Highway merging... Was I a jerk?

[tirebob]

So this morning I was coming into work and was merging onto the #2 from the Yankee Valley BLVD entrance. It is one of those merge lane that is probably 1/2 km long and you have plenty of time to get up to highway speed (110KPH).

I am the last car in a line of about 5 or 6 cars. The guy in front of me in his pick up is only doing about 90kph and is not speeding up and there is nobody on the Deerfoot itself beside us, but looking over my shoulder there is a huge cluster of vehicles coming up the highway in all the lanes and nobody is moving into the middle lane to make room. If I was to continue following behind the guy doing 90, the traffic coming from behind on the highway would have more than caught up by the end of the lane and would have created a mess merging, so I decided to floor it and pull out onto the Deerfoot before the huge cluster of traffic boxes in the lane and I proceed into the middle lane.

I was a long way from tailgating Mr. 90km nor did I cut in front of anyone on the highway even remotely close, but as I look over, buddy in the pick up who I was behind in the merge lane is losing his mind and looks like he is pulling his hair out and shoots me the finger while mouthing what I can only assume was a string of curses.

At first I just shrugged and thought it was pretty funny, but then I started thinking about it and I am now wondering, was I an asshole by doing this and deserved the scolding? It seemed like a safer move to me, and I did not cut anyone off nor was I tailgating the guy by a long shot. Did I break some kind of merging etiquette and now need to flog myself or was this guy simply getting bent out of shape over nothing?

Just wondering how fellow Beyonders feel about this type of scenario...

[G-ZUS]

I would have done the same thing

[Marsh]

I think you are fine. Its guys like the truck driver that are the idiots that don't realize they need to speed up to the highway speed, and the merge lane is the place to do so.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Meh, I couldn't care less if I saw someone do that. I will merge on to deerfoot early too (just before the dotted line starts) if people are driving too slowly preventing me from merging safely and there is nobody behind me (don't want to spray rocks). The majority of Calgarians don't understand what this sign means, let alone the having to deal with a normal merge:


This means "yield and/or stop" to most people:

[Str1der]

Did you cut across the painted median?

[RealJimmyJames]

You crossed the painted median? Illegal and a dick move.

[whiteout]

I do it all the time, people think that their car will magically get up to speed when they cross the line for some reason.

[vengie]

I have done the same thing many times on that merge... I don't understand why people can't grasp the concept of merging INTO THE FLOW of traffic.

[btimbit]

That guy was a hazard and you distanced yourself from the hazard. I see no issue if, like you say, you never tailgated anyone and didn't cut anyone off.

The guy that flipped you off was probably the type of person that takes it as n insult to their ego if you pass them. Or maybe when you sped up a rock hit his windshield or somethng

[tirebob]

Definitely was not tailgating nor did I cut anyone off. and there was no gravel as the lanes were swept last week. I would never spray a car around me with gravel. I crossed over two lanes to the middle lane so as to not impede the others merging further down. I did however cross over before the broken painted line for sure, but as described, this merge lane a really, really long and I would have been merging into a huge cluster of cars if I rode it out behind the under speed merger in front of me.

[Kloubek]

Personally, I never cross on a solid line. It's illegal, and what gives me the right to do this?

On the other hand, if the guy wasn't getting up to speed (though 90 is pretty close), then I see why you did so. If I was feeling forced to do this, I would pull out, and then immediately pull into the left lane. You didn't mention what you did after you pulled onto Deerfoot before he did. If you kept in the adjacent lane, you effectively block him from performing a merge while you presumably passed him. IMO, that would indeed a dick move. Not to say he had zero fault, as a merge lane is *supposed* to be to get up to highway speed.

I make a lot of questionable moves, myself. But when I do, I make sure there is lots of room everywhere and I don't scare or piss anyone off. Usually when I make a move someone might raise eyebrows to, it is actually designed to be courteous. For example, I work on 114th SE and when I am driving west, if I'm stopped for Barlow traffic I'll generally get to speed pretty quickly once green to ensure that nobody is anywhere close to me when I turn into my work. I'm doing it so nobody tailgates me, nor has to slow down because I'm going to be turning.

