Aren’t we trying to live in a society? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

afmcorp · #31 08-08-2005, 06:24 PM

well i really don't believe education is the problem. i really think it is accountability. how many of us have seen "blood on the asphalt [or highway??] is that movie on your mind today. likely not.

i call this mentality "THE KING KONG SYNDROME" why you ask well... it seems that once an individual enters their car they seem to feel invincible that no one can touch them. so they do all sorts of crazy and hazardous driving. i feel they do this because they feel they have no accountability.... my example is... you take that same person who just cut you off or slammed on the brakes or committed some other infraction and you put him in a grocery store with all the lines full and it's 6pm on Friday they would never even attempt to cut in line. why? because now they know they can be singled out and held accoutable for their actions.

we have become a "no harm no foul" society with so many of these jerks thinking they can get a way with it because they are in their car and you can't touch them.

with that said there also doesn't seem to be any shortage of "AIRHEADS" on the roads either!

just my two cents

MarkC · #32 08-09-2005, 12:16 AM

[QUOTE=MarkCl]Originally Posted by MarkC
. . . there will be traffic merging and entering the freeway. I have no choice but to move to the left lane to let the merging traffic in (they have the yield sign, yet would rather sideswipe you than yield), or I could hit my brakes (turning off the cruise) and slow as not to inconvenience those who are suppose to yield in the first place.[/qoute]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benzadmiral

Whatever happened to the notion, clearly printed in my driver's license study materials in 1976, that drivers on the roadway (esp. an interstate or other higher-speed road) *share the responsibility* for making sure merging traffic gets into the flow safely? The merging drivers themselves have primary responsibility, of course; and nobody says you should dive unsafely into the center lane just to let somebody in from the right. But the idea of adjusting your speed so that merging traffic can either get in safely ahead of you, or can fall in behind you, seems to have vanished . . .

. . . Oh. Right.

I used the horrible terms "responsibility" and "safely," and had the unmitigated gall to suggest an American driver should let someone onto the highway *ahead* of him. Question answered. My bad.

I never wrote that I go into an occupied, or soon to be occupied lane. When you drive the speed limit and others drive 10-20 over, it doesn’t take long for a driver, several car lengths back, to catch up.

The roads I‘m writing of all have yield signs for merging traffic that enters the freeway. So, merging traffic must yield to traffic already on the highway which is the right lane (where I normally drive unless I’m passing [very rare] or when other non-yielding traffic merge into my lane from the on ramp [cooperating with traffic patterns]).

I NEVER speed up to block anyone, what you wrote suggest that, I have no problem with anyone getting in front of me (everyone passes me on the highway anyways) as they enter the free way, BUT if they are going slower than the speed limit as they enter, and I see that there could be a close collision if one of us don’t alter our course and yield, and there is a clear lane to the left, I will go into that clear left lane. I will not speed up to allow some in behind me, as I’m already going the max speed allowed by law (I’d drive a 120+ and leave most everyone on the road behind if it was legal...I have 6 years of experience driving those speeds on a regular basis, 100mph feels comfortable). It’s not my fault the speed limits are set so low, I merely obey them to avoid getting a ticket.

The next lane to the right lane (could be the left lane on a two lane road) is the lane I usually merge over to as to allow merging traffic a space to be in as they enter the freeway (even though they are the ones that have the yield sign). But I only do this if it’s clear, and sometimes the merging traffic will match my speed, or slowly go from the speed limit to an amount over. While I’m in the lane next to the right lane, waiting for the first opportunity to safely get over to the right lane, someone will be going much faster than the speed limit and come up behind me and tailgate me because I’m driving the speed limit. So, I can either slow down to 50 and get to the right lane behind the car that just merged (I don‘t do this, because it makes the speeding driver even more furious) , or hold my ground and wait for the merged car to go faster then I am so I can get over to the right lane as soon as I possibly can. Sometimes then, the car tailgating me will whip it over to the right lane and pass me on the right before there is room for me to go right. If they would have waited a few seconds I would have gotten over to the right lane as soon as I possibly can. And I do as they squeeze in between me and the car in the right lane, arm flailing about in protest to me going so slow (which is the max speed allowed by law) in their lane.

