holypiston

There is a nice little turn onto SR500 where you merge..I guess north from 4th Plain the general area is St. John's road and the right turn merge to SR500.... From what i've learned while driving, you are supposed to accelerate in the lane provided to "match" the speed of oncoming traffic, then you don't have too much of a problem merging with the provided ramp length..

I've noticed alot, people will be a bit timid and just PARK IT right there after the turn and just wait until it's clear before they get on the road....sometimes this takes awhile.

It's pretty frustrating. I don't know if they do this in OR, but WTF?

The other thing i noticed is lots of moving vans from Arizona. I figure it's just too hot in AZ, so they are moving here?

Just curious.

spaceroc5

Dude I moved here 12 years ago and I still cant figure out OR/WA drivers. Going 55 in the fast lanegoing too slow or stopping at mergesturn signals on so far ahead you cant tell if they are guna turnAbandoning cars in the middle of the fuing road in bad weatherthen the classic all 3 lanes of the freeway going the same speed all in a line so nobody can get by

Stringcheese

I know exactly what you're talking about. Most people just press the skinny pedal on the right and go, but every once in a while some jackass decides there isn't enough room to accelerate. It seems to happen more getting on 500 going east. I can't remember seeing anyone ever doing that going west.

U-haul HQ is in Arizona, so all their trucks are registered there. I think it might be cheaper to register commercial trucks there too, I dunno.

TMMR

merging is a foriegn concept to the Northwest.

and yes Uhaul has it headquaters in AZ -- so all the trucks are licensed there.

taznhell

It does not matter where you go, people do not know how to merge.

DGA

People suck...ESPECIALLY when they are behind a wheel of a car.

Jersey John

Summarized perfectly. Mixed in with some passive-aggressive behavior and you have your stew of stupid driving here.

Buzzy

I commute to the couve,so I see both sides daily. Wouldn't want to offend any one's delicate sences...but OMG

ApexGirl

what amazes me about the drivers in OR/WA is that every year they forget how to drive in the rain!

Dragon Rider

and lets not get started on what happens when they try to drive in the SNOW

barbwire

OMG! So true!

Y2K

The real stupidity of it all is that merging traffic has the right of way.
Drivers are required to move over or back off and let merging traffic in but these pinheads merging just stop in the middle of the merging lane and the other pinheads on the freeway don't give way when they should.
Doesn't seem like anyone knows the rules of the road anymore and if any do they don't care.
Don't even get me started on turn signal use or the lack there of and yakking on the cell phone in the fast lane 5 mph under the speed limit.

trayson

I've been driving for 20 years and I'm very much into knowing the rules of the road. However, I have to respectfully disagree.

The merging traffic has the obligation to yield. If I'm on I-5 and there's traffic coming onto the freeway and I'm in the right lane and the onramp merges into my lane, I have the right of way, and the merging traffic has the obligation to yield.

I'll give you another example. Back when I was about 18, I was entering SR-14 from I-205. I was the vehicle "merging" into traffic. As I was entering SR-14, a car that was hauling a$$ came up on me so fast I didn't see them and I lane changed into them, with my driver's rear corner hitting their passenger front corner. Who had the obligation to yield: ME. And why am I even more confident of this fact? Because I was cited with "unsafe lane change" from the resulting accident.

I learned all this back in good old driver's ed. Interestingly enough, the RCW's are silent on who must yield right of way in a merge situation. They only mention that in a "roundabout" that the person entering the round about much yield right of way to the person already in there. It's the same concept...

But If you can find a source where it says that the vehicle that's in the existing lane must yield to someone entering their lane, I'd love to see it. In fact, if you can find a reference that proves in WA that the merging traffic has the right of way, I'll buy you lunch.

Y2K

Hmm,I stand corrected in WA,it appears laws vary from state to sate,some giving equal right of way to both by taking turns some giving merging traffic the nod but whatever they're still pinheads for stopping on an on ramp and freeway traffic that doesn't let merging traffic in is just as bad.

goslow

You are correct. I was in traffic court and heard a case where a car merging onto the freeway hit a semi that was in the right hand lane. The judge upheld the ticket against the merging car and told him that it was his duty to yeild to the freeway traffic, even if it meant stopping to complete a safe merge.

Jersey John

Yeah, most places merging traffic has to yield to the other traffic.

Mithras

It's not like that in other places? holy shit I need to move.

mfrankpdx

So true! If anything, we should be forgetting how to drive on dry pavement.

trayson

It's all good.

My gripe is when you're getting onto I-5 North from Mill Plain, and you have a full lane coming from the East, and two coming from the West. And it drives me nuts when the people coming from the East come to a stop instead of using their lane (which later down the onramp merges). It just floors me because they have a lane and NO Yield sign and people will come to a dead stop and wait until the middle lane clears because EVENTUALLY they'll be merging into that one....

holypiston

I came semi-fast around that turn to find a parked car there after the apex. Talk about shi**ing your pants and hitting the front brake. almost like a stand up highside....HELLO!!!

I have since learned to take that corner slowly and wait till i get around to see if there is someone camping out there.

Pretty dangerous i must say.