Bottom Of The Barrel

Give me a break

Dear guy-driving-some-where-between-70-and-75-on-495-north-in-the-left-hard-lane,

Back in the 1950's, the Massachusetts Department of Public Works had a brilliant idea to use cloverleaf interchanges on many of the exits/entrances for their new outer bypass of the Boston area called route 495. This design allowed for smaller and less expensive construction of the ramping system however it also creates a problem called weaving - the merging of exiting and entering traffic in the same lane. In most cases, much like my entrance ramp, the problem is exacerbated by the very short on ramp also known as the merging area.

Since the ramps are built on a 270 degree arc design, the car entering the highway system can not both watch the ramp traffic in front of them and see oncoming cars in the left hand lane at the same time. In order to enter a high speed road system, an entering car must get up to speed as quickly as possible and stopping in the merge section of the ramp is not a good idea. You might get hit from behind or the side depending on where cars are coming from.

As for the guy I "cut off" entering the road, yes I heard you beep your horn and saw you flash your lights at me. But would it have been so hard to slow down just a bit so I could have entered the road way? Also since you were not getting off the exit, did you really need to be speeding in the "slow lane" on your way to work?

If we could all be a little more courteous on the roadways, we could avoid these situations and make it a safer and more enjoyable place to be in the early morning. On the other hand we could speed up and down the highway and not give our fellow drivers an inch, of course that other driver might just step out of his car and give you a piece of his mind [or other parts of his body], so be careful out there.

posted by TheWino @ 10:08 AM