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Thread: What part of "right lane ends" dont they understand?

  1. #1
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    What part of "right lane ends" dont they understand?

    I thought this might be a good thread for a poll but I couldn't figure out how to do it.

    So I thought I would put it up for discussion to my fellow bimmer enthusiasts.

    When you have a two lane highway that goes to one (two lanes going in the same direction) and there are signs that say "right lane ends" and "merge left" what do you do?

    If the car in front of you merges left do you speed up and try to pass them on the right by veering into their lane at the last second? When there is a line of traffic in the right and no one merges except for one car should the other cars cut them off by passing them on the right?

    One crazy thought I had was people should not only think about themselves (I know thats hard for some motorists) but to think about causing an accident by not following the law. If you are in the right lane shouldn't you slow down until there are no cars in the left lane and then merge?

    My new solution is my 330i's idea it said just go like a bat out of hell and pass everyone to begin with and then there is no problem, but I would be interested to see what others thought.

  2. #2
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    Such right side lanes are used to zoom past soccer mom vans and biatches putting on their make-up face in the mornings....while I'm trying to promptly get to work : )
    85 318i-Sold, 96 Cosmo M3-Sold, 95 Avus M3-Sold, 94 325is-Sold, 89 325ic-Sold, 93 Brillantrot 325ic- Current : )

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by bmxmett318 View Post
    Such right side lanes are used to zoom past soccer mom vans and biatches putting on their make-up face in the mornings....while I'm trying to promptly get to work : )
    Then you have to brake to enter the lane. I see guys like you at the next stop light all day long. Knock yourself out Speed Racer.

    Proper merging is a concept lost on many drivers. So are acceleration lanes.
    The idea of matching your(the merging party)speed to the traffic you wish to enter seems foreign. A turn signal concurrent with the maneuver is expected to "make way" regardless of speed. It is not incumbent upon traffic to yield.
    Oh, to be a cop for one day.
    Last edited by ross1; 07-19-2014 at 12:35 PM.

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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by bmxmett318 View Post
    Such right side lanes are used to zoom past soccer mom vans and biatches putting on their make-up face in the mornings....while I'm trying to promptly get to work : )
    Ok so that is another issue all together (any Airplane fans out there?) and yes I have passed them on the right, they are called left lane cruisers. They are also completely oblivious, but I wont veer into their lane at the last second, seems my car likes to drive very fast and there is plenty of time left, funny that.

    I don't like cops so if we all follow the law (except for when foot accidentally gets stuck to floor) then no one has to deal with them. But I think it more then about the law, its not blindsiding some one and causing an accident. Look at the way they do it on the Autobahn...

  5. #5
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    Generally I'll merge when I see the sign ... unless the person that was in front of me is one of these pokey f**ks that's gonna cost me my life when I try to get over doing their speed of 35 in a 65.

  6. #6
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    For me it's all circumstantial. I assess the situation (i.e., congestion, speed of traffic, gaps to merge into) and act accordingly. But yeah, I'll pass a line of cars using a merging lane if it seems advantageous. A 135i makes it very easy.

    I do this almost every day on my way home from work. It's a 3 lane that merges to 2, just after a stop light, and before a long bridge. It's all about that stop light. If I hit it at just the right time ( light turned green and traffic is starting to move) I can pass like 30 cars.

    Also, I've been driving for 26 years. I'm not going to attempt anything stupid or dangerous.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by mhunter29928 View Post
    For me it's all circumstantial. I assess the situation (i.e., congestion, speed of traffic, gaps to merge into) and act accordingly. But yeah, I'll pass a line of cars using a merging lane if it seems advantageous. A 135i makes it very easy.

    I do this almost every day on my way home from work. It's a 3 lane that merges to 2, just after a stop light, and before a long bridge. It's all about that stop light. If I hit it at just the right time ( light turned green and traffic is starting to move) I can pass like 30 cars.

    Also, I've been driving for 26 years. I'm not going to attempt anything stupid or dangerous.
    That maneuver is the "slingshot", one of my favorites,albeit pretty dangerous, I've had to avoid a school bus running the red, and have actually gone BETWEEN 2 red light runners, on my bike. As to lanes closing, those droids won't move over until the solid shoulder line or jersey wall forces them,despite signage and arrows for 1/2 mile, I see them every night at 95 and 895 in Baltimore,and if you're beside them at the last minute,LOOK OUT!

  8. #8
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    The "sling shot" I love it. Similar here in Vermont, two lights and lanes going same way then a couple hounded yards it merges into just the left lane.

    Here is the problem, if you merge at the light into the left lane there is always a bunch of idiots who think they can speed up and pass you on the right when the light goes green. But to avoid that situation I just move out really fast, sometimes they think I am racing them. Its just such a pain in the ass all I am trying to do is get out of a bad situation I know they are going to create. Had some shite for brains redneck try to pass me on the right the other day and I beet him and his stupid truck, but then he got on my bumper and started revving the engine and swerving, then passed me almost hit a car and went through a residential zone at like 60. Some people just deserved to be punched really hard in the face... Told the cops and they said I had road rage and that we may both be charged, I hate cops.

  9. #9
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    At certain situations, such as construction zones, zipper merge has shown to have its benefits. Certain states, like MN actually recommends zipper merge:
    http://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/

    As for me, it'll depend on many variables (traffic speed and density, road and weather conditions, etc). Sometimes I might merge early, sometimes not.

    I believe in using all of the road. Anyone who experienced how people drive in second or third world countries knows what I mean. It might look like chaos, but it somehow works. When everyone drives aggressively, I think it's more predictable as well.

