Am 13.08.2010 14:28, schrieb Mike Raiford:

> There is something to that, though. I see many drivers as not
> necessarily being bad drivers (unless they are driving 50mph on a 70mph
> road yapping on their cellphone) but being just plain rude drivers. I'm
> always very irritated when I see people wait until the absolute last
> possible second before moving over when there have been signs indicating
> the lane is under construction and everyone must move over up to a mile
> before the construction starts. Although, a couple of states I have
> driven in have enacted a law stating that they must move over 1/4 - 1/2
> mile before reaching the construction zone. Waiting to the last second
> before moving to a different lane will cause delays because someone will
> have to stop for you.

... which in turn is only a problem if people on the lane you are to 
merge into don't bother whether you manage your merging maneuver or not.

Let's put it this way: If there is a gap you could move into, it 
wouldn't matter for the following traffic in /that/ lane whether you do 
indeed move into the gap ASAP or at the last possible moment, provided 
the following driver on that lane would be disciplined enough to leave 
that gap open for you. The only thing that would change would be that 
the following traffic on /your/ lane wouldn't be tempted to overtake you 
after you have merged.

As a matter of fact, in Germany there is a rule that in comparatively 
slow and dense traffic you /must not/ merge early, and instead drive on 
to the end of the lane, where both lanes are to merge in an alternating 
fashion (think of a zipper being closed).


Again, it's not a question of "the" best driving style, but rather how 
well your driving style is adapted to the palette of de-facto driving 
styles of your fellow drivers (and also your car).

For instance, I guess my current driving style is pretty well-suited for 
driving a well-powered car through German autobahn /commuter/ traffic, 
while driving the same car through German autobahn /holiday/ traffic is 
a totally different story. And driving a (comparatively) underpowered 
car on a German autobahn requires yet a different driving style, which 
inevitably /will/ irritate a certain subset of fellow drivers (primarily 
those who have never driven a low-powered car on an autobahn, I guess).

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