Late Mergers/Lane Changers: Do You Let Them In?

[Gugny]

 

I dealt with this daily for years.

 

My vote is that it depends on my mood, but I would say that 90% of the time, I did whatever it took to keep them from merging.

 

Connecticut and New Jersey license plates ... they had no chance at all of me letting them in.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Gugny

[WhoTom]

In the situation shown above, where the other car is in the wrong lane and wants to quickly get into a turning lane, it depends whether the other driver is being polite or being an a-hole. (I voted "depends on my mood" because that was the closest option. I suppose my mood affects my interpretation of their actions, to an extent.)

 

But when a lane is ending, say in a construction zone, I let the late mergers in because it's better for traffic flow to keep all available lanes occupied for as long as possible.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/us/why-last-second-lane-mergers-are-good-for-traffic.html

 

 

[Jauronimo]

I try not to reward blatantly bad behavior but I'm not risking an accident.  I try to be mindful that there are drivers who might not be familiar with the area or intersection and just not know what the turning lane options are until its too late.  

[qwksilver]

It depends on my mood. Miami has the worst of the worst. Plus if you get into an accident only 50% probably have insurance. 

Agree with others, I try not to reward a$$holes.

[Gregg]

4 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I try not to reward blatantly bad behavior but I'm not risking an accident.  I try to be mindful that there are drivers who might not be familiar with the area or intersection and just not know what the turning lane options are until its too late.  

 

Same here. I am not risking an accident either. I usually let someone cut in if they are following the rules. But if it's an a-hole driver (and you can tell who they are) then I won't let them in unless it involves causing an accident. 

[Jauronimo]

3 minutes ago, qwksilver said:

It depends on my mood. Miami has the worst of the worst. Plus if you get into an accident only 50% probably have insurance. 

Agree with others, I try not to reward a$$holes.

I'm in Houston and road rage is a serious concern.  Situations like the one in the OP have been settled with guns which has me thinking twice about hand gestures, use of the horn, and other enhanced traffic techniques.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Called: Merge Weasels.

 

Yes. It's better to utilize all lanes.

 

One caveat. "Zipper" it up. Take your turn.

 

There are even signs:

 

"Use all lanes, merge at merge point."

[dpberr]

I do.  I try not to create potential for a crash or road rage incident that I have to deal with or someone else behind me has to deal with.  I'll take the 15 seconds to let them in.  

[ExiledInIllinois]

48 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

I dealt with this daily for years.

 

My vote is that it depends on my mood, but I would say that 90% of the time, I did whatever it took to keep them from merging.

 

Connecticut and New Jersey license plates ... they had no chance at all of me letting them in.

 

Yes... That guy is an a-hole... BUT drivers can't have a single file line stretch all the way to next light causing gridlock. 

 

 

[Gugny]

9 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I'm in Houston and road rage is a serious concern.  Situations like the one in the OP have been settled with guns which has me thinking twice about hand gestures, use of the horn, and other enhanced traffic techniques.

 

This is one thing about which I've recently become far more cognizant.  Although, I did give someone the finger yesterday because he was riding my ass as I slowed to take a turn, then he laid on his horn.  So he deserved it.

 

But it's something I try not to do.  I've had a couple scary situations, one of which resulted in someone following me to a gas station (I eventually lost him).

 

A road rage incident led to someone getting shot in our local Walmart parking lot late last year.  That's scary.  I need to be more diligent in refraining from the hand gestures. 

[WhoTom]

Different scenario, but one time we were on an I-90 on-ramp trying to merge. The car in the right lane refused to move over even though there was nobody in the left lane. I had to slow down and thread the needle between that car and the one behind it. Then I noticed the car that wouldn't let us in had a WWJD bumper sticker. My wife grumbled, "Jesus would have let us merge, you b****."

 

I love that woman.

 

[Jauronimo]

17 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

This is one thing about which I've recently become far more cognizant.  Although, I did give someone the finger yesterday because he was riding my ass as I slowed to take a turn, then he laid on his horn.  So he deserved it.

 

But it's something I try not to do.  I've had a couple scary situations, one of which resulted in someone following me to a gas station (I eventually lost him).

 

A road rage incident led to someone getting shot in our local Walmart parking lot late last year.  That's scary.  I need to be more diligent in refraining from the hand gestures. 

Some of the local news.  Google Houston road rage for good reading.

 

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2023/01/17/441553/man-who-killed-teen-in-road-rage-incident-gets-30-year-sentence/

 

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2022/07/28/couple-charged-after-viral-video-shows-woman-firing-into-car-with-2-year-old-in-houston-road-rage-incident/

[Gugny]

Just now, Jauronimo said:

Some of the local news.  Google Houston road rage for good reading.

