A Guide On How To Merge Onto The Highway

Ok Amarillo, enough is enough. I don't know what it is with trying to get on the highway here, but I swear it's like being in a scene out of the movie Clueless. You know, the one where Stacy Dash is learning how to drive, then accidentally gets on the freeway?

It's time to be better than this, for real. Let's talk about this and see if we can all get on the same page.

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ON RAMP

The term "on ramp" means a ramp to get onto something. It is intended to be a bit long before you actually enter the freeway. Why is that? SO YOU CAN GET UP TO SPEED!! If you decide to just stroll along at about 35-40 mph, you're either going to cause an accident or jam up the highway at every single one of these. The gas pedal, you know the one on the right side, depresses and the car accelerates. Let's start using it properly.

MERGING ON

Tip 1...use your blinker. Yes, drivers SHOULD know you're trying to get over since you're on the on ramp, but letting them know you're trying to enter is just the right thing to do. Tip 2...try and time your entry to safely land either in front of a car or behind a car in the lane. Don't try to race the person on the freeway and match their speed. You're the one who runs out of room, not them. Tip 3...ONE LANE AT A TIME! Stop trying to shoot over from the on ramp to the middle lane. I see this more often than I care to, and it's the fastest way to cause a 13 car pileup that ends up on the news. Don't be that person.

HIGHWAY ETIQUETTE

Ok, so you're the person in the lane next to the on ramp. You see someone getting ready to merge on to the highway, but you're slightly behind them. Instead of just punching it and trying to stay in front of them, how about dropping off about 5 mph for 10 seconds to let them on? It's not a race and you aren't going to be late by letting someone get on the highway. If it's a busy time of day and traffic is moving slow, adhere to the "every other car" rule. How this works is rather simple. You let someone enter the highway in front of you, then you go, then the person behind you let's someone on, then they go. I'm telling you, traffic would continuously flow if we would just do this. When someone ends up at a dead stop on the on ramp, it backs that up as well. Then finally a good and decent person decides to let someone in. Unfortunately, the people behind that one car you're letting in are now frustrated and 3 cars tailgate the one car and you stop traffic dead on the highway because now YOU can't move.

I promise you, if we'd just follow these rules, we would be less frustrated on the highway and we'd see a lot less of these common road rage practices.