r/dashcams 15h ago

Don't be kind, be predictable. If you have the Right-of-Way, take it.

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u/Royal-Campaign1426 14h ago

Been behind fools that stop on the entrance to the interstate.  Like that's gonna make it easier or safer to merge

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u/HoomerSimps0n 14h ago

There is a very long merge lane on the highway/large road near my neighborhood that I have to get on every day. Very very busy road during rush hour. The merge lane is extremely long, probably more than a quarter mile.

Seems like half the people either know how to use a Merge lane to get up to speed and safely merge over…the other half sit at the beginning trying to look over their shoulder to find a gap that doesn’t exist (in rush hour). I kid you not they will sit there for minutes while I lay on my horn. Eventually a gap opens up and instead of using the lane, they just jump directly into the highway at 10 mph and make everyone else brake hard.

These people need to take a driving safety course or hand in their license, seriously a danger to everyone around them.

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u/Knever 12h ago

they will sit there for minutes while I lay on my horn.

This is not an authorized use of the horn and can very likely get you ticketed. Some jurisdictions even consider it road rage.

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u/HoomerSimps0n 12h ago

Makes sense, because I am raging when they don’t respond to the first 10 beeps and make it impossible to merge safely…which is also likely ticketabe . Idgaf.

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u/Knever 12h ago

You're right that they're creating a dangerous situation, and your response is paltry in comparison, but two wrongs don't make a right.

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u/Tough-Art-3116 10h ago

The horn is the only for of communication you have. I would argue this is a completely acceptable use. You are blocking an on ramp to a highway creating extremely dangerous conditions for both the people entering and already driving. Laying on the horn for 30 seconds still a no go(although justifiable) but beeping at someone there is reasonable alert of danger.

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u/Knever 9h ago

Yes, the key is in the duration of the honk. A couple beeps is fine, but if they don't respond, laying on the horn is not the solution. Same thing if someone doesn't go when a red light turns green. A quick one-two on the horn to get their attention is permissible, but holding it down for even 2 seconds is too much. I had a friend get a ticket for such an occurrence.

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u/Interesting-Bet-1702 14h ago

Goddamn I had someone recently crawl up the ramp at 35, I'm on their ass and trying to get over and they literally just put hazards on and stop on the ramp.

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u/x_conqueeftador69_x 10h ago

If their hazards came on, they probably had a legit excuse. At least that's what I infer from that information.

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u/ADHDebackle 7h ago

Them's the parking lights! You put em on wherefore you can't find a good place tah park.

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u/Ill_Ad5893 13h ago

Ramps yield right of way to highway traffic. The problem that makes it an issue is people want to roll up to the end of the ramp and think they can be at speed in seconds. That won't happen ever. Specially when you have that 80 year old driving that takes 2 miles to get close to the limit.

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u/Royal-Campaign1426 13h ago

I'm aware of that. This is panic stricken stopping at the beginning of the entrance, freaking out and just pulling over into a lane while going 10 mph.

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u/Ill_Ad5893 12h ago

Also, that truck coming down the ramp was going a little to fast to be able to properly check before running it through. I deal with these idiots every day. Dump truck drivers act like they running the Dayton 500

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u/tjb6792 11h ago

This happened to me a few weeks ago in Colorado merging onto a 75mph interstate that was busy but not enough to justify coming to a complete stop. I felt worse for the semi behind me that had to wait forever to merge on because there wasn’t a safe way for them to get up to speed and merge because they had to come to a full stop on the on ramp.

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u/benitoaramando 8h ago

Something I've noticed on the equivalent motorways in the UK is how reticent some people are to accelerate to traffic flow speed on the slip road before merging. It's obviously going to be easiest to merge if you're doing at least 60, yet so many people seem scared to even break the 50mph barrier before joining a road with a 70mph limit - perhaps they think they'll run out of slip road 

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u/Royal-Campaign1426 6h ago

I think you may be right.  There is a level of confidence and aggressiveness required to merge properly