What is your pet peeve of the day?

[Chuckanut]

So go back and give a big smile and a 'Thank You' to those drivers you were cussing out!

So I'll add a pet-peeve - people who get mad at efficient drivers who understand it is best to merge late!

-ERD50

+1

Hmm.... I find myself agreeing with ERD50 far to often these days. Obviously, he's learned a lot over the last few years.

 

[HFWR]

So I'll add a pet-peeve - people who get mad at efficient drivers who understand it is best to merge late!

-ERD50

I'd bet they're doing it to get ahead of other drivers, not to be efficient...

 

[bld999]

Zipper Merge[/URL]



So go back and give a big smile and a 'Thank You' to those drivers you were cussing out!

So I'll add a pet-peeve - people who get mad at efficient drivers who understand it is best to merge late!

-ERD50

MN dot conjured the bold part out of thin air:

"Benefits

• Reduces differences in speeds between two lanes
• Reduces the overall length of traffic backup by as much as 40 percent
• Reduces congestion on freeway interchanges
• Creates a sense of fairness and equity that all lanes are moving at the same rate"

For most, it creates a sense of unfairness and inequity that they have been instructed to move right, and the few cheat to advance at the expense of others. If dot's know for a fact that merging is faster, the signs should be changed to read: "construction ahead, stay in your current lane and be prepared to merge."
Most of the drawbridges around here have feeder lanes on the approach that require a merge, they are without question slower lanes, always have been.

 

[Bestwifeever]

i recall a NYT guest Op-Ed on lane merging. It was specific to a NYC tunnel but the practice was the same, and the writer was boasting that he merged when his lane ran out of space. According to a subsequent post by the NYT Public Editor, it caused a record number of responses. He said they were about equal in view; 1/3 wrote that the lane being closed should be used to the end, 1/3 thought drivers should move to one lane as soon as possible, the rest didn't really care.

LEOs, interviewed for the article and writing in, all expressed a similar thought. Using the lane to the very end was not a violation, and this was one of the primary causes of road rage incidents.

Fortunately, we do not have to make a choice about when to merge. We have semitruck drivers managing the merge lanes for us, who stay side by side well in advance of the merging point. Grrr.

 

[MichaelB]

The lane closure signs I have seen don't instruct when to merge, only warn that the lane will close ahead.

Fortunately, we do not have to make a choice about when to merge. We have semitruck drivers managing the merge lanes for us, who stay side by side well in advance of the merging point. Grrr.

Chicago rules don't apply.

Here is a recent thread on a similar topic. http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/is-this-skipping-in-line-72020.html

 

[ERD50]

+1

Hmm.... I find myself agreeing with ERD50 far to often these days. Obviously, he's learned a lot over the last few years.

I'd bet they're doing it to get ahead of other drivers, not to be efficient...

More efficient, and you get to your destination sooner than the less informed. Win-win!

MN dot conjured the bold part out of thin air:

"Benefits

[*]Creates a sense of fairness and equity that all lanes are moving at the same rate"
[/LIST]

For most, it creates a sense of unfairness and inequity that they have been instructed to move right, and the few cheat to advance at the expense of others. If dot's know for a fact that merging is faster, the signs should be changed to read: "construction ahead, stay in your current lane and be prepared to merge."...

I agree (and said so), that they should post this (not that they 'conjured it out of thin air'), and they did in the video link they provided on that page. But that seems to be the exception.

I think it is fairer if everyone does it, 'zipper style' - that way no one is viewed as 'cheating', everyone gets there at the same time. The problem is when they don't post that, and it isn't common knowledge to do the 'zippper merge' - then this sense of 'unfairness' arises from the uninformed.

-ERD50

 

[Meadbh]

I'd bet they're doing it to get ahead of other drivers, not to be efficient...

They can only do it if the other drivers have merged early. The late mergers understand the flow and know the rules. There is no logical reason to penalize them.

