Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Rants ... on the correct usage of "merge lanes" ...
Okay, I don't rant often in my blog (well, except for that Amish woman ... but that really bugged me!) Oh, and the child trafficking in Indonesia thing. Oh, and there certainly was my reaction to The Polar Express movie. But, really - I don't feel like I spend a lot of time ranting here.
ANYWAY ... here's my rant. I commute on I-95 every single day. I drive from the Lorton exit (exit #163) on I-95, almost the entire length of I-395 to the Washington Blvd. exit. Most days, it's not pretty. It's about 20 miles, all interstate driving, yet can take anywhere from 20 minutes to two or more hours. Usually it takes about 45 minutes in the morning and closer to an hour in the evening.
Well, when you get onto I-95 North at Lorton Road, there is an extra-long merge lane. This is probably because, when it's NOT rush-hour, the traffic on 95 mistakes the "Interstate" signs for the "Miles per hour" signs (i.e. "95"!!) It takes a good start to get up to speed.
But, in the morning traffic (usually stand-still), there are those jokers who think that the Lorton Rd. merge lane is a good place to pass 20 or 30 cars on the right to get ahead in the traffic. They actually switch lanes to the right, get into the merge lane, and pass a bunch of cars. Then, those of us who are actually trying to merge have to deal with cars moving into our lane from our left, as well as keeping an eye for an opening in traffic into which to merge, as well as trying to match the speed of the traffic. All that, and I always get the feeling that the cars in the lane that I'm merging into probably think that I'm one of those other cars that just passed 20 or 30 cars via the merge lane, and so I feel guilty when I haven't even done anything wrong. UGH!!
People need to stop using merge lanes as passing lanes!!!! (Rant over...)
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