As I was driving my son to daycare this morning, I was passed by a driver merging onto the highway. She was well past the on-ramp and was driving on the shoulder. I looked to my right as she passed and gave her a "what are you doing?" look, and saw that she was giving me the same look! In that instant, I realized that we don't all share the same understanding of how to merge traffic together. In an effort to resolve this matter once and for all, we will be geeking out today on how to merge traffic.
How does this situation arise? Each of us has competing ideas of the "right" way to merge. For each of us, the reasoning is perfectly logical and indisputable. Therefore, anyone not conforming to the same behavior must be stupid, insane or just plain rude. Sound familiar?
The "agreeable" or "get it over with" attitude - early mergers
We all know we're going to have to merge eventually, so we might as well and get on with it. Then you can get back to staring blankly out of the window, jamming out or whatever it is you do when you're driving on autopilot.
The "in a hurry" or "efficient use of tarmac" - late mergers
Maybe it's those extra 50 feet closer to your destination, or more purely a desire to simply use as much of the road as efficiently as possible. Why, if all the cars went as far forward as they could, we'd all be that much closer to where we're going!
A logical compromise - follow the dots
Both of these are fairly well reasoned opinions, and fortunately we have an authority which can speak to this matter. In this case I am referring to the road itself. When a road comes into being, its natural coloring indicates the way in which it desires to be trod upon, in the following manner:
- dashed (dotted) and solid lines separate lanes of driving
- a lane is "wide enough to accommodate one vehicle" ref: dictionary.com
Please refer to the following graphic for a visual description of how to use a road.
| . R | / | C . . C / \ | A . . A / } dots = three lanes | R . C . R / / | . A . / | . R / | C . / \ | A . / } no dots = time to merge | R . / / | . C / | . A | \ | C . R | } THERE ARE ONLY TWO LANES YOU IDIOT! | A . | /
In my head, this is a tastefully created graphic instead of ASCII art.
Last Step - Zipper Up!
The final skill needed to complete our vehicular union today is one you have likely practiced since you were a toddler - zipping a zipper. Simply interleave the cars one at a time, alternating one from each lane, and the two lanes of traffic merge together in a beautiful harmony of locomotive grace.
And of course, the fine print: I'm writing this from the USA, where we actually follow the lines. If you drive in a country with no traffic lights, you're on your own.
References
Image from reactiongifs.com