 

[Andre1969]

One thing many people don't understand about the zipper merge, is that the closing point of the "zipper" is a moving point. It won't always be right at the point where one lane ends. As traffic piles up, the closing point of the zipper will usually move back from where the lane ends. But then what happens is you have a few people trying to rush ahead, to "cut in line", after everyone else is queued up and ready to go through in a single line, and that only creates more of a jam.

 

[robnplunder]

Pet peeve of every day is red-light running a$$holes...

A couple of weeks ago, at an intersection near me, I was nearly rammed by someone making an left turn after the light changed to red. Then, last weekend, I was third in line at the same intersection when three cars made the same left turn after our light had turned green. Then sometime shortly thereafter, someone bought it, because I noticed some bumper parts laying on the traffic island at the same intersection...

"If I had a rocket launcher, some SOB would die..." Bruce Cockburn

This is one reason why I favor red light traffic camera. One car turning, I can overlook. 2nd & 3rd car turning after light has completely turned RED is stupid. We should have death penalties for that. Well, maybe, that's too harsh but you get my point.

 

[Chuckanut]

When I see a sign telling me a lane is close and I need to merge, I look at it as a warning sign letting me know I will have to merge. Not as a command to merge ASAP regardless of traffic conditions.

As far as cheating goes, I don't think it is cheating anymore than it is cheating to take legal deductions that reduce my income tax burden.

In any event, as soon as we are all riding in driver-less Googlemobiles, it will all be academic. Here's an very early version of the Gogomobile (now renamed the Googlemobile.)

 

[Chuckanut]

This is one reason why I favor red light traffic camera. One car turning, I can overlook. 2nd & 3rd car turning after light has completely turned RED is stupid. We should have death penalties for that. Well, maybe, that's too harsh but you get my point.

And the bicyclists are even worse. Whole flocks of them will go through red lights to keep up with their group. Note: I ride a bike and enjoy it.

 

[razztazz]

So I'll add a pet-peeve - people who get mad at efficient drivers who understand it is best to merge late!

-ERD50

Then why does it say merge to the right 2 miles before? And why do most people move over early? Maybe you are right and the 70 to 80% are wrong.

There is a reason for this. In the USA when you need to change lanes and actually merge ... nobody will let you over. It's get over early because if you follow the current lane and wait you will trapped. You could try a daring "last chance power drive" with or without blinker and merge. That's when accidents and road rage happen. All the charts and graphs and traffic cones won't matter. What people will do or what they expect people to do is what matters

 

[Sarah in SC]

I became a late merger after reading Tom Vanderbilt's book, Traffic.
Traffic » Excerpt

I have a merge situation every day on my way home and it is mind boggling how messed up it can get in this one little spot, because the traffic doesn't follow logical patterns.

 

[springnr]

Merging is low hanging fruit, replace ego with logic, autonomous vehicles for the win.

 

[aaronc879]

I'd bet they're doing it to get ahead of other drivers, not to be efficient...

Exactly. The word for what ERD50 is describing is not "merge", it's "cut". They are cutting people off who were there first and it's inappropriate.

 

[ERD50]

Exactly. The word for what ERD50 is describing is not "merge", it's "cut". They are cutting people off who were there first and it's inappropriate.

Don't argue with me, argue with the experts. Did you see the link I posted? Traffic experts are saying that the proper way to merge is to do it at the end. It isn't 'cutting in', it is the proper way to do it. If everyone did it, no one would be there 'first', both lanes would arrive at the same time, and take turns merging.

-ERD50

 

[aaronc879]

This is one reason why I favor red light traffic camera. One car turning, I can overlook. 2nd & 3rd car turning after light has completely turned RED is stupid. We should have death penalties for that. Well, maybe, that's too harsh but you get my point.

There's already a death penalty for that. Unfortunately, the person dying is too often the one who had the green light not the one who broke the law by going through the red light.

 

[arky]

The highway merge discussion (I'm in the "use all of the lanes fully" camp) triggers a pet peeve of mine that happens at the airport baggage claim. Everyone crowds up to the very edge of the carousel instead of logically standing a few feet back and waiting until their bag(s) are right in front of them before stepping up and retrieving them. Standing back gives more people a better view and would speed up the whole process.

