This is in response to this past weekends letters in the Star Wheels Section.
Specifically, to this letter by John Mason:
On many two-lane highways the road expands to permit passing. The problem is at the end when there is a merge back to two lanes. Who should allow the other vehicle in?
In Newfoundland, we are left in no doubt. The left lane has the words YIELD painted on it.
In other areas, drivers are left in doubt. In Ontario, the dotted line continues to the shoulder.
So the choice for a driver who has moved right to allow passing is to push sideways, or slow down, or stop, or to stay in the lane, be forced onto the shoulder and eventually into the rhubarb. And this does happen.
It makes sense to me that the vehicle that has moved over to permit a faster vehicle to pass should have right of way. The passing vehicle — the vehicle that is probably over the speed limit — should be responsible to care for the vehicle overtaken. Newfoundland has it right!
John Mason, Nobel
I think John, or maybe myself, misunderstands the reason for the widening of smaller highways to allow for passing. Maybe we can hash this out here.
Markham road north of the city is a good example of this. For the most part, the road is a 2 lane highway but around many intersections with traffic lights, it opens up to 4 lanes to allow for passing. John implies that slower traffic should move to the right and allow faster traffic to pass but I believe the opposite. I believe the road opens to allow through traffic to pass slower drivers and, more importantly, those who are waiting at the intersection to make a left turn where no left-turn lane is provided.
While slower drivers simply continue in the lane they’re in, faster traffic is provided this opportunity to pass them in the temporary right hand lane. While this may contravene the practice used on expressways, I don’t believe that “left lane hogging” logic applies since the right lane is short and temporary. It can’t be expected that slower traffic would pull into it.
With this in mind, I believe it is the responsibility of those in the right lane, which is ending, to safely merge to the left. Since it’s their lane that’s ending, and not that of the drivers in the left lane, it’s up to them to find a suitable spot to merge safely. Those in the left lane are not changing lanes. Their lane continues. Those in the right are changing lanes and have a responsibility to do so properly.
They should act exactly as they would on an expressway onramp. If they make it to the point where the dotted line ends their lane, then they’ve failed to merge properly and it’s their own fault that they now have to wait for an opening in traffic to pull in safely.
People in this province seem to have no clue when it comes to proper merging. I believe that as soon as you know that your lane is ending, you should be looking for a space to merge and matching speed with the traffic you’re trying to merge into. Anyone that gets to the end of their merging lane without doing so has given up their right to courtesy from the lane they’re trying to join.
While I am happy to allow merging traffic to pull in front of me, I don’t allow it at the end of their lane. At that point, they’ve already failed as drivers and for all I care they can drive themselves into the wall if they don’t feel like stopping and waiting for an opening.
Whether it’s their lack of driving know-how or their selfish attempts to get just a few car-lengths ahead in the other lane, they’ve wasted their space to manoeuvre. Now they’re on their own to deal with the consequences.
In all my years of driving, it’s a rare occurrence that I’ve found myself in that predicament through no fault of my own and I refuse to accept that I am simply the luckiest merger alive.