Pay attention at a yield please

[curtis rosche]

Next time you're at a yield, be it an on ramp or off ramp or whatever, please look to see that the truck coming doesn't have a trailer attached. I've been driving a diesel 3500 dualie for awhile now with a 30 ft trailer, and I find it incredible the people who don't notice the trailer attached with bright colored swing sets. I waited two hours in queens ny today for a cop to come do a police report cause a guy "didn't notice" a 30ft trailer.
Please be safe on the road and remember that the truck with trailer can't always just change lanes to make room for you

[Kevin Aylward]

Yield signs are one of the most misunderstood road signs out there curt. A friend of mine swore that the yield meant that you simply did not have to stop, and that it was required that traffic should shift lanes to accomodate the entering vehicle to the traffic flow. We argued for years about this until I had him cornered with one of his own friends who is a traffic cop. I stated what I had learned in drivers Education as a kid, and his friend, the cop, verified that I was correct. A "Yield" sign means exactly this, and nothing else: You are to Yield the right of way to oncoming traffic, AND STOP IF NECESSARY! The last part is of paramount importance. You must actually STOP if required to accomadate the traffice that is already in the main traffic flow. NOT the other way around. Over the years I have witnessed far too many accidents that resulted from the obvious gross misunderstanding of this basic road law. As for a trailer.... Good luck with that. I'm amazed that a great many drivers survive around simple passenger vehicles.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It's the aggressive nature of US drivers in general that scares me to death as I see a trend towards more "Round-abouts" in this country. Roundabouts are more opportunities to disregard or ignore the yield function.

[Steve Meliza]

Around here traffic coming down the on-ramp to the highway thinks it can just putter along at 45MPH while looking straight ahead then at the last moment expect you to make room for them just because their lane is now ending. I've had people merging onto the highway blow their horn at me because they felt I didn't do a good enough job at getting out of their way. At present I drive a diesel F-350 so it has all of the acceleration, deceleration, and blind spots of a freight train. I feel your pain having to pull a trailer too around these clowns.

I thought everyone knew what a yield was, but based on what Kevin posted maybe there is a fair amount of the population that doesn't know. In my mind that's a deadly weapon we're driving around in so we all have a responsibility to know and follow the rules.

[Jim Matthews]

It's the aggressive nature of US drivers in general that scares me to death as I see a trend towards more "Round-abouts" in this country. Roundabouts are more opportunities to disregard or ignore the yield function.

The difference with rotaries is that the collisions are lateral, not head on or crossing paths.
http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/roundabouts/fhwasa08006/

We have one in nearby Fall River, MA which has it's share of aggressive drivers accelerating through the interchange.
It has been maintained as the main entry point for three major schools and the young drivers that attend.

It's a simple matter to park a marked police car and prosecute those that fail to yield.
Prosecution of this, as the core behavior that leads to MVAs is a local priority.

I'm more concerned about drivers on their phones than speeders in rotaries.

As to the OP, I think beginning drivers particularly those in heavy traffic areas are
wholly ignorant of physics. A lack of respect for Newton's second law of motion is at the bottom of this.

It's unfortunate that the first lesson in this is too often fatal.

[glenn bradley]

Merging traffic means both flows are to merge. The goof-balls Steve mentions who just drive till their lane disappears and then expect there to be a spot for them are no worse that the folks already in the lane that can't seem to slightly decrease the pressure on the accelerator to allow someone in. It takes two to tango. If you are in the right hand lane it is your responsibility to expect and adjust for oncoming traffic as well as anyone coming from the other lanes trying to prepare for an exit. If you are merging into a traffic flow, it is your responsibility to adjust your speed to safely merge into an opening. If either of these are too much responsibility for you, take the bus :D.

[Jim Matthews]

Around here... expect you to make room for them just because their lane is now ending. I've had people merging onto the highway blow their horn at me because they felt I didn't do a good enough job at getting out of their way.

I'm on the fence about this one. I drive as if I were skiing - can see them coming, they may not see me.
I don't know how it is in Oregon, but the Massholes like to overtake traffic on the right, often speeding in the merge lane.