    With automatic gearbox and smartphones, people seem to be too distracted to be driving. It really easy to get a license and keep it in US, so we see too many incompetent drivers around. I see too many left lane campers, people who don't speed up when merging to freeways, can't parallel park, can't keep between the lines and etc etc.
    Not too mention people with no lights on at night, or running with high beams on a busy highway, those who drive too slow, or those who turn on their flashers and drive extremely slow during moderate rain, or those who just drive on the left lane when two right lanes are empty.

    Also, you can't flash your beams to politely ask them to move over from the left lane. In most other countries, this is OK, but here it's considered extremely rude and you are guaranteed to get road rage and might even get shot

  10. #10
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    if the zombies driving in the lane that is being merged INto would just use proper following distances, this would be a non-issue, because there'd be space for the cars in the lane that's ending to merge.
    Quote Originally Posted by B4SH View Post
    If anyone knows, it's this guy who knows literally nothing about everything.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by slocar View Post
    Generally I'll merge when I see the sign ...
    I do as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by mhunter29928 View Post
    But yeah, I'll pass a line of cars using a merging lane if it seems advantageous.
    I never let people like you back in, though I know some idiot will. I'll let you hit me first, I'm sure your insurance is good, and if it's not, I've got uninsured motorist coverage.
    Not so much a signature as a cry for help.

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  12. #12
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    So if you use the merging lane to pass your not merging your passing. Thats incredibly dangerous as the driver doesn't expect someone to swerve into his lane at the last second especially on the right.
    In the US slow traffic stays to the right and the left lane is supposed to be used for passing or faster traffic.

    This happened with my honda, I didn't care if anyone ran into it, its a honda after all. Dude passed my at last second in bike lane on right, I didn't move over to let him in and he ran right into me. Coast his insurance company 900 dollars and his rate went up. Serves him right.

  13. #13
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    In my area people are pretty good about the zipper merge, guess thats one thing about living in a city where everyone usest he highways all the time - people eventually learn how to use the highways (though people still have to learn that the left lanes are the fast/passing lanes and right lanes are the slow/travel lanes.

    Quote Originally Posted by spacecase View Post
    Dude passed my at last second in bike lane on right, I didn't move over to let him in and he ran right into me. Coast his insurance company 900 dollars and his rate went up. Serves him right.
    People like this make the roads bad for other drivers. Why not be considerate and just move over? You actually let someone hit your car just to prove a point... lol... to me thats unbelievable

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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker View Post
    People like this make the roads bad for other drivers. Why not be considerate and just move over? You actually let someone hit your car just to prove a point... lol... to me thats unbelievable
    Did you read his post, the other guy passed him using the bike lane. And the whole point of this thread is when 2 lanes filter into 1, thus he presumably couldn't move over. I suppose the guy could've been considerate and stopped to let the total jerk back into the legal lane.
    Last edited by montaillou; 07-23-2014 at 05:14 PM.
    Not so much a signature as a cry for help.

    Hold on, saw this in a cartoon once...think I can pull it off.

  15. #15
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    Yes I read it and it sounded to me like the other guy was only in the bike lane because he didnt give him room to move over before the lane ended. Perhaps I misinterpreted as in these situations I generally don't give the benefit of the doubt to someone who is proud of causing an accident over his failure to move over or slow down in the past.

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  16. #16
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    If I see a lane ending sign, I asses the situation and usually merge as soon as I safely can. Then I watch for other drivers to make sure no one is going to merge into me, whether that means me accelerating or decelerating is dependent on the situation. I am no a person that tries to use ever last inch of lane and merge at the last second to end up one car ahead of everyone else for 2 miles until the road opens back up. I am a very mellow driver that lives in an area of other very mellow drivers.
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  17. #17
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    "I let him hit me" humm, I don't think you get it. If two lanes merge to one how would I have room to move over? I could have jumped up on the curb and messed my car up then I would have to pay to fix it.
    I could have slammed on the brakes and gotten rear ended. If I had my 330 I would have sped up, but then I would be breaking the law. BimmerBreaker, at what point do I have to compensate for other peoples mistakes?
    The fact you find my actions unbelievable and not the other drives are, well unbelievable. Sure I could have seen him in my blind spot on my right (because Im really expecting that) and slowed down, but then every one starts passing you on the right, its happened before to me.

    Strangely enough I can't control what others do, only what I do. I think this has everything to do with ego and not reading the signs. People get behind the wheel and its like the world revolves around them.
    If I see the lane ends in front of me I don't speed up to pass the car IN FRONT OF ME in the left lane. That means that car (presuming it is traveling a a regular speed) is going to get to the place where the right lane ends before me and I wont have room there to merge.

    They didn't read the signs then the lane ends then they merge left (which they dont even know because they think their lane never ended) and anyone in their way needs to yield.

  18. #18
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    Simple - Common sense dictates that if you are catching up with the person in front of you - take advantage of the extra lane while you can so yes, go like a bat out of hell although here in Australia you can get booked for speeding even if you are overtaking someone. If you are both traveling at the same speed then pull out sooner than later and see if she is going to pull in to the remaining lane as well. If she doesn't then again Go like a bat.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by ratcat77 View Post
    Common sense dictates...
    If everyone merged before the lane was closed, traffic would move more smoothly. When people exercising "common sense" see an empty lane before them and zoom to the front and try to squeeze in, the lane of cars then has to stop causing a backup.

    This is not common sense, it's being selfish.
    Not so much a signature as a cry for help.

    Hold on, saw this in a cartoon once...think I can pull it off.

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