Some people feel like this, “why didn’t others make way, I had my blinker on!”. But it’s the responsibility of the one joining the lane to actually make sure there’s room. Some just fucking smash into the lane and I dunno hope for the best, but they’re the one’s who would have to pay for the damages
True, the responsibility for safe lane change lays on the driver who is changing lanes. However, any sensible country also prohibits obstruction of a lane change, i.e. you can get fined if you don’t hold enough distance to the driver in front of you to allow merging, don’t make room for the person with the signal on in reasonable time or if you deliberately close the gap so the other person can’t change lanes.
That kind of cooperation is mandatory for good traffic flow and properly made laws try to ensure that. Turning signal should result in people noticing you, and letting you safely switch lanes. Too often people get into some vigilante-mode because they see the other driver skipping in line or something similar.
Merging is another story. Merging traffic should explicitly yield to all traffic already on the highway, similarly to how it works in a roundabout. This prevents people merging on a highway that’s over its capacity, so the traffic clears quicker. It means that traffic should queue on the ramp until it’s safe to merge, indefinitely if necessary. Mathematically it makes sense, but goes against intuition.
Some municipalities have tried out metered entry on highways, that block turning onto the on-ramp altogether if the level of congestion is too high. Some trials have already ended due to the perceived injustice as well, as people already on the highway are typically from out of the city, and thus preventing those living closer from merging onto it. Personally I think if you’re close enough to complain about that you should be in public transit range of the population center, and complaining more about the lack of alternatives to driving.
I don’t think the driver who isn’t changing a lane needs to do anything. If you’re purposefully slowing down or speeding up to block them then that’s different, but if you’re just maintaining your own speed normally then it’s up to the merging one to do their thing in a safe and legal manner. That is, slow down, speed up, or just decide to merge in some other gap if there’s not enough room.
I’m just against people assuming that if they put their blinker on then others should accommodate them. That’d be silly driving. Finding a proper gap and putting on your blinker to indicate you’re moving into that gap vs. deciding that you want to merge right now and others should make room
While there might be laws about prohibiting someone from changing lanes, by the time the officer gets there, there will be two stories, “he merged into me!” And “he wouldnt let me merge!” No way to prove that soneone prohibited a merge while the damage will still be caused by the person who changed lanes/merged and theyll be at fault.
Where I live sometimes if you don’t just jump in the lane and push people out of the way they won’t let you. They see a turn signal as a challenge to their authority
You are sorta responsible for finding the room to safely join a lane, blinker or no blinker. It’s a risk to do it otherwise because if you hit the other car you’re of course responsible, unless there’s some specific rule in effect in that part
I get why people do it but expecting others to make room for you might end up costing a lot
Some people feel like this, “why didn’t others make way, I had my blinker on!”. But it’s the responsibility of the one joining the lane to actually make sure there’s room. Some just fucking smash into the lane and I dunno hope for the best, but they’re the one’s who would have to pay for the damages
True, the responsibility for safe lane change lays on the driver who is changing lanes. However, any sensible country also prohibits obstruction of a lane change, i.e. you can get fined if you don’t hold enough distance to the driver in front of you to allow merging, don’t make room for the person with the signal on in reasonable time or if you deliberately close the gap so the other person can’t change lanes.
That kind of cooperation is mandatory for good traffic flow and properly made laws try to ensure that. Turning signal should result in people noticing you, and letting you safely switch lanes. Too often people get into some vigilante-mode because they see the other driver skipping in line or something similar.
Merging is another story. Merging traffic should explicitly yield to all traffic already on the highway, similarly to how it works in a roundabout. This prevents people merging on a highway that’s over its capacity, so the traffic clears quicker. It means that traffic should queue on the ramp until it’s safe to merge, indefinitely if necessary. Mathematically it makes sense, but goes against intuition.
Some municipalities have tried out metered entry on highways, that block turning onto the on-ramp altogether if the level of congestion is too high. Some trials have already ended due to the perceived injustice as well, as people already on the highway are typically from out of the city, and thus preventing those living closer from merging onto it. Personally I think if you’re close enough to complain about that you should be in public transit range of the population center, and complaining more about the lack of alternatives to driving.
I don’t think the driver who isn’t changing a lane needs to do anything. If you’re purposefully slowing down or speeding up to block them then that’s different, but if you’re just maintaining your own speed normally then it’s up to the merging one to do their thing in a safe and legal manner. That is, slow down, speed up, or just decide to merge in some other gap if there’s not enough room.
I’m just against people assuming that if they put their blinker on then others should accommodate them. That’d be silly driving. Finding a proper gap and putting on your blinker to indicate you’re moving into that gap vs. deciding that you want to merge right now and others should make room
While there might be laws about prohibiting someone from changing lanes, by the time the officer gets there, there will be two stories, “he merged into me!” And “he wouldnt let me merge!” No way to prove that soneone prohibited a merge while the damage will still be caused by the person who changed lanes/merged and theyll be at fault.
Where I live sometimes if you don’t just jump in the lane and push people out of the way they won’t let you. They see a turn signal as a challenge to their authority
You are sorta responsible for finding the room to safely join a lane, blinker or no blinker. It’s a risk to do it otherwise because if you hit the other car you’re of course responsible, unless there’s some specific rule in effect in that part
I get why people do it but expecting others to make room for you might end up costing a lot