Posted on 03/19/2007 1:45:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A Broward County state senator has a message for pushy drivers who can't wait in line like everybody else stuck in traffic: Pay up.
Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, wants to make it a crime for drivers to cut in at the front of the line at exit ramps, accident scenes and anywhere else traffic backs up.
His bill is probably a year or more away from getting a vote by the Legislature but it's sure to ignite passions before then.
"You want to look at what causes road rage? That is it," he says.
The "rude jerks" can spark fights and shouting matches, said Geller, who admits to almost losing his cool a few years back.
Geller and his son were waiting at an exit ramp, heading to a Marlins baseball game when a driver, "whose time obviously was more important than mine," cut in front of them.
Slapping such drivers with fines as high as $90 might make them think twice before butting in, he said.
The bill was referred to the Senate's transportation committee but won't reach the floor this year for lack of a companion bill in the House.
Geller plans to push for passage again next year.
Move your car over just enough so that it will block the strip on the side of the road.
Lane merging here is a necessity because of traffic density, and most people are cool to let you in if you signal. Beyond that, the "freeway" here is a classic example of the moving wave, just coming unstuck for no visible reason.
So funny!!
Thanks for a good laugh.
When traffic backs up, and drivers volunteer to merge early into a common lane, what irks me is the one that first pulled into the common lane, then sees another driver staying in the vacated lane and driving to the front.
What one usually witnesses are several drivers pulling out of the common lane and back into the empty lane. I expect most people are thinking "Hey, I was here first! Wait your turn!"
The comparison to fluid dynamics is helpful, except that with fluid, the volume accelerates through the restriction. In our traffic examples, the rubberneck syndrome enters. Watch the cars ahead of you and notice that adjacent to the accident, most drivers take their eyes off of the road and want to have a look at what they had to wait for. Only after the obstruction, and multiple open lanes, do they accelerate.
How do we move a maximum numbers of objects past a given point? By having them move faster.
Imagine yourself above the traffic accident in a hovering chopper. You have a stop watch and count the numbers of cars going past the accident in a given time. Fairly low number. (Maybe 10-12 a minute) Now imagine yourself coming back to the same spot during normal heavy traffic that is moving. Count the same cars, in the same lane, going by the same spot. Your count might be as high as 45-60 cars.
The most efficient ways to move the maximum numbers of cars down a road is to get them up to speed and keep them moving.
That is why we often see slow downs at merge lanes. Merging traffic during heavier volume causes most drivers to hesitate, thus slowing traffic and causing backups (or as I call them pileups)
It would be nice, but I know human behavior is not going to allow it, but if drivers would just concentrate on the choke point at moving forward as best they could (accelerating even before the choke point) and getting the speed up, we could slowly begin to build the rate at which a given number of vehicles get past the choke point.
At my freeway offramp we have developed a laboratory to demonstrate rudeness. Housing development in the area has placed a strain on the exit ramp. The exit lane leads for about a 1/4 mile to a light. The left lane must turn left. The right lane must turn right. Another interesting wrinkle is the offramp winds down hill, around curves with trees on both sides. Driver can not observe what is happening at the light until they are nearly there. Most cars are turning right.
What is occurring is traffic is backing up to the interstate causing drivers to pull off in a queue past the fog line up to a 1/2 mile on the interstate. It is a usual wait of about 10 minutes before one reaches the light and the right turn.
What happens is that some of our more brilliant folks exit past the cars that have pulled to the right going down the left lane and jamming (merging) into a space near the light. The high percentage of drivers that have patiently waited become upset and tend more and more of protecting their space. Then the drivers just proceed to the light and instead of turning left like they should, turn right, right into the other cars. Yes, there is the occasional driver not aware of local conditions and find them selves at the bottom of the ramp needing to turn right, but the offenders in most cases are daily commuters and could I say recidivists (repeat offenders).
