heading up the on-ramp

Getting up to speed is difficult for some trucks. Heavy loads, upgrades, auto matic shift trucks and inexperienced drivers all seem to take longer to get up to highway speeds.

I drive an automatic shift truck which does take longer to go through the gears than a manual shift does. I find myself watching the flow of traffic and signal my intentions with my turn signal. Usually, traffic will move over, speed up, or slow down to permit me onto the highway. For the instances when there is no break in traffic I will continue accelerating and use the shoulder of the road to continue building speed (provided the shoulder is clear and wide enough to accommodate my vehicle) until I can ease into the flow of traffic.

Stopping at the end of an on ramp is just a recipe for disaster. I have seen many rear end collisions due to this. Use the shoulder or adjust your speed before getting to the end of the ramp. The key is to keep moving.

 

When I was in high school, our drivers ed class lost an entire car full of kids and a teacher when a student stopped at the end of an on ramp and got creamed by a truck that couldn't stop in time.

Stopping on an on ramp can definately be deadly!

 

I agree completely. Go as fast as you can to merge, act like you are invincible while being aware that you are not - just like on a motorcycle.

 

Like others have said, keep your truck moving. While building up speed on an onramp I have the pedal on the floor to get upto speed as quick as I can. I also turn on my signal light well in advance (as I enter the onramp) so everybody knows my intentions. Sometimes you have to let up on the throttle so you can drift back to an opening. Don't be one of those people that waits until the last minute to look over to their left! haha

Almost every trucker out there will move over for you. Most cars will too. The only exception is if there is another vehicle beside them so they can't move over. This is where you will have to use your judgement and ride out the end of the onramp lane or even take the shoulder in a worst case until an opening forms.

If you get a guy who is refusing to let you in just so he can flex his big muscles that his itty bitty car is keeping that big 'ol semi from getting in, a quick flash of the cargo lights and a wag of the trailer will make the toughest of losers get nervous and move over for you too. For some reason I only use that one in Illinois. I often have visions of having a brick with a rope on it that I can toss out onto their hood and retrieve it for the next jerk but I'll leave that one in my thoughts only. hah!

 

4 wheelers think its fun to act like they dont even notice the 70 foot long rig next to them trying to merge

act like u dont see them and start coming over, they will move every time