From a GM owner's manual about freeway driving

[brianl703]

(I think it's interesting that GM seems to basically put an entire driver's manual in their vehicle's owners manuals whereas other automakers don't give much in the way of suggestions about how to drive):

Freeway Driving


Mile for mile, freeways (also called thruways, parkways, expressways, turnpikes or superhighways) are the safest of all roads. But they have their own special rules.

The most important advice on freeway driving is: Keep up with traffic and keep to the right. Drive at the same speed most of the other drivers are driving. Too-fast or too-slow driving breaks a smooth traffic flow. Treat the left lane on a freeway as a passing lane.

At the entrance, there is usually a ramp that leads to the freeway. If you have a clear view of the freeway as you drive along the entrance ramp, you should begin to check traffic. Try to determine where you expect to blend with the flow. Try to merge into the gap at close to the prevailing speed. Switch on your turn signal, check your mirrors and glance over your shoulder as often as necessary. Try to blend smoothly with the traffic flow.

Once you are on the freeway, adjust your speed to the posted limit or to the prevailing rate if it is slower. Stay in the right lane unless you want to pass.

Before changing lanes, check your mirrors. Then use your turn signal.

Just before you leave the lane, glance quickly over your shoulder to make sure there is not another vehicle in your "blind" spot.

Once you are moving on the freeway, make certain you allow a reasonable following distance.

Expect to move slightly slower at night.

When you want to leave the freeway, move to the proper lane well in advance. If you miss your exit, do not, under any circumstances, stop and back up. Drive on to the next exit.

The exit ramp can be curved, sometimes quite sharply. The exit speed is usually posted. Reduce your speed according to your speedometer, not to your sense of motion. After driving for any distance at higher speeds, you may tend to think you are going slower than you actually are.

 

[labman]

Gee, I could live with people doing most of that.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Pretty strait-forward and informative. It mirrors what I said about the burden of yeilding to freeway traffic is on the merging car. This principle is the same in all circumstances, if you change lanes (merge) you MUST yield to other cars. It is unnecessary, inappropriate, unsafe and WRONG to move over a lane to clear the right for merging. Every car changing lanes at every on-ramp to cater to merging traffic??? It's a bad idea.

labman, you called me "stupid" for doing exactly what the GM manual says. You should be taking some time out from posting here if you can't control your personal attacks. Have you now improved your reading skills or just cooled-down and thought about it?

 

[The_Jeff]

Look for the stock photo of 3 beers, 3 shots of bourbon, and three glasses of wine. (sounds like a George Thorogood song) This same picture has been in every GM manual over the last 20 years.

I think that picture is from the corporate cafeteria the day they designed the Aztek myself. (badda-boom)

 

[JHZR2]

lol, too bad most drivers dont heed that information as informative, and think they know better, thus causing traffic and all sorts of other problems.

JMH

 

[Kestas]

I was taught by the State of Michigan that merging onto the freeway is the responsibility of BOTH the traffic coming off the on-ramp and the cars in the right lane of the freeway.

 

[chas3]

its your responsibility not to fool around with your speed if you are already on the freeway. it makes it difficult to merge when people speed up or slow down.

i disagree though with the other poster. if the next left lane is clear i will move over for merging traffic. due to space reason a fair number of ramps around here dont have merge areas.

 

[Gary Allan]

Over 20 years ago PA (it may have been Federal, I dunnno

) switched from the yellow "YIELD" sign to one with a red border. They then mandated that you must stop if you can't negotiate a smooth merge. That is, they put the legal burden upon the merging traffic to safely enter the roadway.

That being said, part of the oral (now computer administered) test to get a license asked what you do when you see merging traffic. The correct answer was to signal and move to the left lane (this may have been changed)....but a PA State Trooper who is still a friend of mine (since retired) said that all their traffic training in this matter was weighted toward keeping the right lane traffic in the right lane for safety.

 

[labman]

I have to side with moving over into the left lane, when you can do it WITHOUT SLOWING TRAFFIC, for entering cars. It is very important to do so for trucks. They are less able adjust their speed and fit into a gap.

Some of us try to make it easier for everybody, and some feel purchasing an expensive German car allows them to behave as they will with no regard for anybody.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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I have to side with moving over into the left lane, when you can do it WITHOUT SLOWING TRAFFIC, for entering cars. It is very important to do so for trucks. They are less able adjust their speed and fit into a gap.

---

Agreed. Common sense dictates to yield if you can do so safely. Of course, do people who keep one car lenght distance from each other at highway speed have common sense? And there are unfortunately plenty of those.

 

[cousincletus]

I'm a truck driver and deal with merging traffic all the time. This is what I do: I will move over if I can for merging traffic or flash the lights at cars or trucks merging giving them the OK to come out in front of me. When I'm merging onto the interstate most cars and trucks will slow down a little if they can't get over (which BTW I appreciate very much). Although it's the responsibility of merging traffic to yield the right of way, I believe we can make it easier on each other by doing these things.

 

[Lumberg]

I read somwhere that the rule of thumb for lane merging in heavy traffic is alternating; one person merges in, the car on the main road follows, then the next guy merges, etc. For tihs to work it would have to be 50/50.

cletus: on another note, it's amazing how few people understand the system of flashing your brights. If someone is signalling an intent to merge or change lanes in front of you flashing the lights means go ahead, you are clear. This is mostly done among trucks that pass one another and want to rejoin the right lane.

