Traffic Ethics
 

I was driving down a 2 lane road when, because of some construction on the side of the road, one of the lanes was closed and the traffic in the left lane was forced to merge into the right lane. Most cars got into the right lane early on, when they saw the first signs. The left lane was open until the merge (illustration)

Back down the road a bit, I was confronted with 2 options should i get in line with the other cars on the right. or do I speed down the left lane until i get to the end, then merge in with the cars in the right lane (save time but piss off the cars that have been waiting on the right)

When I was younger, I would have thought that it would be fair to get into the right lane and wait in line everybody else

But now, and I don’t know what changed, ill just go until the merge, because it saves time for me, and I figure it’s an open lane and its legal, think how the other people are breaking the law by not taking an empty, perfectly good lane, even if it pisses a few people off

http://webmasterchecks.com/merge.bmp

What would you have done?

I'll often sit my ass in the merging lane, going the speed of traffic in the thru lane until the last minute (the person at my side in the thru lane nearly _always_ opens a wide spot for me to move into by that time) to stop assholes from doing exactly what you now typically do.

Driving is a community experience. I think what's happened is that you (along with 5-10% of the people on the road) either never realized or have forgotten that.

But that's just my opinion.

I've been known to straddle the line and block thoughtless assholes who want to 'bud' in to line.

Wait your fucking turn like the rest of us.

Morons who pull stunts like budding in at the last minute often cause accidents and pileups as everyone jams on their brakes to either avoid them or let them in.

Unless you're a fucking taxi, you can wait in line.

I kind of learned to feel for the people driving all day when in a third world country.

i try to put my right blinker on and get over nicely. That usually ( around HEAH ) just means the people you are trying to merge into speed up. So I usually end up just speeding up real fast and getting in front of someone but I've stopped that and just slow down lately. Everything is usually okay until about 7-10 pm or 6-9 am for some reason between TO and SB when you have to resort to being a total knob ...
http://www.sexphotoblog.com/toby-n-tucker-tnt.jpg

i think you should wait and merge up ahead. When lanes merge and everyone chooses their own point to merge up at it slows things down. If everyone merges at the same place it's faster. One car from left, then right, then left, etc. :2 cents: