Long story short.
I was in the left lane of a 3 lane road today and moved into the middle lane to allow the person coming off a freeway a chance to get in. I then tried to get back into that lane (as I was turning left 500m down the road) but the guy flashed his lights and started to road rage me complaining that I was trying to squeeze back in.
I'm always nice to those merging but today is the last time I will do it.
Do you ever move over lanes to allow others in?
And THERE lies the problem. If drivers merging on to the freeway were doing freeways speeds when merging - we probably would not be having this conversation.
Please, drivers, get up to speed when merging on to the freeway - you're not doing any favours going slower and looking for a gap it actually makes drivers in the lane already more confused as to speed up/slow down/whatever.
I fact if you could get up to speed and look over the right shoulder before you get to the merging point and see if you can pick the perfect gap so drivers in the lane don't have to speed up/slow down even better!!!
I'm generally going faster than the traffic i'm merging into, but that's mainly because people drive like garbage.
I usually do it if it looks like we're going to be side-by-side. Otherwise I'll either try to go faster or slower so that the merging driver either goes in front or behind me.
It happens frequently when I'm on the highway and someone else is coming to merge onto the highway. It helps the other driver to maintain their speed rather than forcing them to slow or stop and prevents a potential side swipe.
Exactly my situation. We were side by side and I noticed the 2 right lanes less congested so I went in the middle, went a bit faster to get back in the left.
I couldnt go that tad faster in the left because it was slightly congested.
I wanted to do the nice thing but clearly the guy i let in was a prick.
To be honest, if I was in your situation and I saw congestion ahead that didn't allow me to accelerate, I would've slowed to allow them to merge and just got in behind them knowing that my left turn was coming up.
Yeah I guess I automatically just always do the kind thing and move over.
Point taken. Thanks for the advice.
As log as it's safe to do so then I'll always look out for a chance to be courteous on the roads. Don't let one (profanity) road-rager stop you from being nice to everyone else.
Not if I needed to get back across 500m later but generally yes I will move if we're both going the same speed.
but the guy flashed his lights and started to road rage me…
I have a 5D cell maglite in a cargo box on my backseat =)
Neat! What other items do you have in places?
I'm sorry, I don't have any baggies! :p
I have a back seat under a cargo box that’s over and around my Maglight.
But my maglite is bigger!
Your maglite might not be enough of a solution if the guy's on meth. (My copper mate tells me the number of drivers who are under influence is staggering.) Some drivers are decent people, others are a4s3h0l3s. Time to move on and keep up your positive driving habits, regardless.
Also do you know if he was blowing up at you? Some people flash their lights to say "I'm letting you in"
Not only did he flash he's lights. He gave me the bird. When I was turning left down the road side by side he was still going at me.
I told him that I was helping him by letting him in. He said for me to go get fu….and that my indicator was not on to come back in the lane.
Which is a total lie because I always use my indicator. Always.
Did you check whether indicator bulb is still working?
Yeah always working on my cars.
@[Deactivated]: Was there plenty of room to get back in? Just because you indicate doesn't mean you have the right to change lanes.
Was he middle eastern? Most probably I will get negged but genuine question.
Just an fwit. ignore him and move on. For every fwit there are a dozen nice folk.
Like the old saying…
"If you encountered one arsehole driver today, you encountered an arsehole.
If every driver you meet acts like an arsehole, chances are you're the arsehole."
Only if it's convenient for me.
One thing I hate is people on the main road slowing down to let mergers in. Not only is it dangerous, it's unnecessary. The merging traffic has to give way. Unfortunately too many people who merge think they have right of way and get angry at you if you don't move over.
Seems like your selfless attitude is popular.
So I'm accelerating to join a freeway, starting to run out of lane, and people like you are overtaking me while I'm indicating to move out to the inside lane. Because you think it isn't "convenient" to ease off (or speed up) to make a gap.
Too many entitled drivers these days because there are no consequences to bad behaviour.
It's also an issue with how we teach driving these days. Too many driving instructors try to puff up their (incompetent) students because they just want to give them enough "confidence" to pass the test and not be too timid. This completely backfires once they've passed the test and become a hazard on the road. They have this "stand their ground" mentality where they think it's "tough" and within their rights to drive like the road is their own personal property.
When I learned how to drive many, many years ago, the motto was always to (as best as you can) keep out of other people's way. Within reason of course. If someone wants to merge, you let them merge. If someone wants to pass, you move over and let them pass.
Yes.
No.
Sometimes.
Maybe.
In all depends on the circumstances. In the one you've described I wouldn't as it simply doesn't leave you enough time/distance to safely execute a double lane change, while also allowing for the other person to, quite rightly, travel at the posted speed limit, not to mention make allowances for their own driving.
In other instances such as the one you've described, but where I'm going to be carrying on straight for several kilometres, I've done this several times.
Don’t not let one douchebag stop you from being courteous in the future. Being courteous usually helps he traffic flow more efficiently. Most people appreciate if you try to help them.
Potentially if you were turning left shortly afterwards changing lanes wasn’t the best move.
I tend to be courteous most of the time, but if the other driver is trying to push in front of me when there is a gap behind then they can wait.
Unnecessary lane changes
Getting off 500m later. Why didn’t you just slow down and them them merge in front of you?
I’ve found that most drivers on the road drive like there is a chequered flag at the next intersection and that someone will be there handing out gold trophies. To let someone get in front of them is a fate worse than death.
People just need to learn to calm the (fropanity) down. Someone who wants in front of you is not an affront to you and your entire lineage, they just want to get on with getting to their destination as well.
See I guess I had a car behind me as well, and being the way I am, I just did the nice thing with the assumption he would let me back in. Sometimes they will get in and change lanes themselves.
I was wrong on this occasion.
I once tried to merge into the left lane because I was in a straight/turning lane with cars stopped ahead waiting for a green light to turn. Weather/visibility wasn't the best, so I was doing this way ahead of time while I knew I had plenty of space. But while double checking the next lane, the prick in the next lane sped way up from behind just to block me, messing up my leisurely merge and forcing me to slow to a stop behind the car ahead, or risk rushing the merge with poor visibility of the next car behind.
Except right as I was starting to slow down, the cars ahead got their light, made their turn and got out of the way. So not only could I maintain my speed, but I could stay just in front of him. And hold that position as we continued another 200m, where his lane had a bunch of parked cars waiting. And as he tried to speed up a bit to get ahead, I sped up a bit too, and as he slowed down to get behind me, I slowed just enough to let the cars behind catch up a little too close for him to merge in nicely.
In doing so I cut him off almost exactly as he did to me, and forced him to come to a stop before the parked cars as he almost forced me to. And only about 20 seconds later.
I had tried to merge considerately, and would have gladly made space for anyone needing to make the next merge, and been content simply being a patient and considerate driver. Instead I got the much sweeter satisfaction of doling out instant karma to some impatient prick and it felt pretty great.
Instead I got the much sweeter satisfaction of doling out instant karma to some impatient prick and it felt pretty great.
So you risked an accident and the safety of others to get back at some idiot on the road you'll never see again. Don't you think you're part of the problem?
Don't you think you're part of the problem?
That's exactly what I was thinking… And this isn't karma, it's petty revenge at best. Two butt hurt morons treating the roads like their own passive aggressive battle arena.
from crentist;
as he tried to speed up a bit to get ahead, I sped up a bit too
Aust. Road Rule 145: Driver being overtaken not to increase speed
@pegaxs: Hmm I might have exaggerated a little for dramatic effect and it comes off pretty awful, though it wasn't the nicest move. This was all at fairly slow speeds, without nearly as much recklessness as it sounds.
But it was more along the lines of him deliberately blocking me from a smooth lane change that didn't need him to do anything, but accidentally placing himself in a position that depended on my courtesy to have a smooth lane change of his own. In the first case I had already positioned myself well ahead with enough space to change lanes if he had simply maintained speed, but by him suddenly speeding up we were then adjacent.
At that point, all I had to do was maintain my own speed and he would have had to considerably speed up or slow down to get ahead or behind me. If he had done either, I wouldn't have done anything about it. Instead he just barely tried to move ahead, hoping I would slow down to give him space, but instead I held to the speed limit. It wasn't some wild speeding up and slowing down to block him, more like not speeding up or slowing down to create space for him.
Just a bit less exciting to say "someone was mean to me but then wanted me to be nice to them". Also I might have kinda misremembered and dramatised it in my head, since the situation had less to do with me having or even wanting to do much, but more with how neatly the circumstances laid things out.
So, not to be pedantic, but the road rule that applies would be Aust. Road Rule 145: Giving way when moving from one marked lane or line of traffic to another marked lane or line of traffic
At first I was Vehicle B with lots of space, but then he made himself Vehicle B with no space.
@crentist: Yeah, you don't get to change the story to suit your new findings. I tend to believe the first iteration as being closer to the truth.
Not to be pedantic, but it's 145 that applies if a vehicle is overtaking you and you speed up. 148 only applies once they have passed you and want back into that lane. They cant pass you if you keep speeding up and slowing down when you are not allowed to do under ARR145.
