95% chance of a major accident. So If I do it again I will not be moving over to let the slightly faster vehicles go past as I won't take the chance that I will be let back in, incidently I was doing about 90-95Km/hour up the hill. Yes it is not right but was other choice is there? I will probably get horn blasted but better that than being killed. Oddly though during the day it wasn't a problem but at sunset the truckies seem to change behavior and become suicidal.

Sorry, Ed but you are the problem.

Cheers

Doug

Really, I am the problem? at what point of the left hand lane would you, if you were in my situation, would you attempt to go back into the fast lane, just as the overtaking lane starts, half way up the hill or when you are nearing the end when you see the sign to merge right. If you have traffic behind you and start indicating that you are merging and then see the semi still accelerating just behind you on your right which doesn't let you in then you would have to slow right down or stop, causing a backlog of vehicles behind you to do the same. Slowing down or stopping with a 3.5t load behind you going up a hill would take a fairly long time to build up speed which would cause a massive build up as all the either vehicle would also have to build up speed.

If you were the driver of that semi, common sense and courtesy should prevail that if the vehicle just in front of you and on your left is running out of room and indicating that it needs to merge into the remaining lane and an accident will happen if you don't let it in, then you're the one who shouldn't be driving. As a driver you should take all steps to avoid making an accident whether you have the right of way or not. I stayed in the overtaking lane as long as possible to let as many vehicles go past as possible before the lane runs out but at some point you do have to merge back in and indicating that I am going to go back should indicate to the other drivers behind me to slow down a bit and let me in and not continue trying to over take when a dangerous situation is developing, pretty much common sense!

Or are you suggesting that I suddenly stop at the top of the overtaking lane and wait till no one else is in the right hand lane before moving from a standing start. From what you have written this sounds like you could be one of those drivers that I am referring to and this is what you normally do. Just cause the driver has a 40 ton rig and is much bigger than my setup doesn't give them the right to do what they like (nor any sized vehicle for that matter), as a driver you have a responsibility to prevent potential accidents, whether you have right of way or not! At the end of the day most of us just want to get home in one piece.

You stated that I should have slowed down and let the semi pass then merged behind them, how would I even be able to see what was behind a 40ft rig on my right side just behind me, for all I knew there could have been another 2 or 3 semis behind him and then where would that place me? travelling forward, vehicles behind me, semi on my right and a hill on the left and no where to go. All this because the semi driver didn't have the brains or cared and wanted to get in front of me at all costs? If I had bounced off the hill and into him we would have both been killed, my rig under his wheels and him at the bottom of a very steep hill on the right hand side with his rig on top of him.

There are rules of the road but they don't always work 100% in practice, as in the original post, merging on to a highway is fine in medium traffic, you speed up going down the ramp and zipper in with the main traffic, doesn't always work however when the highways is chockers and you are on the ramp speeding up to merge, with vehicles behind you doing the same thing and you get towards the end and no vehicle on the highway lets you in, the only thing you can do is hit the brakes otherwise you will have an accident. Not all ramps give you a clear view of the traffic until almost at the point of no return. So common sense should prevail, the drivers on the highway should be aware of the conditions and adjust their speed either faster or slower to allow the vehicles to merge in safely or move over a lane to make more room if possible, unfortunately they don't always do that, the vehicles behind at the back of the highway merge ramp will most likely be cursing but most likely will not know the situation as to why the first vehicle stopped. There will always be a bunch of drivers who think that they have the right of way no matter what the situation or the consequences. Truck drivers should be more aware than most drivers about situations but some don't give a s##t putting it bluntly! from your post I think that you are one of them!! Who in their right mind would keep accelerating to overtake a vehicle on the right when the vehicle ahead is indicating that they are turning right??

So get off your high horse, get some brains and have some consideration and awareness of other drivers and the road conditions, I think that you're the one who needs to rethink your driving habits before you get someone killed, and I say that in the nicest possible way.

Cheers

Ed.

Unfortunately in all professions you get the asshole element - in trucking it's those who believe they can do what they like because their size gives them an element of invincibility.
I witnessed this first hand as a 15 year old working around the corner from the Giacci depot in Maddington and watching their antics daily - these guys treated the road like a track, especially the Ryelane St/Marion Rd and Marion Rd/Stebbing St corners.
When you heard a truck coming (and you could because Giacci revved the nuts off their trucks) you went on the road at your own risk.

