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WAY OT, merge sign, improvement?

cyanidekid

Titanium
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Location
Brooklyn NYC
I was just looking at 99%invisible (a great website and podcast), and they were discussing improvements to the merge road sign, and this is what I came up with. What do you think?

IMG_6697.jpg
 
Won't matter. I'll still merge half a mile before the lane ends and someone will still fly by me at twice the speed limit and swerve over into the correct lane at the last possible second.
 
Won't matter. I'll still merge half a mile before the lane ends and someone will still fly by me at twice the speed limit and swerve over into the correct lane at the last possible second.

While we are OT, who the hell are those ^ people? Teenagers? Olds? The Blind? Who said they are okay to drive?
 
One does not "improve" street signs.
If you can't figure out the old one perhaps you should not be driving.
People will always "cut in", sometimes you need to nudge their back bumper at 60+ MPH to let them get the hint that you also know how to drive fast.
A little unload twitch of the rear end of the dickhead does wonders for your mood.
Mostly I just let them in, realize they are "no-drives" and maybe cut them close when the road opens back up.
Bob
 
I thought the merge sign meant incoming traffic is supposed to smash into traffic on the main roadway.

"Oh look, we've merged" "Our two vehicles are now as one, won't that make things easier for the smelter?
 
I was just looking at 99%invisible (a great website and podcast), and they were discussing improvements to the merge road sign, and this is what I came up with. What do you think?

View attachment 200968

Hello Cyanidekid
"Oh, now I get it!!!", I said out loud to myself, after I read this yesterday when I came in for supper & hrs. later, when I went back to work, it donned on me that's a "zipper merge" sign, not a "merge" sign.:crazy:
 
Believe it or not, you're part of the problem.

Zipper merging is the solution.

In a civil, law abiding society, yes zipper merging would work.

But not when people use the on ramp as a passing lane for both the right and left side passing, violating several laws in the process.

But more importantly, putting the law abiding driver at risk.

Drivers that want to drive off a cliff, go right ahead, but leave me out
of your pursuit.
 
A considerable amount of the "cutting in" is to pass the Yokel doing 45 in a 60 mph zone.
I was behind one recently, but being in a generous mood I let him live. (also I had forgotten my AR-10)
 
In a civil, law abiding society, yes zipper merging would work.

But not when people use the on ramp as a passing lane for both the right and left side passing, violating several laws in the process.

But more importantly, putting the law abiding driver at risk.

Drivers that want to drive off a cliff, go right ahead, but leave me out
of your pursuit.

IMO, the biggest problem with merging is people thinking they have been personally attacked when someone overtakes them in an adjacent lane. You'd think we were a bunch of Brits indignant over someone not obeying the "queuing" rules.

Fact is, those people who merge over 1/2 mile early, leaving the right-hand land completely empty, are fucking up the entire traffic system. Then they curse those that dare use the right-hand lane AS IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED and then don't let them in, causing fender benders, erratic driving, road rage, and other traffic-slowing behavior. You're trying to turn a throughway with 2 lanes of capacity into a 1 lane capacity, probably also bitching about how the Dept of Transportation won't do anything to improve the traffic congestion.

We're all just trying to get home. Stop getting butthurt that someone wants to merge in front of you. It's not a personal insult.
 
The idea I always favored is one with the direction of travel facing up and a graphic that shows 2 lines of cars merging into one in a manner that makes it clear that the 2 lanes are supposed to take turns (alternate). I don't have a link to a graphic but I have seen variants. The big sticking point with innovative road signs is the Federal governments insistence on dictating what is allowed.

As for driver behavior, in instances where cars ARE behaving in an orderly manner while waiting to merge I have noticed that as soon as a few special people decide to jump ahead of their turn the rest begin to abandon orderliness and fight for space in a free for all.
 
IMO, the biggest problem with merging is people thinking they have been personally attacked when someone overtakes them in an adjacent lane. You'd think we were a bunch of Brits indignant over someone not obeying the "queuing" rules.

Fact is, those people who merge over 1/2 mile early, leaving the right-hand land completely empty, are fucking up the entire traffic system. Then they curse those that dare use the right-hand lane AS IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED and then don't let them in, causing fender benders, erratic driving, road rage, and other traffic-slowing behavior. You're trying to turn a throughway with 2 lanes of capacity into a 1 lane capacity, probably also bitching about how the Dept of Transportation won't do anything to improve the traffic congestion.

We're all just trying to get home. Stop getting butthurt that someone wants to merge in front of you. It's not a personal insult.

I'm writing about the lane you use to enter a highway....I've not exactly figured out what you mean (1/2 mile early, making 2 lanes to 1), but it sounds like your one of the problems
running all over the lanes, with no turn signals, cutting people off.

I'm not butt hurt at all, I will stop at your crash site and wave good riddance, then drive on.

Safely.
 
I'm writing about the lane you use to enter a highway....I've not exactly figured out what you mean (1/2 mile early, making 2 lanes to 1), but it sounds like your one of the problems
running all over the lanes, with no turn signals, cutting people off.

I'm not butt hurt at all, I will stop at your crash site and wave good riddance, then drive on.

Safely.

I got mixed up when you quoted my post talking about "merging 1/2 mile early" as I thought you were continuing that topic. I missed you switching it to another situation.
 
I hate other drivers who drive way up to the front and cut in at the last second.

I hate other drivers who move over 1/2 mile ahead then fall asleep, leaving 8 car gaps in front of them so that everyone behind them is slowed down, and all the other drivers who zip to the front of the line have a huge open space to pull into.

I hate other drivers. Period.
 
I thought using one lane early was just a PA thing. Sure doesn't happen in NJ, it's a free for all there, the shoulders get used to make a 4 lane out of 2. PENNDOT has started putting up portable signs that say 'Use both lanes to merge point' and that seems to help.
 
Penn DOT is crazy. Near Gettysburg there was a freeway onramp with a STOP sign at the bottom where it merged with the freeway. Left no space to get up to speed before merging. WTF were they thinking.
 








 
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