“Merging”

I find that many drivers lack the skills to merge safely. However most of the drivers on the roadway are polite enough to brake, speed up, or move over to give the space needed to drivers merging onto a roadway. Why do people think that just because their signal is on the rest of us must get out of their way and allow them to merge? That is not the law.

I was in a collision a few years back where the lady sideswiped my van and used the "my signal was on" defence. The damage was light and I probably would have switched info and probably let her pay out of pocket, but she insisted she was not wrong. So I let the police tell her she was, and she got a lane change not in safety ticket.

Anyways, Im just getting sick other drivers trying to bully me out of my lane when im in traffic, esp. when there is space in front of me and some behind. Why do drivers get beside you, put on their signal, and expect you to move? It is up to the driver merging to match the speed of the traffic, signal, find some space, and merge. Not just sit there with your signal on and expect others to move for you.

Anyone else got opinions on this?

No argument from me...

beleafer81 wrote:Not just sit there with your signal on and expect others to move for you.

Not sure where people get that idea. Matching speeds and merging is easy. Trying to merge when you're well below the speed of the traffic is dangerous. I don't know why it isn't obvious to some people that the on-ramps are long for a reason...

beleafer81 wrote:I was in a collision a few years back where the lady sideswiped my van and used the "my signal was on" defence. The damage was light and I probably would have switched info and probably let her pay out of pocket, but she insisted she was not wrong. So I let the police tell her she was, and she got a lane change not in safety ticket.

Too bad that you got into a collision that was clearly her fault. I guess she needed to be taught a lesson, and was.

beleafer81 - agree with you on this.

thinking this is a huge source of GTA's 400 series hwy congestion, improper merging (both on and off the hwy)

hwybear wrote:beleafer81 - agree with you on this.

thinking this is a huge source of GTA's 400 series hwy congestion, improper merging (both on and off the hwy)

X 2

Radar Identified wrote:Matching speeds and merging is easy. Trying to merge when you're well below the speed of the traffic is dangerous. I don't know why it isn't obvious to some people that the on-ramps are long for a reason...

agreed. my post was just in reference to merging at speed.

hwybear wrote:thinking this is a huge source of GTA's 400 series hwy congestion, improper merging (both on and off the hwy)

agreed. this and random braking for no reason, makes the drivers behind do the same and the process repeats.

I experienced a road rage incident due to this exact mentality a couple of years ago. I was driving east on the 403, and at either the Erin Mills or Winston Churchill onramp, I was in the far right lane during rush hour traffic, and an obviously unbalanced guy expected me to move out of the right lane so he could merge. I imagine some of his frustration was due to the fact that his little 4-banger had the power to go from 0-60 in 3 days, but I couldn't merge out of the right lane myself due to morning traffic. He proceeded to follow me off the hwy (I was getting off the hwy at Hwy10) after honking the horn like crazy, giving me the middle finger, swerving, trying to cut me off, etc. I proceeded to backtrack along Burnhamthorpe and down Erin Mills, making my way to the police station. He left me at (I think it's called) Collegeway, off of Erin Mills just south of Burnhamthorpe. I was late for work and watched the road for him for weeks after ward. What a nutter. It was scary.