Ed,

I've been towing a heavy load for many years and I can't always get up to speed. Experience has taught me that you have to look after yourself first, because courtesy is seriously lacking here (Melbourne). I lived in Sydney for a few years before moving to Melbourne and was immediately shocked by the anger and aggression on the roads here, from all age groups. I had imagined Sydney would have been worse because of the greater traffic density, crap road system, etc, but that's not my experience.

I merge as soon as I possibly can and if I can possibly avoid it, never at the end of a merging lane. That means I'm at the mercy of the drivers who have the right of way.

There's a stretch of road, dual lanes, 100K limit, with several roundabouts in a row. I turn right at #4 but I always make sure I'm in the right lane BEFORE I pass roundabout #3. Too many times I've had close calls in peak hour when I've tried to get over into the right hand lane between roundabouts 3 & 4 (not enough distance between them). There's just too many ba****ds here (or inconsiderate drivers as we politely call them) who just won't help the drivers of vehicles that can't do 0-100 in 2 seconds. I end up with a lot of drivers overtaking me in the left hand lane before and after roundabout #3 but I'm not the one who made it that way. I tried doing the right thing for quite some time before throwing the toys out of the pram, and using the above method. It's sad but here you have to be very defensive when you don't have zoom zoom capabilities, and that does not always please the other drivers. If only they knew why we were doing it.

Keith

The trouble with this thread is that everyone who complains about drivers not allowing merging traffic into the highway/freeway are the ones that are breaking the law and then justify it by appealing to so called common sense, not real common sense but their own self serving notion of common sense.

The way driving should be is according to the road laws, which means that traffic wanting to merge right must give way to the right unless otherwise indicated. If you can't do that don't drive and don't whinge when others do obey the law and don't let you in.

I know of a driver applicant when going for a licence test failed because he did zip and forced into freeway traffic as he failed to give way and also immediately was considered tailgating.

Peter.

Some posts are in moderation for administrive review.
Keep it nice please.

I'm the one who started this thread because I'm continuously infuriated by "merging" drivers. However, I have said words to the effect that merging drivers should make a good attempt to merge correctly WHEN POSSIBLE.

I think it's unfair to make things black and white, and to say the drivers on the freeway should never have to make any attempt to assist a merging driver. My anger is directed to the arrogant idiots who make no attempt to merge correctly when there is plenty opportunity to do so, and they still expect the drivers on the freeway to just move over for them. I have a huge chip on my shoulder with them.

There are however plenty occasions when the traffic is chockers, and there are no gaps to merge into, or for whatever other reason the vehicles are bumper to bumper for the window of opportunity a merging driver has. Under those conditions the merging driver is completely at the mercy of the ones in power, i.e. the drivers on the freeway who have right of way. Under those conditions no amount of driving skill can get you out on the freeway if no one lets you in. Then the only option a merging driver has is to stop in the merging lane and that is dangerous in itself. After all the merging lane is generally used to accelerate and get up to the speed of the freeway traffic.

If there's a way to merge under those conditions then I'd like someone to teach me the secret technique because I have no idea how to.

I have some sympathy with Ed, and I have been in situations several times with downright dangerous and aggressive truck drivers (in addition to the car ones). I don't know if it's the drugs some of them may take to help keep them awake for extended periods but some of them have a level of aggression that seems to make them oblivious to the potential outcomes of their action. They could easily go to jail for manslaughter. The differential of speed is what makes it so difficult when you are driving a slower outfit (Ed towing the boat). A continuous stream of traffic going past you while you are indicating that you want to pull out, and if there are any gaps it's too dangerous to pull out because of the speed difference. Regarding my previous post about the roundabouts this is the very reason I get in the right lane way way ahead of schedule. Hardly anybody wants to slow down to let a slower vehicle out in front of them. Most of the time they are wanting to shoot past you so they don't end up behind you. I think it's a safe bet that's what that truck driver had in mind, many of them hate slowing down. Ed could have come back into the fast lane far far away from where the 2 lanes become one, but then he'd be a prick for hogging the fast lane. He's damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.

Under certain conditions, despite what the law says, we should assist those who don't have right of way. There's legal law and what we could call moral law. Should we offer no assistance to someone in a genuinely difficult situation just because we legally don't have to.

Despite the chip on my shoulder with a lot of "merging" drivers, I always open up a gap for them when I'm in bumper to bumper traffic. It's the only way they can get out and not have to stop in the merging lane.

Keith.

