When merging into traffic, find the gas pedal!
Jun/09Comments
Car accident
I’m the first to admit that I’m a fast driver – not a reckless driver, but a fast driver. You’ll usually find me cruising about as fast as other people will allow on the roads. Sometimes that works out great, other times not so much. One of my biggest pet peeves is watching (from behind) people merge into a lane of traffic and causing a potential traffic hazard in doing so by not stepping on the gas pedal.
Every day going home from work, I come across an intersection where a four-lane road merges into a two-lane (one lane in either direction). On one side of the intersection, four lanes exist. On the other, the right hand lane merges into the left lane fairly quickly – going the same direction. Drivers know that. Whenever I’m in the right hand lane approaching the intersection, I always make sure to safely merge into the left lane, generally by getting myself ahead of traffic to avoid an accident.
But some people refuse to touch their accelerator even as the right hand lane is quickly coming to an end and there happens to be a car in he left hand lane right next to them. They’ll continue at the same speed as if they’re hoping that cars traveling in the left lane will magically disperse, allowing them entrance.
The problem, of course, is with the cars behind that guy traveling in the right lane. It causes an immediate bottleneck with cars in that same lane waiting for the lead car to merge, allowing traffic behind to pick a safe entrance point to do likewise. When cars bottleneck, there is very little flexibility when merging – thus, increasing the likelihood of a collision or somebody freaking out enough to do something stupid.
In that situation, the right lane is for merging, folks – not driving like you normally would, but merging. Spend your time trying to safely merge, not just sitting there and cruising down the road watching the lane abrubtly come to an end, then worrying about the looming merge. It’s okay to get out of your comfort zone temporarily to increase safety on the roads. Trust me, it’s okay. It’s called forethought.