I call this a laboratory because it is a daily demonstration of rudeness and selfishness versus courtesy and consideration. I bring this example up because those of you that want to drive down an open lane past other slowed vehicles are not demonstrating courtesy, but in effect saying to others that you are more important and will use every advantage the other drivers have allowed to give you a break.
Folks, we are all in this together, trying to get someplace. When you as an individual driver take the opening and deny the others that were ahead of you, for me it is tantamount to "cutting in line"
I would also settle for a stiff fine on drivers talking on their cell phones while TRYING to drive.....
Thank you!!!!!
But who is going to write the citation? I never see a cop when I'm driving. My county has two deputies on duty at any given time, and their patrol area is huge. Plus, half the time they are at their station or in court. I think laws are fine, but they are largely unenforceable.
But who is going to write the citation? I never see a cop when I'm driving. My county has two deputies on duty at any given time, and their patrol area is huge. Plus, half the time they are at their station or in court. I think laws are fine, but they are largely unenforceable.
It's legal there...or it was at that time, to split lanes on the freeways. IOW, when traffic was snarled and stalled....you could split lanes.
The ONLY time I did it....was when traffic was virtually at a standstill...and I felt like being super vigilant. I'd watch drivers side mirrors....to see if they were watching me come up on them. As unfortunately some felt the need to open their doors...at the precise time I was getting to their door.
It was intentional, no doubt in my mind. Some would even swerve a bit into the bots dots...to "help" you stay alert. Although many, if they saw you coming, would slip over to give you more room....At least that's what I did when I was in a car..and saw them coming.
FWIW-
When I see it done in other states, there is a strong reaction that the biker is doing something illegal. For me, with all of the reflectors they now place on lines, it would be a more dangerous place to ride a bike. Sorry about the open door threat, but for one, it would keep me from doing it.
It's not about being rude, though I think there may be two seperate situations under discussion.
The first is: a lane is blocked a little ways ahead or a lane is disappearing. Some people (for reasons known only to God and the little green men speaking to them from their glove compartments) form a "line" a good distance back from the obstruction where traffic essentially stops. There's still plenty of good road surface in the blocked travel lane.
Not to be too blunt about it, but this is STUPID and does nothing but slow the flow of traffic even more than it needs to be.
That was back in the days before I had any sense.....
Most of us got sense along the way. Thanks for your story.
Me too.
Road rage is caused by people losing control of their tempers. I figure if someone adds an extra 2 or 3 minutes to my trip, is it worth getting all that upset about?
There are times when a lane is backed up and I realize too late that it is the lane I need to be in. So yes, at times, I have cut in at the front.
Truckers like to pull that trick, it always makes me laugh.
> but I really have a hard time buying that the "cutters"
> are the smart ones keeping the traffic flowing. What if
> 90% of the people ignored the signs until they were right
> up there?
The best action for everybody would be if the traffic split into 2 (or however many are available) lanes and treated the area right before the slowdown as a merge line, splicing traffic back together like a deck of cards. That would minimize delay for everybody. (It would also make the "cutting in line" moot, because essentially everybody would do it.)
The only problems are people are really crappy at merging, and the jerks who "have to be first" that try and block traffic in the other lane.
But I agree with you, this is a ridiculous topic for legislation, and in places where lane shutdowns aren't a daily pain in the patookus, it isn't that big a deal, anyway.
It's simply amazing the number of illiterate idjits on the road that pass by a sign on the interstate at 70 MPH that says "left lane closed 3 miles ahead" and they keep in the left lane. They pass by the sign that says "left lane closed 2 miles ahead" at 50 mph and continue right on past the next "lane closed 1 mile ahead" at 35MPH. They continue to the "lane closed 1000 ft ahead, merge right" until the left lane is visably shut down and their next 25ft would put them over the barricades then expect you, who merged right five minutes ago to stop so they can move over and they get thoroughly preturbed if you give them so much as a crossed look. They're the reason traffic bottlenecks and completely stops at lane shutdowns.
I get a bigger grin when I can drive in the grass around you because you didn't expect it. ;-)
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