Maybe let off the gas to slow down just a little and when you have enough room between you and the vehicle on front of you, step on the gas to speed up faster then the vehicle you are trying to merge in front of… As you speed up then signal I’m coming over ready or not… That shows confidence, turning on your blinker and waiting shows you are unsure and most will not respect that…
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Were I the driver to the left, easy decision, I’d slow down and let you in. It’s safer b/c I have a more clear view of the situation, I’m looking forward, you are looking backward, easy for me to slow a little & let you merge left. I can always pass you afterward if I want.
Same as if I notice someone ahead is merging onto the freeway from an on-ramp into my lane. I either slow down or move left into another lane. Not everyone concurs however. I had a coworker who insisted the person doing the merging is responsible, and the person already in the right hand lane doesn’t have to do anything at all to make the other driver’s on-ramp merge safer.
I can’t say I have your problem here in the San Jose area much if at all. Partly b/c the freeways have a lot of lanes, almost always can find one open to the left. Most drivers just move to the left and pass the merger. The biggest problem w/rude drivers here is driver’s honking, blaring their horns, for no other reason than you are where they want to be. Applies to pedestrians too, they often get honked, even if the pedestrians are walking in a clearly marked crosswalk. 25-30 years ago, the vast majority of drivers would come to a complete stop if they saw a pedestrian waiting at a crosswalk. Not any more. Rude parking behavior has become a huge problem here as well.
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Exactly ! At least you understand the situation I’m presenting here. It’s far more safe to come off your accelerator for 2 seconds to allow the merger in. It’ doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know this, and is why I am confused as heck as to why people rather speed up to jump in front instead of to let the merger in.
I’ve been driving for 25 years in the United states. When I’m on the highway and using the left lane and see a merger’s indicator on, it has never interrupted traffic for me to ease off the accelerator to let the merger in. Not once.
What I see, however, is the merger being interrupted by people unwilling to let him merge, and the traffic behind him becomes overwhelmed.
We ALL understand the situation, exactly. You don’t understand that drivers in different areas are more aggressive than you’re used to.
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It takes a lot more than 2 seconds to create 4 car lengths of space for another vehicle in that lane.
That is the reaction from the drivers behind you after you slowed 15 mph to let that coconut truck into the left lane.
In most state you are breaking the law. The left lane is for PASSING only. Doesn’t matter what speed you are going. If you are NOT passing someone - you are breaking the law. NH was the last state to make this a law 10 years ago.
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Most of the time I am breaking the law by speeding anyway… But I always use turn signals and never cut anyone off…
I see state, metro and city police do it all the time, I have also followed them and been followed for miles and nothing has ever been said about it, al long as you are not holding up traffic it is ok to run the left lane unless on of those irritating HOV lanes, which I hop in from time to time also as do a lot of other non hybrid and single occupant vehicles…
But for the most part I am passing vehicles anyway (I will run the right lane if nobody is in the way), and lots of times I have lots of vehicles following my lead… If they are clearly going faster then I am and if room to move over I will move over let them pass, I have no issues with that… but sometimes they are just wanting to see who is faster… lol
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Heh, heh, in Florida, LEOs will pass a slow left lane driver on the right rather than issue a ticket.
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I agree completely. Change your attitude.
No, you do not own the road in front of the person immediately to your left. If they were trying to get in front of you, they would pull ahead of your car and then into the lane in front of you.
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Driving in the left lane is far worse than speeding. Anyone that wants to pass you, will have to pass on the right. It causes more problems for all the other drivers on the road.
Lets see , Clueless ( fitting screen name ) has an attitude problem and will not try to adapt to driving situations . Davemopar thinks he is above the law and more important than other drivers on the road.
Only 9 more posts to reach 100 and problably still not solve anything.
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You didn’t fully read my post…
If someone is passing me on the right and going fast enough that I don’t have time to move over then they are normally pushing 3 digits or more… lol
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It must be a Southern thing and you wouldn’t understand, This is the way a lot native people drive down here, if you are doing the speed limit you are going way to slow…
It’s all the people that are running from their crazy states from the North and far West, landing here that have a hard time driving here…
Based on Volvo’s comments on this forum, I suspect he hasn’t driven a car on public road. And I’m not being mean. The things he says on here are either blatant naive or he’s just mocking.
I prefer to believe he’s mocking as all his posts are directly aimed at teasing the OP, wether that’s me or someone else.
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No matter what the tone of each individual response might be, they all have the same theme, Clueless, namely that your driving style and/or your attitude needs to change. How many different forum members–using slightly different words–have to tell you that you are the one with the problem? What will it take for you to finally internalize that reality?
How is it my problem that if I turn my indicator on, drivers in the left lane immediately speed up to get in front of you. Does any of this make sense?
If yes, this would mean I must avoid using the indicator so that people won’t jump ahead.
The only thing that doesn’t make sense is your continual resistance to 100% of the messages that are telling you that you are the one with the problem. It seems that you have just come to this thread to argue with everyone–even when they all tell you that you are wrong.
There is an old saying:
Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.
Ergo… You can continue to drive as you currently do, and complain about the results, or you can change your driving behaviors and/or your attitude when you are behind the wheel.
For example, Nevada gave you the very practical suggestion of making three right turns, rather than making a difficult left turn. That is just one of the techniques/strategies that are taught in the Driver Improvement classes that I suggested for you.
Notice you countered the situation I brought to the attention of the forum and believed that is good. But the moment I countered your argument, you classified that as arguing?
The only people here are arguing are the ones insisting this is about merging and me having an attitude rather than acknowledging that there is an attitude whenever someone sees a car indicator flashing.
I rest my case.
This situation isn’t going to change unless something like the police enforce proper driving rules.
I had an idea that controlled access highways would monitor vehicles with cameras and a computer to determine driver behavior. Things like tail gating, speeding, unsafe lane changes, and frequent lane changes would build up penalty points. The top 5% of bad vehicles would then be banned from entering the highway for a while.
But it’s not going to happen because inefficient traffic increases oil consumption, and oil companies control a lot of things so there is no incentive to make traffic flow better. Instead they spend money on 8 lane wide highways that are more of a parking lot where the traffic is still flowing at 10 MPH.
The person behind you recognizes there is an issue when you turn on your signal and there is only a 1/2 car length difference between you. They are now faced with a choice, speed up or slow down. Either one accomplishes the goal for that driver. You are upset because they choose to speed up rather than slow down. I would probably slow down and let the car in if it was me behind you in that situation only because I wouldn’t want you drifting into me as I tried to pass by. But I can see the opposite being chosen as well, depending on the situation. Regardless, who cares as long as the opening occurs. If the car train continues to block moving over- see above. The slow drift usually works to open a spot. 
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