In a nutshell, the law says you must yield to traffic already on the artery.
The flipside is that if you can't get up to speed in the merge lane, you're always in jeopardy.

I've had two recent instances where cube trucks clearly accelerated as I attempted to merge, rather than slow to allow a smooth entrance.
This is on a road that is constantly the subject of State Patrol sweeps, your conditions may vary.

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/07/26/state-police-reveal-details-route-patrol-surge/CaSs0m8hzk1p1bHmji07GN/story.html

[Paul McGaha]

I live in Ashburn, Virginia. A suburb of Washington DC.

There are some very aggresive drivers around here. Some to the point of being reckless. One time I had a guy cut in front of me entering a toll booth. Came within a whisker of taking out both our cars and the toll booth.

I came up here from Louisiana when I was 30 years old. The drivers in Louisiana were much more conservative (friendly).

PHM

[Brian Elfert]

Merging traffic means both flows are to merge. The goof-balls Steve mentions who just drive till their lane disappears and then expect there to be a spot for them are no worse that the folks already in the lane that can't seem to slightly decrease the pressure on the accelerator to allow someone in. It takes two to tango. If you are in the right hand lane it is your responsibility to expect and adjust for oncoming traffic as well as anyone coming from the other lanes trying to prepare for an exit. If you are merging into a traffic flow, it is your responsibility to adjust your speed to safely merge into an opening. If either of these are too much responsibility for you, take the bus :D.

A number of drivers treat a lane that ends as an opportunity to bypass all the nearly stopped traffic in the other two lanes that continue on. There is one particular highway I travel every day where folks use the lane that ends as a way on the left to bypass traffic and then wait until the absolute last second to merge over. Many drivers in the lanes that continue on will not let them in. I'm usually in the right lane, but then I have to deal with the idiots merging in from another highway. Often times I'll leave space for ONE car to merge in and two or three cars will force there way in instead of waiting the extra five seconds for me to go by and merge behind me. (The highway is often at a dead stop even at 4 pm in the afternoon.)

The whole interchange in this case needs to be rebuilt, but it will never happen in my lifetime due to money and I'm only in my 40s. If they do rebuild it MNDOT will do it on the cheap and not really improve anything. It really needs flyover bridges, but MNDOT rarely builds flyovers due to cost. MNDOT rebuilt one interchange twice in the last 15 years because they did it on the cheap the first time and used stop lights on a freeway. They did use flyover bridges when they rebuilt the interchange two years ago. MNDOT is rebuilding another major interchange right now and they simply removed several ramps instead of building flyovers again due to money.

[Phil Thien]

It's the aggressive nature of US drivers in general that scares me to death as I see a trend towards more "Round-abouts" in this country. Roundabouts are more opportunities to disregard or ignore the yield function.

I agree w/ you on that one.

People familiar with local traffic will often go berserk at people that are "in the way." Slow them down one tiny bit and they go nuts with vulgarities, flipping fingers, etc.

[Jeremy Hamaker]

Well, in WA state, the law on merging is that if you are the one merging, you are -required- to yield the right of way. So on a Freeway/interstate, it is absolutely NOT a legal responsibility of someone within that roadway to accommodate you. As far as speeding up to not let someone in, unless it is a violation of some other traffic law, adjusting your speed within legal limits is not an infraction as it relates to someone trying to merge. (it's just really mean).
On that note, I find myself in sticky situations a lot more as the one merging: When I'm moderating my speed to insert myself into traffic, sometimes that "kind" person I'm planning to get in behind suddenly slows waaaay down to let me in. Not only have they interfered at that point with the smooth flow of all traffic behind them, but they now force me to either accelerate as much as I can at the last second, to get in ahead of them or to come to a stop if I can't. Which then jams up everyone else who is trying to merge behind me. All that being said, WA state law says that if an accident occurs during a merge, it is prima facie evidence (hey, not my fancy latin. That's the phrase in the actual regulation) that the merger did not yield as they were supposed to. So it is always the merger's fault.

