Remember when you were younger and your mother, father or other family member taught you the importance of sharing? Well, it turns out that sharing is incredibly important and plays a role in the safety of not only you but the people around you when it comes to talking about driving and sharing the road.
Sharing the road is something that many drivers do with some reluctance, which is why there are often problems with road accidents especially on highways where people have to yield and/or merge with traffic. Just the other week, I was preparing to get on the highway during rush hour traffic (which I typically avoid), and I couldn t believe how aggressive other drivers were being. I had to literally fight my way to get into the flow of traffic that was already on the highway.
What people often fail to realize is that traffic jams often occur when one driver won t allow another driver who is well within their right to do so, to merge into traffic. Instead, the two drivers will often fight it out with the one driver who is already on the highway speeding up so as to block out the other driver who is trying to merge in with traffic. In other cases, the drivers who are already on the highway won t allow the other driver to merge in, and the other driver who is either too timid or too tired to fight, will sit there on the shoulder, holding up other traffic while they wait for a more friendly driver to let them in.
Either way, merging and sharing the roadway in this instance seems to be a lose lose situation. Traffic jams often revolve around areas where merging is involved, so depending on the number of on and off exit ramps you have on a highway, you could be looking at some fairly lengthy delays. There are also other factors of course, such as toll booths, etc. So, what is the solution to sharing the road when merging then? Well, there really isn t any one simple solution. We are living in a world that is becoming more and more crowded each day. One tip for those people who are trying to merge is that you do have to be slightly aggressive in the fact that you cannot simply “wait” for a nice person to let you in. Instead, you have to make a move and stick to it. If you see even the slightest opportunity to nose your way in, throw your indicator on and start in for the kill. In addition, it is extremely important that you stay with the flow of traffic. It is okay to be a cautious driver, but at the same time, you cannot expect to hold up traffic by merging in and then slowing down. These types of drivers may or may not be responsible for slow moving traffic where there should be none.
Remember, when you are driving, you have to be both vigilant and responsible. Additionally, when sharing the road with others, learn to know when it is okay to merge in with traffic by being cautious, but not overly so that you wind up causing major delays on the road for others.