Merging Traffic

I like things that flow, like music and food. When I listen to certain music I can hear how the instruments compliment and communicate with each other producing a well composed song and when I eat something my taste buds can tell if the combination of flavors come together in a wonderful mix or separate in different directions causing an unpleasant taste. Vehicles on the road that flow together are like a form of a well composed song or something that tastes good that you can truly connect with.

I know I feel less stressed when I notice that traffic around me is flowing like a river down stream, everyone has their spot and no one is impeding on anyone else. It gets tricky sometimes with merging traffic and I think some people have a serious issue with this part of the driving dance because they don't know how to do this. For those of you on the freeway already and you are in the right lane approaching an on-ramp get over to your left if you can and let merging traffic flow onto the freeway. If you are getting off the freeway where other traffic is getting on, make sure you have your signal on and decide if you need to go in front of merging vehicles or behind them. Don't speed up to prevent them from merging just do the right thing and you will be surprised how much stress is alleviated.

Drivers merging onto the freeway turn your signal on before you get to the merging area, again you want to let other drivers know what you want to do and try to look back towards freeway traffic in addition to using your side-view and rear-view mirrors because you may be right beside a car or truck and not see them as you are merging. Sometimes you may have to come to a complete stop before getting on the freeway if traffic is too thick but try not to assume that you have to stop. Unless the rules of the road are indicating that you do stop you should practice trying to match your speed to fit into the flow of traffic without interruption. When you observe those drivers that just don't want to let you onto the freeway this might be a good time to safely use that horsepower that your engine possesses. If you don't have it then you might want to slow down and take what you can get. Never assume that anyone is going to let you merge.