Texas Freeway Merging Question (Houston, Dallas: live, safety, moving)

[Westerntraveler]

Whenever you're driving on a freeway in Texas and someone is trying to merge, could you get pulled over for not letting them in?I drive on the freeway a lot.Thanks in advance.
-Westerntraveler

[TexasHorseLady]

I've never seen it happen. If you're on the freeway and they're coming in on the access road, you have the right of way (sensible, since you're going faster and have a lot of traffic going faster behind you and it's a safety hazard for the traffic on the freeway to yield to the traffic on the ramp).

If you're talking about lanes where two lanes merge into one just before getting on the freeway, just remember what you were taught in kindergarten and as soon as you see the "lane ends, merge right" sign, if you're in the left lane (and vice versa if you're in the right lane and it is the one going away), start merging right then instead of rushing on up to the front of the line and trying to merge there. You'll find that people are a lot more inclined to let you merge if you don't rush right on past them to "cut in line".

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I've never seen it happen. If you're on the freeway and they're coming in on the access road, you have the right of way (sensible, since you're going faster and have a lot of traffic going faster behind you and it's a safety hazard for the traffic on the freeway to yield to the traffic on the ramp).

If you're talking about lanes where two lanes merge into one just before getting on the freeway, just remember what you were taught in kindergarten and as soon as you see the "lane ends, merge right" sign, if you're in the left lane (and vice versa if you're in the right lane and it is the one going away), start merging right then instead of rushing on up to the front of the line and trying to merge there. You'll find that people are a lot more inclined to let you merge if you don't rush right on past them to "cut in line".

Unfortunately, I've found the opposite to be true. The people at the front are more likely to let you in because they know their wait is almost over and they are less uptight.

When traffic is at a standstill, I think everyone should fill all the lanes equally and merge at the end. If they did, everyone would get through the restriction roughly in the same order they arrived so no one would leap frog or get screwed. One point of merging is less chaotic than umpteen points of merging with everyone blazing their own trail, which results in the ending lane moving faster.

When traffic is moving well then it's a different story, merge over early to avoid slowing down.

[TexasHorseLady]

Maybe it's the difference between Austin and Houston? In Austin, if you rush up to the front, you can PUSH your way in but you're more likely to have to wait several vehicles to do so, whereas if you merge further back, people are more accommodating. At least, that's been my observation.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Maybe it's the difference between Austin and Houston? In Austin, if you rush up to the front, you can PUSH your way in but you're more likely to have to wait several vehicles to do so, whereas if you merge further back, people are more accommodating. At least, that's been my observation.

Most people here will let you in if you are courteous and use your blinker. I had a client say in Houston you don't use your blinker because that causes the other car to close the gap to prevent you from coming in.

I would be nice to think all Texans were courteous and gave the guy coming onto a freeway a chance to merge.

I've learned to never cut off a cowboy in a pickup truck. Getting a cupful of Chewing Tobacco spit off your windshield can be a real PITA.

[JazzyTallGuy]

Originally Posted by Westerntraveler

Whenever you're driving on a freeway in Texas and someone is trying to merge, could you get pulled over for not letting them in?I drive on the freeway a lot.Thanks in advance.
-Westerntraveler

A lot of this depends on where you live. I lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for over 20 years. The general rule of thumb in the area is find an opening and accelerate like hell to hit it and merge on to traffic. If you from another part of the country it may take a while to used to some of the aggressive driving you see in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.