Anecdotally, CO drivers were the most oblivious and dangerous I've seen, of the three states I've lived in. They have a habit of turning directly to the right, while two or more lanes away from the right lane. They cut across any other traffic flowing with them to do it.
GA drivers are not so much 'reckless' they just drive by a different unspoken rulebook. From what I've seen, the two biggest rules are: The speed limit signs really mean "on freeways, only go 15 over that. On roadways, only go 10 over" and "A red light in a left turn lane means -only three more cars can go-." However, since everybody in GA seems to know these unspoken rules, traffic flows pretty smooth, but very fast. Also, nobody oncoming goes when their light turns green, until those last 3 cars make their left turn on red...
WA drivers generally seem to be followers of the rules, except as mentioned above where their extra politeness actually screws everything up. And if you're anywhere near the Seattle area, most of the time it's not a concern because nobody is capable of moving fast enough in that traffic to worry about dangerous merging...

[Brian Elfert]

The law may require merging drivers to yield, but what about when traffic is at or near a dead stop? If the drivers already on the highway didn't slow down to create space for them nobody would ever be able to get onto the highway. Is traffic on the on ramp just supposed to back up all the way onto the other highway?

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

People seem to lose their manners when they sit behind the wheel of a vehicle or straddle a bike (engine or pedal). Put them in a similar situation when buying groceries, gathering in a crowd or sitting down at a restaurant and they have to account for their rude behavior. They are not likely to rush over and sit down in some other patron's empty seat at the table like they would otherwise do in a parking lot.

[Jeremy Hamaker]

Actually, in my review of the WA traffic law regulations today, and the drivers' handbook, it doesn't really say anything. Usually the frustration and law come into play when all is moving at regular speeds. As far as when everybody's stopped, then fortunately most people tend to work together in most places I've been and it just 'works out'. It's not so much 'merging' and right-of-way at that point, but rather kind of 'mushing' all together without trading any paint. But then, that kind of transcends traffic law and moves into the realm of the Social Contract. And yeah, I'm in the camp of those here who are saddened/sickened at how strained the Social Contract has become over past years.
Interestingly though in light of your question, here in the Seattle Metro Area, at peak hours (which are getting wider in the morning and wider in the evening) the ramps become metered. So lights stop the merging vehicles and only let one move the rest of the way down the on ramp at a time with an interval in between. At rush hour (well, rush three hours), backing up onto the other roads is exactly what does happen. I've spent a half hour on a side road from time to time before I even get to the on-ramp because of this...

[Brian Elfert]

The ramp I often see merging problems at is metered. MNDOT has a policy that they will not allow the meter lights to back traffic up onto local roads or another highway. The meter lights don't help at this ramp because if they held traffic long enough to make merging easier the traffic would back up well onto the other highway.

MNDOT changed their entire metering strategy some years back as there was a lot of thought among the public that metering did not help traffic flow. Many local streets were blocked with traffic waiting to get on the highway.

[Steve Meliza]

I think metering usually helps and often spreads out the incoming cars enough to where the merging has a better chance of happening. But sometimes those meters are pointless or make it worse.

On my way to work I enter at a meter so close to the highway that it is impossible to get up to speed in most vehicles before being forced to either try merging into traffic with a large speed disparity or be forced to stay in the lane and take the next exit so you can try again. What's stupid is the area behind the meter light has enough room for about 40 cars yet I've never sen more than 10 at the height of the rush. Most of the time it is 2 or 3 cars.
On the way home the on ramp is so popular that traffic does back up and plug up the right lane of the other road which ripples back through all of the other secondary roads and makes a real mess of things. However, the meter is far enough from the highway to allow getting up to speed in all but the slowest of vehicles despite it being an uphill climb to the highway. Unfortunately trucks use the ramp too and they can't climb the hill very quickly so what you get are a truck and 3 or 4 slow moving cars reaching the highway in a tight knot.
Both metering lights fail to be effective when traffic on the highway slows because the bottleneck becomes the merge point and not the metering light.

For anyone driving in Oregon here is ORS 811.285(1):
A person commits the offense of failure of a merging driver to yield the right of way if the person is operating a vehicle that is entering a freeway or other arterial highway where an acceleration or merging lane is provided for the operators use and the operator does not look out for and give right of way to vehicles on the freeway or other arterial highway.

Emphasis on "look out for" is my own. Obviously in bumper to bumper traffic the polite thing to do is merge with every other car even though the vehicle on the highway could legally block the merging cars from entering.