This morning I sped up to well over speed limit to take the ramp from Stoney onto 114th. I could have just moved over, put my signal on, and waited for someone to let me in - but the coast was clear up above so I went for it. I tend to do this at least once every couple of weeks for my exit.

I SAY it is to be courteous, and it certainly is, but I'm not going to lie - I do like punching it every once in a while.

[rx7boi]

So the guy in front of you was doing 90km.

Who was in front of him and how fast were they going? You said you were last in line of a group of 5-6 cars and then you said that there is no one else there besides you guys. Did the other 4-5 cars zoom on ahead?

Seems to me that if you cut onto Deerfoot early and picked up speed in the same lane, you wouldn't be giving him room (coming from behind) to merge.

Dick move if that's the case.

Premature mergers cause nervousness amongst other drivers, especially if they pick up speed without letting those in front of them a chance to merge as well.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by tirebob
Definitely was not tailgating nor did I cut anyone off. and there was no gravel as the lanes were swept last week. I would never spray a car around me with gravel. I crossed over two lanes to the middle lane so as to not impede the others merging further down. I did however cross over before the broken painted line for sure, but as described, this merge lane a really, really long and I would have been merging into a huge cluster of cars if I rode it out behind the under speed merger in front of me.

I got a ticket doing this once. The lineup was huge, about 15 cars all merging onto Henday (Edmonton) with some slow asshole doing 70km/h in what is at least a 1km long merge lane.

Pulled across the solid white, there was a cop 10 cars back.

So in short, I don't think you did anything wrong, the idiot who doesn't know how to merge was clearly wrong. However, you will get screwed by the long dick of the law if caught.

[lilmira]

What about the children?

[blairtruck]

if you are gonna do it. pull into the middle lane. all the time i see people do this. but just cut into the right lane and now the guy merging has to deal with that idiot also.

[Euro838]

I'd do it in my BMW....

[rage2]

I do this every single day going from Crowchild West to Stoney North. People love to drive 70 in that merge lane which is ridiculous. When I can tell the guy in front is going to fuck me over and there's nobody behind me, I actually slow down and make a gap to give me room to accelerate up to 100 and merge in before catching up to the slow driver.

People who merge slow onto a fucking highway are one of the most dangerous drivers on the road. Speed differential kills.

[tirebob]

We all left the red light just before the entrance and turned onto the merge lane at the same time.

I was the last car in the line. The 3 or 4 cars in front of him were up to merging speed and had pulled away quite a ways but had not yet merged onto the highway.

The guy in front of me was not speeding up with traffic. I did not crowd him at all though and would have rode it out to the end of the merge lane except for the crowd of traffic approaching from behind already on the Deerfoot, and many of them were sitting in the far right lane that we needed to merge into.

I did pull out early as there was zero chance of cutting of the traffic from behind at this point, but they would have caught up by the end of the merge lane. I also moved over two full lanes into the middle lane of the three lane highway and I did not pass the slow moving guy who was in front of me until I was in the middle lane.

I wasn't being aggressive nor was I trying to prove a point to him. I simply wanted to move out onto the highway before the traffic coming up closed us all in. I was being calm and simply assessed the traffic and did what I figured would create the least amount of traffic squall.

[dandia89]

i take memorial to deerfoot south. it's a cluster fuck getting onto deerfoot, especially when people are going 0km trying to get onto blackfoot/17ave. you gotta get onto deerfoot speed some how, it's dangerous. some guy got mad at me because i did something like you mentioned, he decided to blair his horn, proceed to lane split just to get ahead of me to slam his breaks ahead of me. company vehicle and all.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by rage2
When I can tell the guy in front is going to fuck me over and there's nobody behind me,

That's the thing, mergers (in front), who don't match the FLOW OF TRAFFIC are either doing it on purpose, or incapable driving highways.

(I wasn't there), but knowing Tirebob, I doubt you did it to endanger anyone or make situations worse.

On the other hand, like mentioned. If I was the vehicle in front and some how the person behind just doesn't want to "WAIT IN LINE" till it was their turn... if they were to cheat, courteous thing to do is to move to middle and furthest left, when safe to do so... because imo, right of way in that situation still goes to vehicle in front (on the immediate right lane)