How not to merge on the interstate...

[The cat whisperer]

from the breakdown lane.
I was following the in-laws from their house after dark and we hopped on the interstate. They managed to move over, but I got stuck in the right lane. There were three cars in the breakdown lane. Suddenly one car decided to turn on their hazard lights . Then, at the last possible second they pull into my lane in front of the car (a Toyota of some kind) directly in front of me. Their back quarter panel almost came into contact with the Toyota's front fender. Much slamming of the breaks and praying occur. They were literally going around 15 mph easing into the lane with no regard for the other cars already occupying that space or the blaring horns.

Two things irritated me. 1. Why merge and cut off another car? They could have moved over earlier since there were no cars in front of the Toyota for a good distance. Or, they could have waited for another gap. 2. They drove about a quarter of a mile (I was still stuck since they were going so slow I couldn't move over and be safe) at 20 mph and pulled back over into the breakdown lane. If they had to move why didn't they just use the breakdown lane and drive the distance? The lane is almost the same size as a normal lane.

I could be overly sensitive since I hate interstate driving, but I can safely say I have a strong dislike of that driver.

[blas]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "breakdown lane".

Around here, barely anyone can merge properly.

Everyone either blasts onto the freeway at 80+ mph and has the attitude that everyone needs to make way for them, or they toodle and try to merge in at 35 mph and everyone has to jam the brakes or scatter around furiously trying to get around them.

[MaggieTheCat]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "breakdown lane".

I'm guessing the "lane" to the right of the right-most lane, where cars usually pull over if they're having trouble, or if you get pulled over by a cop.

[The cat whisperer]

Maggie's right about the lane. I don't know where I picked up the "breakdown" term either since most of my friends call it the shoulder. And, 80+ mph merges or 35 mph merges (and complete stops on the on-ramps) are normal here as well. This is why I try to avoid the interstate unless there is no other option or I'm late.

[Geek King]

Also known as the shoulder in the US. Tends to be wide enough to hold a car so you can get entirely off the road if you breakdown. Some places instead have breakdown stops in the highway median, to maximize driving space.

[blas]

We just have the shoulder around here, but on the freeways and interstates there are "emergency stopping" areas.....meh, like you can predict that, right?

[Kogarashi]

I used to call it the shoulder, until we moved to CT. Thanks to all the signs saying "Do not drive in breakdown lane," I've picked up that terminology.

And that type of merging sounds about par for the course here too. ::grumble::

[Shalom]

(and complete stops on the on-ramps) are normal here as well.

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, built in the early 50's, is technically an interstate (I-278) but is way substandard, being much too narrow in many places to have a shoulder or any acceleration lanes at all, and as a result has at least three onramps with a stop sign at the end, so of course you have to make a complete stop... If there's no traffic, you can slide through, but if there is, you get to the end, wait for a minuscule gap in the traffic, and floor it. Of course the speed limit is only 45mph through that area, so that theoretically makes it easier, assuming any New York driver will treat the speed limit as more than a mere suggestion. Satellite photo of one such entrance:

[blas]

Once in a great while (and I'm not counting during bad weather because that's a given) you'll see someone come to a stop or almost a stop because they get irritated enough that no one is moving over for them.

[Rapscallion]

UK version of the lane is the 'hard shoulder'. I suspect a 'soft shoulder' would have been grass verge, but we don't see much in the way of grass verges over here these days.

Rapscallion

[Chromatix]

Grass, or gravel, or sand, or some combination thereof. Either way, not good for making a controlled stop or recovery with a sick vehicle.

When the first motorways were built in the 1950s, there was no hard shoulder. There were also very few cars that could cope with being run at 50+ mph continuously. The results should have been rather predictable...