Unprofessional truck driver and getting even

As far as motorcycles getting pinched, drop a gear and nail it. You've got way better acceleration, use it and get out. Unless you're riding a vintage bike that is... been there many times, been quite a few years without a car myself.

However that doesn't make it OK for the Fedex driver to pinch, and I've got to echo a lot of the previous comments about their general lack of courtesy (though I seem to be seeing the majority of LTL rigs nowadays exhibiting the same manners). The OTR Fedex doubles/triples seem to be slightly more polite as long as you're not in front of them in a governed truck ... at least they have radios where a lot of the LTL ones don't.

What's your merge-ramp etiquette? My general policy is:

1. Move over if able.
2. Maintain speed if not (it is a MERGE lane after all, traffic in the roadway DOES have right of way to the best of my knowledge).

I will often waive #2 and drop speed to allow someone in ahead of me if nobody's running too closely behind me, provided my poky truck isn't approaching a big hill.

 

The traffic in the roadway does not necessarily have the right-of-way ... that's the whole point of a merge (leastways that's the law here and other places too. YMMV). When there is a "Yield", then the roadway traffic has the right-of-way.

 

I believe that the traffic lane in most states does in fact have the right of way. You have to actually read each of the states rules of the road. I am familiar with about 2 of them for the states I lived in.

 

Wish you would tell the four wheelers in Houston and other places that.

 

I'm sorry but that's not why the onramps merged. My company's legal department came to our terminal and discussed this very issue with us drivers a few years ago. Here's basically what they told us. The driver who is merging onto the highway has the responsibility to see that they can do so without impeding the traffic. Merging is designed to permit vehicles to enter and exit a highway without causing a disruption in traffic flow. There is a difference between merging and yielding. If you were to yield you'd have to wait until it was clear to get on the highway. With a merge you match your speed so you can fit in. They told us to maintain our speed unless you could avoid an accident from happening. Safety outrules courtesy.

I would like to see the law that addresses this issue on who has the right-of-way. So far I haven't found anything. Somebody has to have the right-of-way and I don't think it's the vehicle that is merging. So if you have it could you please provide it. Thanks.

 

From the Alberta Highway Traffic Act (http://www.canlii.org/ab/laws/sta/h-8/20030217/whole.html):

Merging
106(1) A driver of a vehicle about to enter on an intersecting
highway from a highway marked by a "merge" sign need not stop
that vehicle before so entering but shall take all necessary
precautions and merge safely with the traffic on the intersecting
highway.
(2) A driver on a highway marked by a "merging traffic" sign near
the intersection of another highway marked by a "merge" sign shall
take all reasonable precautions to allow a merging vehicle to enter
in safety on the highway on which that driver is driving.
RSA 1980 cH-7 s106​

...equal responsibility, nothing to indicate either party has the right-of-way.

As opposed to:

Yield signs
100 A driver of a vehicle about to enter on a highway that is
marked by a "yield" sign need not stop that vehicle before entering
but that driver shall yield the right of way to all traffic on the
highway being entered on.
RSA 1980 cH-7 s100
​

...where the right-of-way is clearly indicated.

The point of my post (in case you missed it) is that too many drivers think that because they are on the highway, they have a greater "right" than the driver merging onto the same highway. As I indicated, this is not necessarily always correct.

 

I think nearly all P&Ds are like that and most of them get paid by the hour.

 

Sorry should have said U.S. law.

 

Well, without researching the traffic laws of 49 states, 10 provinces, three territories and one district, I find it hard to believe that Alberta's are the only such ones. Hence, my original post.