Friday Question #69
When you’re driving, and your lane ends (because of construction or a natural merge) do you get over into the new lane as soon as possible, or do you ride in your lane until you’re forced to merge?
Of course, this question was brought on by travel. We traveled through Rockford, IL, for Memorial Day weekend, and the highway merged to one lane because of construction.* It seems like in Chicago, when you have to merge, most people wait until they absolutely have to merge. If you don’t, you just end up sitting in the lane watching everyone pass you.
So, that’s is what we normally do – don’t merge until the lane ends.
But in Rockford, when we tried to do this, there was only one car in the lane in front of us, and we didn’t merge for another mile. And instead of driving to the front of the lane, the driver was a big pansy and just stayed next to the same car the whole time, then merged in front of it when the lane finally ended.
In Chicago, people would be honking at this car, but almost everyone was in the merge lane already… which weirded me out. It just made traffic all backed up. I think this is more common in small towns (even though Rockford isn’t that small).
*The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is really great and all, but it is affecting 50% or more of the roads we take with construction. It’s wasting so much time.
Themocracy
I always merge as soon as I can because I am convinced that if other people did too, merging would not back up traffic for miles and miles. Consequently, whenever I see people zooming to the end of the decreasing lane and trying to cram into the moving lane, I think they’re all ass-hats. Whoops.
I’m with Mica, and I don’t let the last-minute mergers over. Ever. Sorry! lol (Don’t hate me!)
I have driven a through many states each summer since I can remember, and most people merge right away.
That all said, it’s different every where you go, and you couldn’t pay me to drive through Chicago. We took the Lincoln Highway to avoid the massive Chicago traffic last time I went through. Cost me time, but eased my anxiety. lol
I merge early, as a rule I’d rather be in the correct lane as soon as possible…
I drive the Chicago way, which doesn’t work well in the small town I just moved to! It’s absolutely insane the way people won’t use both lanes. There’s a two lane left turn lane, and people only use the left one because the right one immediately turns into a “right turn only” lane once you make the turn. (If that makes any sense.) Rather than wait in line, I get in the right left turn lane and then merge.
People also always drive 5-10 mph under the speed limit and let cars turn left in front of them at green lights, but don’t get me started on that! 🙂
I usually try and merge as fast as I can…because I HATE when a person or two tries to make his/her way up to the very front, as if everyone else is below them and they deserve to go first or something. It’s silly I know but when there are signs after signs, MERGE already! 😉
Chicago peeps totally wait until the last second to merge. I’m 50/50 on the merging issue. Depends on how big of a jerk I’m feeling that day 🙂
I’m with you. Ride it til the end. I’m not going to be the sucker sitting there letting everyone else pass me by 🙂
I start merging over right away. The people that ride until they are forced, I call them cheaters, since they will find their way into the line of traffic without having to sit in the line of those who merged over sooner.
True, as you said, you do watch everyone else passing you up, but in the end, it’s not about arriving first, it’s about arriving safe.
People who wait until the last second really piss me off. I refuse to let them in because I’ve waited my turn already. As far as I’m concerned, waiting just causes more problems for everyone.
So, I wrote about this once. And like you, I stay in my lane until it almost ends. Socially, I got face-slapped for this behavior. People were outraged I’d wait that long. And many people said they speed up just so I can’t get into their lane. They all claim it’s people like me who cause traffic back-ups by waiting so long. Ironically, somewhere out there on the interwebs, there is a speech by a guy who studies traffic. His argument is that cars should stay in the lane as long as possible and then merge because that causes the least amount of traffic. HA!
I merge when I can, I like to merge before the lane ends but sometimes it does not happen, so I merge at the end.
Merge whenever I have the opp to go for it. I don’t like seeing people wait til the last minute to merge, I think late mergers are the ones that cause the jams. Sorry!
i usually go more mid-way… no point in braking and holding up traffic to get in when i might be able to slip in more organically halfway down the line, BUT i do NOT approve of purposely going to the top of the line and forcing your way in there.
i’m one of those ppl who won’t let you in if you wait until the end, sorry ;-P
Um…I think I’ve driven here on the highways like, twice. So I can’t really weigh in on this one. 😉
Arrrrgh! I abhor when people wait until the lane ends to try and move over and I don’t like to let them in, especially when there had been signs for the past mile and a half that the lane would be ending. That to me shows they could have planned better and since they didn’t, it shouldn’t be up to me to be nice and let them merge in (I usually will let only one in ahead of me just to keep things moving). However, tonight I saw construction on a state highway near my home and it said the right lane was ending in a 1/2 mile. But when we got closer to the construction, there was a big blinking arrow in the left lane, forcing everyone to the right. So, um, I don’t know. I guess you always have to be prepared to be flexible for the rude people and the stupid people. LOL.
Really depends on how long the merge lane is. I once got into an accident because I was trying to merge too quickly, I checked my blind spot in a down pour and hit the car suddenly stopped in front of me. I should have been patient because I knew that I had a mile to merge, but I was late to school.
On the other hand, when you only have a few yards to merge, it drives me crazy when people ride the edge of the lane. Just get over already! I don’t want to wait for you. Same goes for people who take their time changing lanes or come to a stop before turning. I yell at those idiots.