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After a scary road rage incident years ago and many years of employment related defensive driving training I think I have become a good safe driver but I still find myself in situations where I could be in an accident. Case in point; I'm driving down the freeway in the outside lane coming up to an entrance ramp. There is a vehicle gaining speed on the ramp with plenty of room for it to merge before I reach it. To make sure it has room I take my foot off the gas pedal and check for traffic on the inside lane in case I need to get over. As the vehicle reaches the merging lane it seems to be keeping a steady speed as I am slowing down- still plenty of room to get over. As it reaches the end of the merging lane it moves over to the traffic lane and I see it's brake lights. I have to make a last second lane change in order to not hit it. If there had been traffic in the inside lane it would have been a choice to rearend the merging vehicle or sideswipe whatever was in the inside lane. As I go by I see a finger waving at me! :angry:

I guess what was expected was that I would move over regardless of whether the driver had room to merge or not. It would have been an unnecessary lane change on a busy freeway out of a fake display of courtesy. It was the same as when you pull up to a fourway stop sign and the driver already stopped there waves you across. Or when a driver is stopped in the inside lane of a city 4 lane street and is waving someone to make a left hand turn in front of them without regard for what is coming up behind in the outside lane ( that happened at College and Poplar and a person was killed).

Hers's what the state driving manual says about it,

Merging With Traffic

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After a scary road rage incident years ago and many years of employment related defensive driving training I think I have become a good safe driver but I still find myself in situations where I could be in an accident. Case in point; I'm driving down the freeway in the outside lane coming up to an entrance ramp. There is a vehicle gaining speed on the ramp with plenty of room for it to merge before I reach it. To make sure it has room I take my foot off the gas pedal and check for traffic on the inside lane in case I need to get over. As the vehicle reaches the merging lane it seems to be keeping a steady speed as I am slowing down- still plenty of room to get over. As it reaches the end of the merging lane it moves over to the traffic lane and I see it's brake lights. I have to make a last second lane change in order to not hit it. If there had been traffic in the inside lane it would have been a choice to rearend the merging vehicle or sideswipe whatever was in the inside lane. As I go by I see a finger waving at me! :angry:

I guess what was expected was that I would move over regardless of whether the driver had room to merge or not. It would have been an unnecessary lane change on a busy freeway out of a fake display of courtesy. It was the same as when you pull up to a fourway stop sign and the driver already stopped there waves you across. Or when a driver is stopped in the inside lane of a city 4 lane street and is waving someone to make a left hand turn in front of them without regard for what is coming up behind in the outside lane ( that happened at College and Poplar and a person was killed).

Hers's what the state driving manual says about it,

Merging With Traffic

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I can't count how many times similar things have happened to me. Another common issue is people slamming on their brakes on the freeway so that people can merge at 50-55 mph, this causes traffic to immediately backup behind them as well as reinforcing the bad behavior that ultimately caused the situation in the first place.

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I think a question should be raised about the driver tests themselves. A couple of years ago in a town outside of Little Rock driver's tests were given once a week. After taking the written test the state policeman would get into the test takers car an take off on the driving part of the test. This including going around a couple of residential city blocks and returning to the testing point. I even saw one test taker run up on the curb but they still passed. Does driving around in a residential are qualify a person to drive?

I did read a few months ago that fewer an fewer 16 year olds are taking the test. I think it has to do with liability and parents are not willing to pay the cost of insurance. Getting a license is very important but a large number of school districts do not offer any driver training. They can offer a course like Clothing Management but not Driver Education.

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I can't count how many times similar things have happened to me. Another common issue is people slamming on their brakes on the freeway so that people can merge at 50-55 mph, this causes traffic to immediately backup behind them as well as reinforcing the bad behavior that ultimately caused the situation in the first place.
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What milestones are there for drivers after they receive their driver's license in this state? Can they retain their license for the rest of their life? I think people should at least be retested with a written test periodically. I think people forget basic rules like what to do at a four-way stop. Also, it could help disuade drivers from unnecessary courtesies such as ones that create inefficiencies in traffic movement. It could also add common sense, like not to wave people to turn when they are taking a left across two-lanes, as well as to ignore the waving when in the situation.

Something has to be done about handicap drivers who routinely drive well under the speed limit also. I would argue that they are not capable to drive. I think if we didn't have such a car culture, that more restrictions would be used.

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I like the drivers who are eating a cheeseburger, while drinking something, talking on their cell all at the same time. Or merge through 3 lanes to turn left from a right lane, cut me off then drive 30 in a 55. Was on I-40 driving from the rock and passed a guy reading the newspaper while driving 70.

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What milestones are there for drivers after they receive their driver's license in this state? Can they retain their license for the rest of their life? I think people should at least be retested with a written test periodically. I think people forget basic rules like what to do at a four-way stop. Also, it could help disuade drivers from unnecessary courtesies such as ones that create inefficiencies in traffic movement. It could also add common sense, like not to wave people to turn when they are taking a left across two-lanes, as well as to ignore the waving when in the situation.

Something has to be done about handicap drivers who routinely drive well under the speed limit also. I would argue that they are not capable to drive. I think if we didn't have such a car culture, that more restrictions would be used.

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  • 11 months later...

It totally agree. A lot of drivers in this area are pretty lousy. It's like most of these people have never seen an on ramp.

FYI- if you are one of those who timidly approaches an on ramp at 45 MPH, it is YOUR responsibility to merge into traffic. I can't tell you how many times I have almost been in an accident because some clueless....

Ah, never mind. Yes, a lot of drivers in NWA need to get a clue...

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