helping 4whlrs merge

That's pretty much what I do, partly out of courtesy/safety, and partly just the fact that I'm sick of driving their #### car for 'em....
If it's a 4-lane road and traffic ain't too heavy, I'll go ahead and run in the 2nd lane just to avoid the situation...path of least resistence. Otherwise, I'll do my best to leave space in front of me so they can get in. But if they can't figger it out, and they run outta onramp....well, that's why cars come equipped with brake pedals.
Is it obvious that I've been driving in LA quite a bit lately??

 

A dangerous error made by drivers on an interstate is to attempt to leave the highway after missing an exit. If you miss an exit, do not slow down, back up or try to turn around. Proceed to the next exit and leave the highway there instead. You can always find a service or side street to return to your intended exit.
** See this alot as well..they just love to cut other people off just to make their exit.

Traffic moves much faster on the interstate than on an ordinary highway. It is dangerous to drive very far below the posted speed limit. Follow the flow of traffic if you can do so without speeding. Crashes are more likely to occur when a vehicle moves significantly slower than the flow of the traffic.

There was a diagram as well but I couldnt get it to copy and paste from the NC Driver handbook.

 

I cant remember where i was, I think i was headed to Hanover Park from Nashville the day before the big storm in chicago....anyways, there was a tanker truck in front of me about 50-60 yards, and a tan 4-door chevy, 3 lane, we're in the right lane, chevy in the center. getting close to this exit, and the chevy just veers straight across the nose of the tanker and BARELY and i mean BARELY makes their exit. No warning, just BOOM, happened like that.

I got on the CB and i said, "man....what a F---in idiot...." Took the driver almost a minute to respond, but he says, "...had to get the load back behind me...unreal". Obviously hitting the brakes like that, his load was sloshing back and forth pretty good.

I thought i saw some stupid stuff before i became a driver, now i'm seeing alot of it. and what these 4-wheelers dont understand, when they brake check a truck or cut one off, how close to death they actually become. Maybe a truck drivers association needs to buy some Super Bowl ad time, and do a public service announcment, and use some graphic pictures to show car/truck wrecks....then fade to "it dont pay to play with a semi"

 

The exact situation caused an accident out on Oregon. I noticed a UHaul van on the ramp preparing to enter the highway. I moved over to the left lane. About 10 seconds later, a car hit me at over 100 MPH.

What Happened? The car did not see me move over, as he was looking at his mirror checking out the lane to pass a car that was behind me that was also on the right lane. By the time he looked forward again, he was hitting my DOT bar.

I was not ticketed, the driver of the car walked away. His car was totalled. I kept my truck upright and was able to pull out the DOT bar and continue my trip. It was a 90 minute road closure.

Now...I see the exit, check out the left lane AND what is happening directly behind me, then move over to the left as I approach the ramp. If nothing is there, I move back to the right. At night, I generally can see lights on the ramp. Now, I also move over for just about ANY activity on the right (or left) shoulder. You just never know what is going to pop out from one of these situations. I'd rather have the space to make a decesion.

Oh, that UHAUL truck... never even stopped to help.

 

35N in oklahoma, guy and his wife on shoulder, big truck passing me on left, traffic behind, started to slow down and incroach on the passing big truck (just had that feeling- and I'm like you- never know whats gonna pop out)....sure as ####....husband swings his driver door open and leans out- all in my lane. Thank God it was a big truck driver next to me....he musta known it was coming to- like clock work; he hits the small hammer lane shoulder and I take a piece of his passing lane....just missed the guy. He would have lost his upper body and the door- all in front of his wife (she was standing in a relatively safe place behing the vehicle).
-He musta ####, all he woulda seen is freighliner grill....I know I ####.
I always move over if I can safely- before that happened and sure as #### after it happened.

 

I agree 100%. I too have had CDL's (class A) in several states over the years but the most I've learned about merging is from the local tanker job I had. Just about all of our loads are within the city on the west coast so the company has been through this issue in the courts many times. As with any large oil company the public see's the truck as deep pockets and will sue at a drop of a dime. In the court if you slow down and there's an accident then you'll most likely be held accountable on some level. If you change your speed you'll be at risk. The responsibility is all on the vehicle that is merging. Of course we will take action if it's safe and we try not to cause any vehicle to panic but almost all the time it's up to the merging vehicle to make the changes to merge onto the highway.

I can not count the times that I've looked down at the merging vehicle and the driver is on the phone or not paying attention then right at the last 100' or so will look up and see my large truck. Some may speed up and merge in safely but most will react by hitting their brakes hard and falling in behind me. I'm loaded with 12,450 gallons of gasoline so I don't play games but I also don't take risks.

 

I wish everyone would just maintain their speed when approaching an entrance ramp. It's easier for me to merge when I can calculate the distance between my car and the one coming up the highway. When vehicles either accelerate or decelerate, I can't comfortably merge.

 

I'm going to jump in late here. As far as I'm concerned if a 4 wheeler can't merge into traffic or doing anything right driving wise, then they do not need to be on the road. It will be a cold day in hell, before I help anyone with 4 wheels learn how to drive. Especially in this state, as far as I'm concerned they should be banned from driving period..

 

I believe the merging problem stem's from a phobia many four wheelers have about big rigs. Kind of the same theory that applies to bridges, traffic is worst until you hit mid span of a bridge then it clears up.
If may be silly, but people assume that 18 wheelers think we own the road and will run thier car over if we have to. This makes them overly cautious when they see a big truck barreling down the freeway in the slow lane, and instead of speeding up they panic and forget how to drive.
The only thing that can fix this issue is education, something that is being done more and more in grade schools and high schools around America. Just my two cents anyway.

 

Problem is they do the same thing with other cars too, not just big trucks. Most of the ones that don't know how to merge right with big trucks don't know how to merge right at all.