Because they have to give way to you through 148, does not give you the right to block them out by speeding up when they are trying to overtake.
Either way, sounds like you were both acting as stupid as each other. This isn't how "karma" works. It's just two morons trying to out moron the other moron in their 2 tonne safety cages.
You don't get to administer karma. What you are administering was "revenge" because you got all butt hurt and thought it was your vigilante right to teach this person a lesson that could well have ended in an accident. And you didn't teach this person a lesson, because they would have viewed it as you being the moron in this altercation, hence blaming you. So they would have learned nothing.
Not to be pedantic, but it's 145 that applies if a vehicle is overtaking you and you speed up. 148 only applies once they have passed you and want back into that lane.
Sorry, but this isn't right. 145 doesn't apply every time one car drives past another. It says "If a driver is overtaking another driver on a two-way road by crossing a dividing line, or crossing to the right of the centre of the road …"
Which is even more prescribed than regular overtaking, which already describes describes a process of approaching from the same lane, and exiting away from the same lane in order to pass. And not simply passing.
In multiple lane traffic, the mere fact of someone passing you in the next lane doesn't impose any changes to your own driving behaviour, even if the other lane has a blockage ahead. There may be other rules to dig up that might be more relevant yet speculative, so I'll just say that making things difficult for other drivers is bad, we should all be safer and more courteous than the road rules require, and leave it at that.
The rest I'll concede, it was a bit silly. I'll just add that I was fully prepared to back off if he suddenly sped up or slowed down, or if we had got anywhere near the parked cars. I probably made it sound he was slamming his brakes cm away from other cars, but very far from it. Not risk free by any means, but he had the same choice between gently slowing down or making a slightly uncomfortable lane change.
The rest I'll concede, it was a bit silly.
You're just changing your tune because you got called out on it. Have a read of what you said initially:
Instead I got the much sweeter satisfaction of doling out instant karma to some impatient prick and it felt pretty great.
If you had said from the start that you made a rash decision because you were angry and wanted to get back at him and you regret it now, then I would actually believe that you think what you did was silly. Up until being called out on it, you are still parading around as some sort of hero for "teaching the other guy a lesson" and talking about how great it made you feel.
The funny thing about all of this is that you're acting like you're some sort of tough guy when your behaviour is even more petty than what I've seen from small children. If you really believe in karma, then next time you're in this situation, just let the guy go - forgive and you'll get +ve karma points for the day.
@p1 ama: Well I didn't say it wasn't satisfying or that I regret it. Just that it was a bit silly. It's more that I'm realising I both kinda forgot and miscommunicated this thing that happened many years ago, and the same story could have been told more accurately and been less offensive for it. So, I do regret the telling of it.
Sad thing is I badly explained that the satisfaction wasn't because I did something to cause them an inconvenience, but that by being aggressive the other guy needed me to do something to avoid it. I was handed some preventable schadenfreude, like noticing someone's shoelaces become untied after they tried to kick you. And by not doing the nice normal thing, seeing them stumble over themselves.
It's not exactly revenge, but also not entirely not. But in punching up the vague memory of a more nuanced kind of revenge that was at worst a bit awkward for the other driver, I've told a story that sounds more combative and dangerous than it actually was. And which now isn't worth clarifying any more than that since it won't matter. Shame though, it was a pretty good moment, maybe you just should have been there.
As for letting it go or whatever, I usually do. My initial reaction as I prepared to stop was to enjoy the quiet moment I was about to spend waiting at a traffic light. It was gonna be a nice one.
And before you read that too literally and talk about the real injuries that could occur from tripping over shoelaces into various obstacles and bystanders, don't. It's a cartoon analogy.
Sad thing is I badly explained that the satisfaction wasn't because I did something to cause them an inconvenience, but that by being aggressive the other guy needed me to do something to avoid it.
Not really, you did avoid his initial action. You then decided to do something back.
It's not exactly revenge, but also not entirely not.
Come on, don't try to use weasel sentences like this. He did something to you, so you did something back to him. That's what we call revenge.
I've told a story that sounds more combative and dangerous than it actually was. And which now isn't worth clarifying any more than that since it won't matter. Shame though, it was a pretty good moment, maybe you just should have been there.
I think it's still a bit sad that you don't get my point - everyone (in their mind) thinks that they're doing the right thing by trying to justify their actions in some way. You still view this as somehow the other guy being "in the wrong" and you "being in the right", such that somehow your actions were justified because he did something to you.