 

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2023/01/17/441553/man-who-killed-teen-in-road-rage-incident-gets-30-year-sentence/

 

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2022/07/28/couple-charged-after-viral-video-shows-woman-firing-into-car-with-2-year-old-in-houston-road-rage-incident/

 

Unbelievable.  Wow.

[qwksilver]

37 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I'm in Houston and road rage is a serious concern.  Situations like the one in the OP have been settled with guns which has me thinking twice about hand gestures, use of the horn, and other enhanced traffic techniques.

Road rage is a huge issue here as well. Just plain sad.

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Geeze... And some people think Chicago is bad!... It's like Sunday Mass here compared to other places.  I just drove into Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Place is a zoo!

 

Anyway... Still remember what my brother would say, he was an OTR trucker:

 

"They will not look at you in Chicago when they cut you off, in NYC, they'll stare you down an cut you off."

 

I made sure to stare people down a few weeks ago! 😆 I had a rental with Texas plates.

 

 

 

[Not at the table Karlos]

This image depicts a dick move. Pretty much any other type of merging the zipper method is the correct way. People for the most part are selfish and cause a longer delay by not letting people merge correctly. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Not at the table Karlos
Stupid phone

[Mike in Horseheads]

I always try to get in the middle lane if there is one, until I get near where I'm getting off

[ExiledInIllinois]

37 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

I always try to get in the middle lane if there is one, until I get near where I'm getting off

You are a gentleman.

 

What?  You don't do a "Chicago Exit"??? ....That is, drive hard in the far left lane and then cross over 4 right lanes at last second to make the right hand exit? 😆 

 

 

Anyway... One time a few years ago my older sister was driving me on the Kensington Expressway into BFLo. The expressway was going down to one lane on right for construction. She is zooming ahead on left... Now, traffic wasn't at a standstill, plenty of time to get over right and keep flow going. Not a time where all available lanes needed to be used with a high merge point near the dwindling lanes. She actually was causing more "slack" in traffic by NOT zippering it up early...

 

Anyway the exchange went like this:

 

[Sister zooming ahead on left]

 

Me: "Geeze!  [Her name here] what the heck you doing, get over, don't be a merge weasel!"

 

My older sister: "I am a lady, they'll let me in!"

 

😆🤣😂 I immediately lost the battle and just thought to myself: "Just let it go Eric!"

 

That's the mentality that exists out there. /smdh...

[ExiledInIllinois]

WTF is that leaking all over highway? It's China, gotta be benzene or something:

 

[Your Brown Eye]

Nope, don't be an a-hole. If someone behind me wants to let them in fine, but not me. There was a long light at a hoity-toity town in the Rochester and someone coming in the other direction with their $80k SUV was in our turning lane wanting to turn into an establishment between the car Infront of me and myself blocking everyone that needed to use our turning lane from doing so, including me. On top of that a black BMW tried to the same thing right behind them. They did so in such an a-hole way that I pulled right up to the car infront of me, and the SUV was trying to inch their way in between us and I inched my Chevy POS up and blocked them off and we sat like that through a 3-4 minute red light, until we got the green.

[LeGOATski]

Depends on the situation. Like someone mentioned above, a construction zone is totally different then a commonly back-up area or a merging lane with clear signs ahead of time. Construction zone, I'll always let people in. In normal situations, it depends on my mood.

 

The way people drive is the best indicator of their true nature, so I love when I get to see people I know behind the wheel.

[Teddy KGB]

In Hampton Roads we have a few spots that people know will result in this interaction but they try to “beat the line” by cutting people off who have waited 10 mins etc. 

 

Id rather die then let them in.  

[muppy]

The worst offenders are the folks who want to go to the head of the line heading into Disneyland. When it is blatant a car is attempting to squeeze their way in just to avoid the 30 minutes of wait the folks in the correct lanes THEN I'm not a fan and refuse to allow that. It would open the floodgates to other cheaters behind THEM. Bad precedent.

 

In regular freeway type situations I always let people in to merge. I am never in such a hurry that the extra time is that big of a deal. I Try to demonstrate Grace. They may just have their mind on more important things than traffic. *shrugs*  Or if they are indeed jackholes I too will blow that off too. LOTS of discourteous drivers here in socal. 