Then there is the "get the fVck out of my way, slowpoke" flash when you're in the left lane. I always try to give the slow guy a chance to move over by flashing my brights rather than dip around to the right because it's the proper thing to do. It's amazing how many people just zoom by on the right.

 

[brianl703]

I've seen people flash their brights at people in FRONT of them who are changing lanes into ANOTHER lane:

A:
B:C

In other words, person A has got their blinker on, they're getting ready to change lanes, and the person B directly behind them IN THE LANE THEY ARE GETTING READY TO LEAVE flashes their brights at person A!

I'm just waiting for person A to assume that the person C in the lane they're trying to get into is the one who flashed their brights and CRUNCH!

(I saw this twice on the same day recently on the I495 DC beltway, but nowhere else, thankfully. I don't drive much on the beltway so I have no idea how common this is).

 

[labman]

I can't think that the flash to pass is ever a good idea. Like I am a dolt and don't see you coming or am not smart enough to figure out you want to pass? I certainly do not waste my time trying to ''make'' others drive properly. At least one thing for the headlight flashers, At least if traffic isn't too heavy, they are quickly gone.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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it's amazing how few people understand the system of flashing your brights.

---

Correct. In Europe we use headlights and blinkers for all sorts of communication. In the US, flashing someone is mostly misunderstood.

Flashing lights can mean "go" or "get the **** out of my way." What it means is always clear, as it it is completely dependent on the situation and the manner in which the flashig is executed.

We use blinkers not only for lane changes and turning, but also for signaling. For example, if I'm behind a truck and can't see whether or not I can pass, the trucker may signal "all clear by blinking a couple times right, or warn me by blinking a a few times on the left, which means oncoming traffic.

If I'm on the Autobahn going 180 and go into the left lane, and if I see a car approaching from behind, wildly flashing, it's either a complete **** or a guy who's coming in so fast that I'll have to get out of his way to avoid getting rear-ended. But you'll know what's going on if you pay attention.

Let's say I close in on a car that is ahead of me in the right lane, and that car is closing in on an even slower vehicle. If the guy in forn of me looks in his rear view mirror and sees me blink right a few times, he will know that I will remain in this lane and let him go into the left lane first.

This whole system of communicating via headlights and blinkers would NEVER work in the US for mostly two reasons:

1. People don't keep proper distances between cars. There's not enough time to communicate. For example, in Germany, road law states that cars at up to 5o km/h (ca 35 mph) must keep three car lengths (15 meters) distance from each other. At highway speeds the required distance is half the speed in meters. If they catch you tailgating, you pay a high fine.

2. Different countries, different rules, different driving experiences! What works in once place won't work in another.

 

[Lumberg]

quote:

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Originally posted by labman:
I can't think that the flash to pass is ever a good idea. Like I am a dolt and don't see you coming or am not smart enough to figure out you want to pass? I certainly do not waste my time trying to ''make'' others drive properly. At least one thing for the headlight flashers, At least if traffic isn't too heavy, they are quickly gone.

---

Well there are plenty of completely oblivious dolts whose minds may be engaged elsewhere that don't look in the rearview mirror regularly.

On the flip side, there are people that are only interested in going as fast as they can go in the left lane; sometimes they are content to come up on you at a higher rate of speed, and just follow at whatever speed you are going. Thus I don't always automatically get out of the way of faster cars coming up on me.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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Thus I don't always automatically get out of the way of faster cars coming up on me.

---

Yeah, if I go the speed limit and happen to be in the left lane because I'm passing someone else, I'm don't feel compelled to immediately give way to some speeding jerk who feels the need to be pushy. I'll eventually give way for the sake of not getting shot, but on my terms and at a time of my choosing.
In case I'm speeding, not that that ever happens (

), I don't expect anybody to give way if they are going at the proper speed. I'll either pass them on the other side or low down. If they are excruciatingly slow in the fast lane, I will however pass them and my reptilian brain will make me fire my headlightwasher system for 10 seconds. In case you don't know Audi headlight washer systems are highly pressurized and work well as a backward-firing, street-legal weapon.

 

[chas3]

if i am in the left lane and someone needs to flash me to pass i have done something wrong (why am i cruising in the pass lane?). if i remember correctly, there are cars in front and behind me. i should be paying attention to both ends of vehicle.

btw, flashing your headlights is for fools. i am not raising my headlights because you cant figure how to move to the right when i overtake you. i will NOT pass on the right. it is UNSAFE. i WILL tailgate you (for miles if necessary until you buy a clue). please dont bother to tell about how you are a safe driver and doing the legal speed limit.

 

[Audi Junkie]

FWIW, I make way for people merging with large loads, if they are towing or for other expensive German cars.

 

[andrews]

I hate it when somebody flashes me with the high beams. I don't often ride in the left lane, I'll let the folks that like to pay cops salaries do that. But sometimes I'm in the left lane in order to pass a very slow vehicle or to try and get around traffic congestion. It never seems to fail though, that just about once a week, some idiot decides that even if I'm going ten to twenty over the limit, and I'm only in the left lane about twenty seconds, he wants me to get out of his way.
It would just be nice if everybody would just do several things. Number one: obey the law. Number two: if you stink at driving....get off of the road. And number three: relax and remember that ALL of us pay for these roads and being polite will help us all get where we need to be...safely! Note* Just in case of an act of road rage, I do carry a firearm to protect myself. And yes, it is illegal to do so in my car, so I guess I broke rule number one!