Similarly there is a law for what to do at yield signs and one that says you can't operate "in a manner that impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of traffic". So I'd say if traffic is flowing smoothly at 55+MPH and you jam on your brakes to let a car merge in then you've broken Oregon law. Not that they'd enforce it unless a wreck resulted.

[Mike Cozad]

I thought everyone knew what a yield was, but based on what Kevin posted maybe there is a fair amount of the population that doesn't know.

My experience has been that most folks today think a yield sign means "let them sort it out behind me"....

I travel weekly for work between Toledo and SE Kentucky. I can tell you I have seen my share of strange and dangerous maneuvers by careless folks. Its amazing how many will pull out in front of a fast moving vehicle from that yield or stop sign, causing that person to have to slow to avoid a rear end collision and there was no one in the lane behind making merging/turning safe. Its baffling every time I see it or it happens to me....

[curtis rosche]

Should I mention that I was driving through Queens NY on a side road of 495. My route the last two days was on Long Island

[Curt Fuller]

People seem to lose their manners when they sit behind the wheel of a vehicle or straddle a bike (engine or pedal). Put them in a similar situation when buying groceries, gathering in a crowd or sitting down at a restaurant and they have to account for their rude behavior. They are not likely to rush over and sit down in some other patron's empty seat at the table like they would otherwise do in a parking lot.
That is so true. Put people behind the wheel of a car, tint their windows, and they do things they would never do in any other public situation. Something about the anonymity of hiding inside a car that really brings out the worst characteristics in people.

[Tom Fischer]

Yes, more of a problem than just yield signs.
Many drivers just have a disregard for safety.
Maybe it's the cell phones.
Maybe it's a general "dumbing-down".
I know that in NJ motorcycle crashes (and fatalities) are way up.
In nearby PA, drivers are totally crazy.
I go there a lot.
Most local roads are 40 mph.
I stay in the limit.
At least one car will pass me on a double yellow line, often up a hill or on a curve (no visibility)
It's like playing russian roulette, just to get there a little faster.
Definitely something has changed in the past few decades.

[Jim Koepke]

Bad driving habits are amazing.

I have changed mine over the years. Now if someone is too close behind, my right blinker goes on, I slow down and make them pass if possible and safe.

I used to stay back at least two seconds. Then I noticed that people behind me by two seconds appear close in the rear view mirror, so now I follow by three seconds. I find it strange that three seconds in front of me there will be a few cars together in a tight group. Some folks just can not seem to get away from tail gating. I have even been in the right lane on a multi-lane road with some idiot who insists on riding my bumper. Often changing lanes will get them to pass and go hug the bumper of the next car up.

I would love to see a nation wide police action against tail gating drivers.

Another action I would like to see is against people who get in the left lane and then force everyone to go around them on the right, especially if they are yacking away on a cell phone.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Another action I would like to see is against people who get in the left lane and then force everyone to go around them on the right, especially if they are yacking away on a cell phone.jtk

I would like to see NASCAR rules apply to this; if you won't allow the overtaking vehicles to pass we should be allowed to get up under their bumper and put them into the guard rail.
It's my belief that municipalities could be entirely funded by prosecuting the "no cell-phones while driving" laws on the books.

http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html

[Brian Elfert]

Folks who drive in the left lane at the speed limit will argue to their dying day they have every right to use that lane. They will argue that anyone wishing to go faster than them is breaking the law by speeding. Some of them will travel in the left lane to prove a point and slow down traffic. Others do it because they don't want to deal with merging traffic.

[Pat Barry]

Many drivers I see are rude and beligerent. In northern MN for example there is a US Hwy 2 that is two lanes, one in each direction, and the speed limit is 60. It is a difficult / dangerous road to pass on and consequently there are some designated passing zones with a middle lane added expressly for that purpose. I can't tell you how often, but it is most of the time, that drivers will actually speed up when they get to the passing zone, just in order to keep from being passed. Its frankly amazing. This happens with virtually all types of drivers, then, as soon as the passing lane is over, they slow back down. I seriously would like to be able to use Jim's Nascar bumper method on these folks.