I don't see where the satisfaction comes from. You were trying to be a tough guy, whilst only mildly inconveniencing the other guy whilst increasing the risk of an accident. You know, I would actually be more sympathetic towards the both of you if you both pulled over and punched it out in an alleyway. I have no issue with you wanting to settle the score with the other guy, a public road is not the place for that. At least neither of you are hiding behind your boxes of metal and increasing the risk of an accident for those around you.
Horrible behaviour. He had to merge lanes due to cars parked in his lane. Slowing down so he can’t fit behind you can easily result in an accident. You are not a police officer and no you didn’t teach him anything except that you are a bad driver. Your behaviour sounds worse than his because you assumed he drove that way on purpose to block you. He may not have even seen you. You know for a fact what you were doing was on purpose. How about chilling down a bit and try to consider others before yourself.
Why didn’t you just slow down and them them merge in front of you?
Slowing down to let mergers in is not only dangerous but unnecessary.
Yeah, not convinced that being courteous and polite is trumped by being an entitled (fropanity) bag in traffic.
I would rather let that retard merge in front of me so I can see what they are doing than to put myself or my vehicles to a dangerous position with an unknown quantity of (fropanity) head in my blind spots and potentially make that moron more pissed off and irrational around me just because they think they were entitled to that space and treating me like the (fropanity) in this situation, which, if I don’t let them in, is kinda justified…
You will never convince me that shutting people out from merging or speeding up to block them is safer than just easing off the throttle and giving them some space.
As for unnecessary, you’re having a laugh aren’t you? So anyone who uses the middle lane should be stuck there forever because “it’s dangerous to let people merge…”
I bet you’re a delight to be in and around with in traffic.
Although I will slow down if necessary - we really need to educate some of these merging drivers who try to merge into 100kmh traffic doing like 60-70. It happens all the time and it DOES cause problems and dangerous situations. Least of all trying to figure out where the two cars will meet doing those vastly different speeds.
So yes, I'm as courteous as I allow myself to be but this would all be less of an issue if people on the road were more aware to the merging situation in the first place. Try and get to 100 before merging (barring congestion of course!!!). Please.
Always do it if possible. I wouldn't have done it if I was exiting in 500m, would've just adjusted speed instead to allow the merge.
Somebody is mean to you once, when you were being nice -> I will use this event to define my life
Somebody is nice to you once, when you were being mean -> Its just a one off thing. The other person is just weird. I shouldn't make too much of this
I do it to avoid a collision. When a driver doesn't know how to speed up to match the lane they are merging into, chances are, they're oblivious enough to not notice me.
If I know there is little to no chance of a collision, I do not change lanes.
I don't believe that changing my behaviour to accommodate someone else's ignorance is good in the long term.
I do it. I’ve also encountered people getting annoyed at me for merging back because of an upcoming obstacle. Ignore the other driver. That person is too aggressive. You haven’t broken any road rules. His aggressiveness is more dangerous than your actions. You were trying to be courteous. IN saying that I probably wouldn’t merge lanes if I knew I had to get off in 500m though. I think once you are within 1km of exiting the freeway then you should be getting ready in the left hand lane. Left hand lane is traditionally the slow lane so if you know you need to get off then you have to accept the slow travelling cars in that lane. It amazes me how many people, especially in Victoria, travel slowly in the right hand lane. As a general principal I believe the rule is keep left unless overtaking. People doing 95km all the time in the right hand lane of the freeway drives me nuts. It’s then impossible to overtake them and you have to undertake them. If you want to travel 95km then get in the middle or even the left hand lane because you are below the speed limit. Additionally, if you can’t keep your car on 100km/h consistently then I think you should not be in the right hand lane. Any car since the 1980s can keep the speed consistently.
I do it to be nice. I hate when other people don’t do it for me.
Exceptions as others pointed out, if I am turning off shortly or am turning off within the next 2 exits and there is a sh-tonne of traffic.
Yes I do almost all of the time, and when safe to do so.
I always try and appreciate it when others do, which is quite regular.
However if you are about to turn off. The best options are to speed up or slow down whichever is safest to make room for their car. Therefore you aren't creating a hazard when you want to turn left further down the road from the wrong lane.
Still from your description and the fact you were concerned enough to ask a bunch of strangers about it, it sounds like he was a complete d-wad. next time you see him tell him I said that ;)
I don't when I need the lane, otherwise I'll move out of the left when I know its a merge approaching and not an add-on lane.
It is just plain courteous to let them merge,I always try & move over if @ all practical & safe,or slow down a tad.
Sometimes, but not if I need to stay in that lane later. And I don't do it to be nice, I do it usually so I'm not stuck behind someone still getting up to highway speeds.