 

[robnplunder]

Here's my peeve for today..... An old one many have bought up but I witnessed it just this morning and it irked me.....

Non-handicapped drivers pull into a handicapped space and wait while their passenger runs into a building. "Oh, I'll just pull out if an actual handicapped persons requests" is their ususal defense.

San Fransisco recently went on a campaign to stop cheaters (ones who are not handicapped but carrying/using handicap slots). They went as far as arresting two family members who faked applications to get their handicap plaques. They were shown on a local TV news as they appeared in a court.

I think SF has 800000 people and about 60k-70k handicap plaques issued. That's almost 1 for every 11 SF residents. Considering many can't drive (too young, too old, take public transportation) and most adult drivers are healthy, there is some cheating going on here. They should take their licenses & cars away from them .

 

[WhoDaresWins]

The way grocery stores clog their entrance lobbies with all sorts of display pyramids, coin counters, vending machines, carts and scooters, businesses hawking services (banking, newspaper subscription, etc.). It would not be so bad except this same cramped area is further narrowed by customers who stop dead in their tracks as they enter to study their coupons or yak on their cell phones forcing everyone behind them to try to squeeze by saying "excuse me" (and getting a surprised or dirty look) or wait for their majesties to finish what they are doing.

Another peeve: Where have all the mailboxes gone in suburbia? In the area around my house there is only one mailbox within about a 3 mile radius (outside the above mentioned grocery store). When I was working, I mailed letters from the central post office near my office and there were mailboxes all over the city on practically every corner. I don't like to put my outgoing mail in my mailbox for pick up as I have gotten neighbors outgoing mail mysteriously deposited in my box on occasion.

 

[samclem]

Has this been posted? My peeve is the people who aren't ready to pay at the grocery checkstand. The last can of beans goes over the scanner, the checker looks politely at Mrs Shopper, and then she opens her purse and looks for her checkbook. Is it a surprise that the store is going to want payment for the groceries? Is this her first experience with a grocery checkout?

I get behind the same people at the drive-up ATM. Was there no previous opportunity to get your card out and have it ready? Does it stay "fresher" in your purse?

Has this been posted?

People who don't bother to read the thread before posting!

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I must be feeling peevish today...

What about magazine subscription renewals? I subscribe to three magazines and give gift subscriptions to 2 people to one of them. No sooner than I renew I am badgered within a few months to "extend subscription at a special price" or "renew now and save". Just the other day I got a renewal for a subscription not up until May 2015. They wanted to know if I would renew for my two friends and also myself and add a 3rd friend for "just $5.00". I think I am going to cut the magazines subscriptions out all together they are so annoying.

 

[aaronc879]

San Fransisco recently went on a campaign to stop cheaters (ones who are not handicapped but carrying/using handicap slots). They went as far as arresting two family members who faked applications to get their handicap plaques. They were shown on a local TV news as they appeared in a court.

I think SF has 800000 people and about 60k-70k handicap plaques issued. That's almost 1 for every 11 SF residents. Considering many can't drive (too young, too old, take public transportation) and most adult drivers are healthy, there is some cheating going on here. They should take their licenses & cars away from them .

I agree that penalties should be high for those who park where they don't belong. However, don't be quick to judge someone who parks in a handicapped space and doesn't appear handicapped. My Mom is a good example. She's been partially handicapped for over 20 years and has a plaque that she uses regularly. If you only see her for a few second walking from car to store you probably wouldn't think she'd disabled but she is. Every step she takes is painful and that will always be the case for her. She doesn't need a wheelchair, walker, or cane but deserves that parking spot as much as anyone else with a disability.

 

[HFWR]

If everyone did it...

-ERD50

The catch...

 

[Meadbh]

My pet peeve of the day is customer service phone lines where you are left hanging with nothing but muzak and "please stay on the line. Your call will be answered at the first available opportunity". I have just hung up on one of these after 23.5 minutes. Incredible!