I-40 and Wade split causes me daily rage! (home, school)

[DPK]

This little section of interstate daily makes me fume like nothing else. It's an extremely simple concept that most people can't seem to make heads/tails of despite the 3 large mast arms that define it's devision well in advance:

http://i.imgur.com/o93Py.png (broken link)


In particular are the "gems of the universe" that get to the center solid black line in that picture and decide that they "all of a sudden" want to merge left to stay on I-40.

Look you buggers. Pay attention to the dang blasted signage and you wouldn't be nearly causing accidents behind you as people have to slam on their brakes to either let you in or wait as you sit there trying to merge left.

It's this fork in the road and the behavior of so many idiots that causes traffic to snarl for miles back.

/rant

[builder24car]

Originally Posted by DPK

Look you buggers. Pay attention to the dang blasted signage and you wouldn't be nearly causing accidents behind you as people have to slam on their brakes to either let you in or wait as you sit there trying to merge left.

Buggers is being too nice. I was thinking more along the lines of non driving flucking idiots! Great rant, I agree with you a 124%!

[SFspiderman]

Maybe things will improve with the widening project wrapping up in the next few months, with three lanes going through on I-40. Perhaps even more significantly, they're going to paint giant shields on the I-40 lanes to help drivers identify which ones through very early on. Between the overhead signs and the painted shields on the ground, maybe the buggers will wake up. Probably not, but just maybe.

[lamishra]

I'm with you...I just chalk it up to people who don't know where they are going and change lanes at the last minute.

[jmana]

Originally Posted by DPK

This little section of interstate daily makes me fume like nothing else. It's an extremely simple concept that most people can't seem to make heads/tails of despite the 3 large mast arms that define it's devision well in advance:




In particular are the "gems of the universe" that get to the center solid black line in that picture and decide that they "all of a sudden" want to merge left to stay on I-40.

Look you buggers. Pay attention to the dang blasted signage and you wouldn't be nearly causing accidents behind you as people have to slam on their brakes to either let you in or wait as you sit there trying to merge left.

It's this fork in the road and the behavior of so many idiots that causes traffic to snarl for miles back.

/rant

You make it seem like these people don't know what they are doing, but they do, they see that traffic is still flowing in the right lanes, and so they want to get ahead of as many people as they can and they cut around all the good patient drivers, and then at the last minute try and cut in front of someone more friendly then themselves. The problem is that sometimes people get sick of this behavior and won't let the people over, which then slows down traffic in the formerly flowing right lanes. I am so glad I don't have to drive 40 during rush hour anymore

[NewUser]

Originally Posted by jmana

You make it seem like these people don't know what they are doing, but they do, they see that traffic is still flowing in the right lanes, and so they want to get ahead of as many people as they can and they cut around all the good patient drivers, and then at the last minute try and cut in front of someone . . . . .

Guilty as charged

However, I'll change your last sentence to read:

. . . . and then at the last minute easily cut in front of someone who is busy talking on their cell phone, changing the radio stations, or just plain incompetent behind the wheel and has let a gap in traffic the size of 2 tractor trailers open up.

They're part of the problem too. . . .I'm just taking advantage of them.

And how far back do you propose people should merge into those left lanes? Harrison, Aviation, Airport, Southpoint?

[ljd1010]

I drive this daily as well. I find the biggest offenders are the drivers of large trucks/18 wheelers who decide at the very last minute to move into one of the left lanes (I-40)!

[JQ Public]

I think people are used to the old signage and for a time there were doubles of all the signs at that exchange which made it very confusing at that exit (I don't know if that's still the case as I haven't gone through there in months). I can see where people get confused, but it's no excuse.

[DPK]

Originally Posted by NewUser

And how far back do you propose people should merge into those left lanes? Harrison, Aviation, Airport, Southpoint?

Oh please. If by the third mast sign you haven't merged over then you should have your drivers license revoked. I don't care when you do it, just do it before you get far enough past that third mast that the solid dividing line appears.

I can't plead innocence on your prior statement though. I've done the same thing to idiot drivers in the right lanes who putter along. I'll merge into the I-40 lanes and merge quickly back into the Wade lanes. I do this before the 2nd set of mast arms however. I consider them my "get in your lane and stay there" warning.

My issue is with the fools that get in the wrong set of lanes, play total ignorance to the 3 sets of warning masts, and then at the last possible second when the lanes go solid divided decide to merge over and cause traffic to pile up a mile behind them due to their stupidity.

There are 3 rather large masts carrying signage through there, not counting the oddly sized RBC half-mast intermixed in there somewhere. I kind of like to think of them as the first one being a "hey, something wicked this way comes", the second is a "hey idiot, get in a lane and stay there", and the third is a "if you haven't moved over by now I have no sympathy for your soul".



I think my favorite license plate I've seen on I-40 is someone I got stuck behind with their plate reading "I H8 I-40". It made me giggle like a school girl.

[NewUser]

Originally Posted by DPK

My issue is with the fools that get in the wrong set of lanes, play total ignorance to the 3 sets of warning masts, and then at the last possible second when the lanes go solid divided decide to merge over and cause traffic to pile up a mile behind them due to their stupidity

Yes. I agree. I never merge after the solid line. If I run out of runway, I just abort and head towards Wade Ave. . . . sometimes you just don't find a break in traffic. I'll get off at the RBC Center and make my way back to the freeway using side roads.

I was heading home the other day when some idiot in a white Chrysler decided to stop in that left lane of traffic heading towards Wade Ave. Dead stop in rush hour traffic. Put on his turn signal until someone let him in.