Originally Posted by beefy

Under certain conditions, despite what the law says, we should assist those who don't have right of way. There's legal law and what we could call moral law. Should we offer no assistance to someone in a genuinely difficult situation just because we legally don't have to.

Despite the chip on my shoulder with a lot of "merging" drivers, I always open up a gap for them when I'm in bumper to bumper traffic. It's the only way they can get out and not have to stop in the merging lane.

Keith.

I doubt that I have done a single trip on the Melbourne road system when I have not adjusted my speed when I have right of way to help someone out, usually several times. That is just common sense. BUT, when they start expecting or demanding that I let them in when for some reason (like the example I mentioned earlier of another vehicle tailgating so it is not safe to slow down) that gets right up my nose.

If it is not your right by law, don't expect it and be grateful to the courteous drivers like myself who make allowances for this when practical to do so.

I still vividly remember what my driving instructor told me in 1977, that if you have right of way it is your responsibility to maintain your speed and direction so that other drivers can fit in around you. That makes sense because if you slow down to let in one driver you may be making it difficult for the driver behind him who has already committed to the gap behind you that you are about to close on him.

Roads are a lot more congested now than they were then but I still believe that principal applies and I will not slow down to allow entry for someone to get in front of me when they have not planned their entry if it makes things difficult for the person who has planned their merge correctly into the gap behind me. A good driver must have an awareness of all the vehicles in his vicinity and should not be expecting anyone else to allow them anything other than their legal entitlements, and should be grateful when they do.

Cheers

Doug

I was sent this video today ans immediately I thought of this old thread and the flak I copped from members for saying this sort of thing happens.

I see things worse than this at least once a week, and this video was taken at my local shopping centre. Personally I would not have considered this exhibition of gross incompetent driving as worth recording compared to the other examples I see so often.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/epic-p...-1227331083649

Cheers

Doug

Originally Posted by doug3030

About a week ago I was caught up behind a driver who decided to back in to a car park at the station. I had to wait while they attempted to back in 14 times (yes I counted them, I wish I had videoed it). I could have posted it on here to prove the point. I probably would have gone viral on youtube. When they finally got the car in they hit the car behind hard enough to move it and were parked so close to the one next to it that the driver of it would have had no hope of getting in through the driver's door if the car that just reversed in did not go first. Then they just left without even looking to see what damage they did to the car behind or even their own car.

I left a note on the car behind advising the registration number of the vehicle that hit them and my contact details as a witness and took some photos. Don't ask me to post them here because I will not for the privacy of the people concerned. I had already missed my train while waiting for the person to park, so I had plenty of time to leave the note and take photos while waiting for the next train.

Ok that was an extreme example but it happens to a lesser extent all the time. I have a back problem and my girlfriend does not drive so I often take her to do the shopping and sit in the car. I have lost count of the number of times people have backed into my car while I have been sitting in it, then either drive straight out again before they get caught or just park, get out and walk away seemingly oblivious to the fact that they have hit another vehicle.

They either hit the bullbar or the tow-bar so they do more damage to themselves than they do to me. I have heavily tinted windows so they often just assume that the vehicle is unoccupied and think they have gotten away with it until I get out of the car and call out to them. Then they start out telling me they didn't hit me and it must have been a gust of wind that moved the car or other even more incredible things.

Not once while I have been sitting in the car has anyone driving in FORWARDS ever hit me.

Circumstances can vary in different circumstances and I have, on very rare occasions, backed into a car park myself. I find it quite easy to do and so obviously do other contributors here, but stand in a shopping centre carpark for 10 minutes and watch and you will see that it is something beyond the skill level of a lot of drivers who still insist on doing it.

Cheers

Doug

Doug, that was excruciating. How did that numnut ever get their license?

TT

Originally Posted by Twisted Tenon

Doug, that was excruciating. How did that numnut ever get their license?

them and about another two million of them on Victoria's roads

And having gotten their licences here, they are all entitled to drive to all the other states and do it there too. I do not think most of them are capable of managing to survive the journey, and even if they do it takes so long that hopefully they pick up some skills along the way.

Never mind "how do they merge on the freeway' - the real question is how do they make it to the on-ramp in the first place?

Cheers

Doug

I had to laugh. Today I had someone come down the on ramp. I lifted to give them room to merge. They slammed on the brakes and ducked in behind me. Well enough? Not really. Then they slipped into the next lane, sped up, pulled back into my lane and then exited the freeway.

So you don't have to ask.

BMW