What the US really needs are speed cameras like they have in Germany. Police don’t pull over speeders there, they have unmarked and unsuspecting type cars that set up a sophisticated speed trap which takes photos of the car as well as fixed pole mounted cameras (usually at the entrance of a town which is set at 50kph). The offender is given a ticket via the mail. If we had this, most everyone would then be driving much slower at the speed limits. The slower traffic pattern would likely cause even more congestion, and then legislation would be forced to raise the speed limits to reasonable amounts, thus eliminating some of the reasons road rage exist today...By speeders driving at speeds that seem logical to them, yet are higher than the speed limit and which are not compatible with the few drivers who do consciously drive the speed limit.

Remember, the road is a means to get from point A to point B, it is not a race track.

MarkC · #33 08-09-2005, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeronero

I was in Reno this weekend and it was the first time I've ever seen a yield sign on a freeway on-ramp. It doesn't make any sense to me why that sign would be there. I always thought that your suppose to stop and wait for the cars your yielding to pass, so if there would be traffic then stopping would be mandatory if there was a yield sign until there's no cars around. Besides Reno, I've only seen yield signs in situations where the speed limit is low, or where there would be a stop sign but instead is a yield sign. Since your suppose to speed up to get onto the freeway doesn't that make things more difficult and dangerous. Reno does have the most massive freeway construction project that I've seen going on at the moment so that could be why they have the yield signs, but as a permanent feature, I can't see it.

I live in Maryland and most entrances onto a highway will have a long enough lane to allow a driver to get up to the speed limit and get onto the highway. Most of the time there rarely is a problem unless the traffic is a bit heavy. Other problems come when the lane is too short, and of course keeping an eye out for large and slow accelerating vehicle is wise when one is a habitual right lane driver as I am.

Mike Murrell · #34 08-09-2005, 12:43 AM

It would be nice if one of the moderators would either deep six this thread or more it over to the political BS forum.

Benzadmiral · #35 08-09-2005, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkC

I never wrote that I go into an occupied, or soon to be occupied lane. . . .
I NEVER speed up to block anyone, what you wrote suggest that, . . .

Sorry, Mark, I didn't mean to imply that. I was railing against most drivers in America today.

I try not to exceed speed limits either out of fear of tickets, but sometimes you have to pick up the pace a little or get run over. New Orleans isn't anywhere as congested as larger cities, but the people here barely know how to start the car, let alone drive safely. Even three decades ago, when I went in to the DL bureau office and asked for "study materials" for the driver's license exam, the clown behind the counter peered at me as though I had a rutabaga on my head. "Y' wanna *study* for it?"

tvpierce · #36 08-09-2005, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeronero

I always thought that your suppose to stop and wait for the cars your yielding to pass, so if there would be traffic then stopping would be mandatory if there was a yield sign until there's no cars around.

FYI: "Yield" means that you do not have the right of way... and that cars coming from the other direction do.
What you describe is what's required at a "stop" sign. (yielding is implied)
At a "yield" sign you must yield right of way to the other traffic, but you are not required to come to a complete stop. (Note however that if an opening does not present itself in the space leading to the intersection, then you must stop at the intersection until a suitable opening is presented. Contrary to what many drivers seem to believe, just because you are approaching the end of the on-ramp, you still do not have the right of way.)

BTW, "yield" signs are at every interstate on-ramp on the East coast. I'm surprised they're not present on the West coast... interesting.

Jeff Pierce

zeronero · #37 08-09-2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvpierce

Note however that if an opening does not present itself in the space leading to the intersection, then you must stop at the intersection until a suitable opening is presented.

So, say that intersection is a freeway on-ramp; if traffic is heavy with no opening then the vehicles merging on the freeway from the on-ramp should yield to the drivers on the freeway by stopping.

I see the use of both a merge sign and a yield sign contradictory to each other.

tvpierce · #38 08-09-2005, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeronero

So, say that intersection is a freeway on-ramp; if traffic is heavy with no opening then the vehicles merging on the freeway from the on-ramp should yield to the drivers on the freeway by stopping.

That's exactly correct. That is what is required by law. Drivers on the freeway are under no legal obligation to create space for you to merge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeronero

I see the use of both a merge sign and a yield sign contradictory to each other.

The merge sign is a cautionary sign (it's yellow, correct?) Drivers are not required to obey this sign (or any other yellow sign), it is simply there to warn the cars on the freeway that they are approaching an area in which they are likely to encounter merging traffic. Or to inform vehicles on the on-ramp that they need to merge with freeway traffic.
The yield sign, on the other hand is red and white. It is a traffic control device which must be obeyed. It is telling you that you do not have the right of way when merging onto the highway.

Jeff Pierce

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