All this “speed up, slow down” stuff is great until my truck weighs 80,000# or 105,000# and the exit ramp speed is 25 mph with a stop in a few hundred feet. I do really appreciate folks who figure out what I have to do, but I have left many snowflakes stopped at the end of their on ramp wondering how they escaped death again. Politeness is sometimes limited by physics, there is only so much I can do. I really thank those who make life easier by being aware.
The worst ramps are the short ones that are both on and off at the same place, I think that’s what she is talking about in the OP. They do make it a little more thrilling.
And while I’m ranting... those cars that are the same color as the road, or darker, are hard to see on a nice day, add fog or rain and wet mirrors... you become invisible. Please drive with your lights on. It makes for a much more harmonious outcome.
Just one more thing. Fog/driving lights, in most states, are like high beams, to be off when approaching another car. They are painful after hours of night driving especially between one and five AM when most drivers are too dazed to dim the high beams. If you NEED fog lights on a beautiful moonlit night what are you going to need when it’s actually foggy?
Thanks, please share with your friends.
Yes cars must allow for the kinetic energy physics realities of trucks, as I’m sure you do as well, which means unlike many idiots in cars, you’re leaving a large following distance from the car in front of you, which as I mentoned, if everyone did that as theg any should (1 car length for every 10mph, more for trucks) then entrance ramp merging would not be such an issue.
Here in NYC, as in too many areas these days, there’s the added component of type A drivers who always seem to be racing to be one car ahead of anyone changing lanes for any reason, making the decault decision to be speed up and pass whenever possible, even when slow down and yield would more sensible.
Two things:
1. Your post covers why all of the cars I buy new are white, and most of the ones I buy used.
2. I’m one of those guys that truckers cuss out but actually am their friend. I pass them on the right, I zip around them on the left. I draft them sometimes. Heck, I even merge from the left lane in front of them quite close to their front bumper. However, I never, EVER pull in front of them when there is very little space between them and the car in front of them.
I wanted to be a long haul trucker when I was a kid. Then I worked for a guy that had a bunch of peterbuilts that brought produce from southern California to Seattle. I unloaded the entire trailer onto palate boards, drove the drivers home, did brake jobs, washed the trucks, etc. The horror stories I heard were fascinating. It taught me that I didn’t want to be a long haul truck driver.
But I know what ticks them off, and I know what not only ticks them off but is also dangerous. I always avoid the latter.