 

m

[LeGOATski]

^^ that reminds me, I hate when people on the highway drive slowly in the merging lanes with no intention to merge. If you're not merging, get out of the right hand lane. They're the antithesis of people who speed in the hov lane

[SinceThe70s]

29 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

^^ that reminds me, I hate when people on the highway drive slowly in the merging lanes with no intention to merge. If you're not merging, get out of the right hand lane. They're the antithesis of people who speed in the hov lane

 

So what's the HOV etiquette? I get aggravated when I get behind someone driving the speed limit in the HOV lane. But if I'm doing 70+ I'm not happy with someone riding my bumper. Different set of rules if I'm left lane driving - given open road ahead I'll make way for the driver that wants to drive much faster than me.

[Punching Bag]

Best example I can think of is the Wilson bridge going from Maryland to Virginia before it was replaced.

 

There was a driver in an expensive imported sports car zigging and zagging between lanes cutting in front of people forcing them to stop and then repeating this like a game of leap frog.  Driver would tailgate people less than 1 car length until people moved faster to give him cut thru gaps. Traffic was very busy so bridge was going less half speed limit. 

 

I saw the driver get in my lane behind me (I was in right lane of bridge) and I slowed down to match speed with driver in middle lane not giving any cut thru area. He started tailgating me and I refused to speed up. He then started honking horn.  Driver next to me was looking at me and saw I continued to slow down a bit so he did same thing.  Car in middle lane then moved up in parallel to zig zagger so he had no way to change to middle lane.  Car behind zig zagger who had to slam on breaks when he cut in then reduced distance to bad driver.  Third car in middle lane then went parallel to car behind bad driver.   We all slowed down a bit and traffic in far left now was going much faster than it was before because drivers were not stopping to avoid hitting car cutting in.  At this point he rolled down window and started yelling using language which make a navy seaman blush.  When we got to end of bridge there is an exit and he hit the gas to get out before anyone else could get to exit and hit corner of barrier forcing his car to spin and slam into restraining wall. All of the cars which were in blocking convoy then started honking their horns as they passed.

 

There was a report on local traffic news radio station about a driver needing to be towed and who was ticketed for several violations.

 

In known documented areas with signs warnings about merge I will not allow people to cut in from exit lane to merge in.  They can get off exit and get back on.  If there is no way for people to know ahead of time I will let one car in but not allow a series of cars get in just because they drove faster in lane which is being merged in.

[SinceThe70s]

1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

Best example I can think of is the Wilson bridge going from Maryland to Virginia before it was replaced.

 

There was a driver in an expensive imported sports car zigging and zagging between lanes cutting in front of people forcing them to stop and then repeating this like a game of leap frog.  Driver would tailgate people less than 1 car length until people moved faster to give him cut thru gaps. Traffic was very busy so bridge was going less half speed limit. 

 

I saw the driver get in my lane behind me (I was in right lane of bridge) and I slowed down to match speed with driver in middle lane not giving any cut thru area. He started tailgating me and I refused to speed up. He then started honking horn.  Driver next to me was looking at me and saw I continued to slow down a bit so he did same thing.  Car in middle lane then moved up in parallel to zig zagger so he had no way to change to middle lane.  Car behind zig zagger who had to slam on breaks when he cut in then reduced distance to bad driver.  Third car in middle lane then went parallel to car behind bad driver.   We all slowed down a bit and traffic in far left now was going much faster than it was before because drivers were not stopping to avoid hitting car cutting in.  At this point he rolled down window and started yelling using language which make a navy seaman blush.  When we got to end of bridge there is an exit and he hit the gas to get out before anyone else could get to exit and hit corner of barrier forcing his car to spin and slam into restraining wall. All of the cars which were in blocking convoy then started honking their horns as they passed.

 

There was a report on local traffic news radio station about a driver needing to be towed and who was ticketed for several violations.

 

In known documented areas with signs warnings about merge I will not allow people to cut in from exit lane to merge in.  They can get off exit and get back on.  If there is no way for people to know ahead of time I will let one car in but not allow a series of cars get in just because they drove faster in lane which is being merged in.

 

So no weaponized poo? Good to know. 

[LeGOATski]

9 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

So what's the HOV etiquette? I get aggravated when I get behind someone driving the speed limit in the HOV lane. But if I'm doing 70+ I'm not happy with someone riding my bumper. Different set of rules if I'm left lane driving - given open road ahead I'll make way for the driver that wants to drive much faster than me.

Totally agree. HOV lane outside of commuting hours is simply another passing lane. Within commuting hours on a busy highway, you're kind of stuck going the speed limit of the person in front of you, they're not obligated to move over.

[Nextmanup]

Never.

 

Now, if you find yourself in need of shoving in on a lane change late in the game, don't worry!

 

American drivers are so slow, passive, and distracted, it's quite easy to find almost anyone leaving a 2 or 3 car length gap in front of them with their slow reaction time, and there you go.

 

Americans are like clueless, sleeping sheep in traffic.  It's infuriating.

