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Originally Posted by Moonlady If I have a snail in front of me on the on ramp (and it happens here too quite a bit), I back off and slow down even more to put enough room between me and them that I can quickly accelerate and move into the center lane past them once I get on the highway. It makes the people behind me really mad, but there's absolutely no point in tailgating the slow poke because then you end up having to merge behind them at their speed which is dangerous and frustrating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nirvana07
This is something I do as well. Need that gap to accelerate and merge at some kind of speed.
Exactly. And the people behind? Are responsible for not following too closely no matter what they might think of the actions of the vehicle in front of them. This applies on the road and it applies on on ramps. If you crash into the vehicle in front of you no matter how slow they're driving and how much you disapprove of it, you were following too close for the conditions. That's why the vehicle that crashes into the back of another vehicle will get the ticket 99% of the time.
Option C: hang way back until the slowpoke is on the highway. At least you'll still have some room to accelerate once he's out of the way. For all you know, he could stop at the end of the ramp, and if you're tailgating him, that could put you in an even more dangerous situation.
I know that is an option too. It sucks that you have to cause others the same problem that this bad driver is causing you, but it may be the only truly safe move. You just have to hope that the person behind you does the same for you.
I know that is an option too. It sucks that you have to cause others the same problem that this bad driver is causing you, but it may be the only truly safe move. You just have to hope that the person behind you does the same for you.
Not only that but sometimes you're far enough down the ramp before realizing the doofenheimer in front of you has no intention of moving any quicker that you're past the point where you can just slow down and then safely slingshot out when the ramp snail is finally out of your way.
Not only that but sometimes you're far enough down the ramp before realizing the doofenheimer in front of you has no intention of moving any quicker that you're past the point where you can just slow down and then safely slingshot out when the ramp snail is finally out of your way.
I live in Maine. Any time there's someone in front of me on an on-ramp, I just assume they're going to do something to mess it up. Much of the state is rural, so they get used to entering a highway, not in light traffic, but almost nonexistent traffic, and often don't adapt well when the traffic is heavier.
Here in Maine, you must always be ready for the guy ahead to come to a full stop on the entrance ramp, whether there's any traffic or not. Fortunately, because traffic levels are so light up here, it's not really going to mess you up that much.
Also, there are some on-ramps here where you physically cannot reach merging speed. If there's anyone coming up beside you, you'll have to slow down to get behind them, because there just isn't enough room to accelerate. This one here is a prime example; a sharp curve and a short acceleration lane, on a road with a 70 mph speed limit.
That on ramp looks wicked fun! I would nail the gas in 2nd gear in my WRX going into the first curve, shift into 3rd still accelerating hard into the final curve and ease into 4th easily doing 65 by the time I hit the freeway. A little blast of safe fun.
I live in Maine. Any time there's someone in front of me on an on-ramp, I just assume they're going to do something to mess it up. Much of the state is rural, so they get used to entering a highway, not in light traffic, but almost nonexistent traffic, and often don't adapt well when the traffic is heavier.
Here in Maine, you must always be ready for the guy ahead to come to a full stop on the entrance ramp, whether there's any traffic or not. Fortunately, because traffic levels are so light up here, it's not really going to mess you up that much.
Also, there are some on-ramps here where you physically cannot reach merging speed. If there's anyone coming up beside you, you'll have to slow down to get behind them, because there just isn't enough room to accelerate. This one here is a prime example; a sharp curve and a short acceleration lane, on a road with a 70 mph speed limit.
What do you drive, a Citroen 2CV? A '63 Beetle? You've got all the space you reasonably need to get up to speed on that ramp.
The "come to a dead stop" issue is something I dealt with when I lived in Pittsburgh. There's even a ramp that REQUIRES you to stop at the bottom -- as in, there's a stop sign at the bottom of the ramp. Stupidest bit of traffic engineering I ever saw. Even so, the "stop on the ramp" phenomenon happened a lot at other ramps even without stop signs, including the ramp I took to get on the expressway to get home from work. I had no issue getting up to speed on that ramp (which you can find here, bottom/eastbound ramp) despite having virtually no merge lane at all, much less one as lengthy as in your link. And it's not like I drove a rocket ship either -- it was a 1996 Chevy Lumina rocking all of 160HP.
If you wait until the straight portion to start accelerating up to speed, then yeah I can see having a problem. But I started building up speed through the curve unless there was a slowpoke car right in front of me. If I got around the corner to find someone at a dead stop at the bottom of the ramp, I blew by them on the right shoulder and merged at highway speed with no problems.
I live in Maine. Any time there's someone in front of me on an on-ramp, I just assume they're going to do something to mess it up. Much of the state is rural, so they get used to entering a highway, not in light traffic, but almost nonexistent traffic, and often don't adapt well when the traffic is heavier.
Here in Maine, you must always be ready for the guy ahead to come to a full stop on the entrance ramp, whether there's any traffic or not. Fortunately, because traffic levels are so light up here, it's not really going to mess you up that much.
Also, there are some on-ramps here where you physically cannot reach merging speed. If there's anyone coming up beside you, you'll have to slow down to get behind them, because there just isn't enough room to accelerate. This one here is a prime example; a sharp curve and a short acceleration lane, on a road with a 70 mph speed limit.
Holy crap!
That's one fun ramp. You would find me sideways in my CTS-V in such a ramp anytime the road condition is adverse. First corner into the ramp would get the car sideways, wind out first gear. Dump the clutch on second gear and start the entrance of the chicane; modulate throttle and steer to maintain the slide. Wind out second gear about mid ramp.
Dump the clutch into third, steer, start the opposite slide, and modulate throttle to maintain the slide. Somewhere near the end or just a bit before that, reduce the throttle, let the rear tires regain traction, straighten out, and rocket out of there at WOT; wind out third and enter highway
I see this sort of stuff all the time, more so at stop lights, and I blame automatics. If people drive sticks they would HAVE to accelerate or stall. But with an automatic they can leave their foot off the brake and start going ever so slowly, and build speed even more slowly... till they finally ever so slowly depress the gas pedal and push ever so lightly...
And in areas where there are significant stops -- I swear MOST of them coast from one to the next to the next.... drives me OUT OF MY MIND....
I see this sort of stuff all the time, more so at stop lights, and I blame automatics. If people drive sticks they would HAVE to accelerate or stall. But with an automatic they can leave their foot off the brake and start going ever so slowly, and build speed even more slowly... till they finally ever so slowly depress the gas pedal and push ever so lightly...
And in areas where there are significant stops -- I swear MOST of them coast from one to the next to the next.... drives me OUT OF MY MIND....
No, you do not have to accelerate or stall with a stick. A stick is perfectly capable of going along rather steady and/or slowly.
No, you do not have to accelerate or stall with a stick. A stick is perfectly capable of going along rather steady and/or slowly.
This. I drove a stick for the first 25 years that I was driving, until I found an automatic that actually shifted when I thought it should. You do not have to accelerate or stall with a stick if you know how to drive one.
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