How to properly merge on a busy highway?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 23 Jul, 2023
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If vehicles are driving at 100km/h (= 60 mph) and the space between all of them is less than the length of your car, then they are all homicidal maniacs.
Even assuming the are all “tailgating”, their minimum reaction time will be about half a second, and at 100km/h they will travel about 14 meters in that distance. An average sized compact car is about 5 meters long, or less.
Matching your speed with the other traffic and slotting into a gap is mostly about confidence. Most other drivers are intelligent enough to know that is what you want to do (why else would you be driving on the slip lane?) and won’t aggressively stop you doing it – but unless you car is displaying “learner” plates, they won’t give you more room than you need.
What the car behind you on the slip lane does is not your problem. Applying the basic principle of “don’t drive so fast that you can’t stop within the distance you can see is clear”, insurance companies usually take the view that in a rear-end collision, the rear driver is automatically the one who is at fault.
But remember the driver behind you is probably planning to move into the next gap behind the one that you take, and so of course he/she will be driving fairly close behind you. If you hesitate or slow down, then you are potentially causing a hazardous situation by doing something unexpected.
Try to not get influenced by other drivers who are breaking the rules.
It’s ‘his problem’ he is tailgating and he will be at fault if he hits you.
Driving a Smart people often do not want to let me get in front of them (has the reputation of slow car because it in fact does not accelerate that fast.) and what I do is turn on my signals a little early*, making people aware that I’m planning to merge soon. If you see a space coming up behind the car next to you, brake a little.
If there truly is no space, or the cars have the option to go to a lane on the left to make room for you, try to make a slight movement to the left and see what the cars do. If they brake or start to switch lanes, move in.
It’s never good to enforce your place on the road, but if doing so is the safest option (or at least safer than ending up beyond the end of the merging lane) you should do it, with caution.
*This was a tip my driving instructor gave me because I was scared to merge. You should wait with turning on your signals until you actually plan to move, but in practice it’s often much safer in these situations to do so before you want to move.
Easy. You slowly brake and wait for space in the main lanes of traffic. Should the driver behind you crash into your car, he would be considered at-fault in pretty much every jurisdiction out there as tailgating is strictly prohibited.
Another thing you might do is flash your brake lights a few times to indicate your intentions. Hopefully this should signal the car behind you to back off.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