 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

It is context specific, but I almost always let people in. This is based on two things:

 

1) you never know the other person’s situation. We have all been there where a lane closure sneaks up on you and you are stuck in the wrong lane. could be very innocent.
 

2) people are crazy. I am just looking to avoid any type of confrontation on the road— never know when some crazy dude will engage in road rage.

[John from Riverside]

I grudgingly let them in
 

It’s more important that I get to my next destination safe

[Rico]

Great topic! 
 

In a related question, do you EVER slow down to let someone who puts their turn signal on into your lane, regardless of merge or not? The answer is NO, because you could end up driving as slow as they do. If they knew how to drive, they wouldn’t rely on the help of strangers, they would just take the lane.

[WhoTom]

42 minutes ago, Rico said:

Great topic! 
 

In a related question, do you EVER slow down to let someone who puts their turn signal on into your lane, regardless of merge or not? The answer is NO, because you could end up driving as slow as they do. If they knew how to drive, they wouldn’t rely on the help of strangers, they would just take the lane.

 

I do, for two reasons: 1) if they're forced to change lanes aggressively, they put other drivers (like myself) in danger; and 2) by making someone else's day a little easier, that person might pay it forward to the next person, which generally makes the world a better place for me.

 

If I let them in and they drive too slow, then I just pass them.

 

 

[shrader]

The worst spot of all in that scenario is the car immediately behind that one in the left lane.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Speaking of HoV lanes... This is a no-brainer:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2019/08/06/carpool-cheats-may-be-helping-traffic-how-hov-lanes-can-fail/?sh=10d0e7b93d5d

 

"...Caltrans, which manages California highways, estimated as many as 39% of the cars in the carpool lane may be cheating. When you watch one of those cheaters go by as you are stopped in traffic, you get naturally angry.

Maybe you shouldn’t. It turns out that in many situations, carpool cheats may be improving traffic flow and speeding up your commute.

To understand why, you must understand the mistake that was made in original carpool lane design. Carpool lanes are of dubious effectiveness at the goal of reducing congestion and improving the throughput of people on the roads. They can often make traffic worse rather than better. Traffic engineers know this, and in most towns, there are now efforts to change carpool lanes into HOT (High Occupancy Toll) or “Managed” lanes. These lanes act like carpool lanes, but allow solo drivers to pay a toll to use them. The amount of the toll goes up if demand and congestion go up to stop..." the solo drivers from overflowing the lane. ..."

 

The same applies to merge weasels in a way...

2 hours ago, Rico said:

Great topic! 
 

In a related question, do you EVER slow down to let someone who puts their turn signal on into your lane, regardless of merge or not? The answer is NO, because you could end up driving as slow as they do. If they knew how to drive, they wouldn’t rely on the help of strangers, they would just take the lane.

Agree!

[Fleezoid]

I was in the left lane of a two lane merge where the right lane merges left just before entering highway. It was bumper to bumper and the right lane traditionally moves faster. As I approached the spot where the merge ends, some dick moving faster tried to pass right at the end and squeeze in front of me. Normally reaction is to hit the brakes, but I stayed on the bumper in front of me and dared to him to hit me, which he almost did. He ended up on the shoulder and had to fall in behind about 2 cars back. 

 

Best day of my life. 

[Rico]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:48 PM, LeGOATski said:

^^ that reminds me, I hate when people on the highway drive slowly in the merging lanes with no intention to merge. If you're not merging, get out of the right hand lane. They're the antithesis of people who speed in the hov lane

If you merge too soon though and someone who is behind you merges in front of you, that's unacceptable.

[Teddy KGB]

On 2/27/2023 at 4:40 PM, Fleezoid said:

I was in the left lane of a two lane merge where the right lane merges left just before entering highway. It was bumper to bumper and the right lane traditionally moves faster. As I approached the spot where the merge ends, some dick moving faster tried to pass right at the end and squeeze in front of me. Normally reaction is to hit the brakes, but I stayed on the bumper in front of me and dared to him to hit me, which he almost did. He ended up on the shoulder and had to fall in behind about 2 cars back. 

 

Best day of my life. 

 

VICTORY !! 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

Pretty simple answer really, yes, yes I would

[ExiledInIllinois]

Look what this pick-up truck does to a vehicle attempting to merge properly. 

 

Merging early causes more problems.  It's best for traffic that vehicles utilize both lanes fully right up until the merge point, then "zipper it up", alternate vehicles...

 

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/watch-pickup-truck-slams-into-driver-attempting-correct-zipper-merge?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAqEAgAKgcICjCrsIILMI2h_wIwgonhAg&utm_content=rundown