Joining a Highway

('Merging')

 

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(This article is worded for the USA and other drive-on-the-right countries. Reverse the lefts and rights if you live in Australia, India, NZ, the UK, etc.)

 

 

Joining a highway (or a motorway, autobahn, etc., in other countries) is something that many people find nerve-wracking when there is heavy traffic, yet if a driver applies two basic rules it is a task that can be made much less stressful.

 

All it requires is the willingness to make a firm decision, and that decision is:  Do I "go", or do I "slow"!

 

The first factor in this decision has to be the length of the "on ramp" (a.k.a. the "access lane" or "acceleration lane"), and the photographs below illustrate this aspect reasonably well.

 

Where the "on ramp" is long then joining the highway becomes easy: Use the full length of the ramp to build up your speed to match that of vehicles already on the highway, signaling left as you do so; look for an adequately large gap to merge into, and when it is safe ease your car to the left, into that gap.

 

But if the traffic on the highway is very heavy and moving quickly, and there is no safe gap for you to enter, you must remember that traffic using the "on ramp" must always be prepared to slow down -- and stop, if necessary -- in order to yield (give "right of way") to the highway traffic. Never force your vehicle into a small gap; this is aggressive driving -- at best it causes anger and at worst it causes crashes.

 

The good thing about long "on ramps" is that you have much more time to make the appropriate decision and adjust your speed, so stopping is rarely necessary.

 

The next two photographs (below), however, show the opposite extreme: a very short ramp with what would appear to be a diabolically bad view of approaching traffic. 

1.  Medium-length ramp (access road) but the hill crest, near the bridges, might reduce the view of approaching traffic.

In situations like this you must be ready to stop promptly. But by the same token it is important, also, to remember that the gas pedal can act as a safety control under certain circumstances, and this can be one of them.

 

If you find what appears to be a suitable gap to merge into but then an approaching vehicle appears, closer than you would have liked, you must make an immediate decision, either to stop -- if you have enough time and space left, in which to do so -- or accelerate, in order to remain safely ahead of the approaching vehicle without getting too close to the one ahead of you.

 

Novice drivers often hate this scenario, but it has to be said that many so-called "experienced drivers" tend to be blasé about it and think nothing of merging, right in front of another vehicle, causing the other driver a fright and the need to brake. This is obviously unacceptable yet so many people do it. It is the sign of a very thoughtless, low-standard driver. 

 

2. (Above) The short "on ramp" is clearly visible at the right (note also the "yield" sign -- extreme right -- but the concrete wall, between the ramp and the highway, will obviously block a joining driver's view of the traffic.

3. (Below) The same intersection, showing the terrible, rearward view for joining drivers and the shortness of the ramp. Joining drivers must be prepared to stop in these circumstances and also, when an adequate gap presents itself, be prepared to accelerate firmly but safely.

All photographs on this page are courtesy of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

 

This is also a good opportunity to think about setting off from the shoulder if ever you have been forced to stop there.

 

If you have had to stop on the shoulder because of a breakdown or other urgent problem, and need to rejoin the highway, use it as an "on ramp" -- use it as an acceleration lane to build up your speed until you are matching the speed of the traffic in the nearest lane, signaling all the time, and then merge.

 

Unless there is no proper shoulder at all, and you have been forced to park on soft ground while you rectified a problem, never pull straight back onto the highway at only 5 or 10mph. It is essential that you remember that a car doing, for example, 70mph is approaching any given point at over 100 feet per second so unless you have a huge and empty view, behind you, it would be extremely unwise to put your slow moving vehicle out into the path of somebody who may be doing much more than 70mph -- we all know how many people break speed limits.

 

Finally, if you are driving along the highway and know that you are approaching an intersection it is wise and considerate to move out of the right-hand lane in good time so that other vehicle may easily merge from the "on ramp". The less view you have of the "on ramp" the more important it is to do this. Photograph 3, above, shows how much easier it will be for joining drivers if the traffic on the highway has already moved out of the right-hand lane in anticipation.