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I guess this is an odd thing to complain about, but lately I've been noticing a lot of people willfully giving up their right-of-way.
Examples:
1 - I'm on a side street, wanting to make a left turn on to a main road. A car coming from my right wants to make a left turn on to the side street I'm on. They have the right-of-way and should make the turn. Instead, they, stop and let a number of cars turn on to the main road.
2 - Entering a highway on-ramp, I have the yield sign. I slow down to let the other car go, but they come to a near stop and wave me on.
I shouldn't complain about people trying to be courteous, but does anyone else think doing this really disrupts traffic? Based on the rules of the road, I have certain expectations on what someone else is going to do (for example, I don't expect someone to come to a stop at a green light). But when people do this, it creates uncertainty and hesitation. Anyone ever get into a game of chicken with both people waving the other to go?
The only time I do it is when there's heavy traffic barely moving, and the poor person has been sitting there forever waiting to get out. I'll let one or two people out, but thats it.
This is a BIG pet peeve of mine. Why do people feel like they have to direct traffic? There's rules of the road for a REASON.
A story: I pulled up to the stop sign to wait for traffic. Car was on my left, waiting to make a left turn onto the side street. They start waving me to go ahead through the stop sign. Me: No, you go ahead. Them: No, you go ahead. This went on two or three times. At this point I'm not sure if they're going to go ahead or not. I finally got frustrated and proceeded, without looking again to my right for the other through traffic and almost got hit. AAARRRRGGGHHH!! Thanks a lot!
This happens a lot with the four way stops, too. AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!
1 - I'm on a side street, wanting to make a left turn on to a main road. A car coming from my right wants to make a left turn on to the side street I'm on. They have the right-of-way and should make the turn. Instead, they, stop and let a number of cars turn on to the main road.
This is courtesy and politeness. Someone who has the right of way can certainly voluntarily give it up if it doesn't put anyone else in danger.
Quote:
Originally Posted by raveabouttoast
2 - Entering a highway on-ramp, I have the yield sign. I slow down to let the other car go, but they come to a near stop and wave me on.
Not sure I get this, there's a yield sign at the top of the on-ramp, where the ramp merges into the highway? That's pretty boneheaded, a yield sign is effectively a stop sign, and those should only be used on hyper-short ramps with no space for traffic to properly merge.
You don't live in Pittsburgh, do you? This has been a pet peeve of mine since I moved up here. The people are so overly "friendly" on the roads here that they create their own traffic jams.
I've seen people come to a complete stop in the middle of the road to allow someone to turn left in front of them from the opposite lane. This is during a period of light traffic, when traffic is traveling the speed limit and there is NO reason to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. I've never seen anything like this anywhere else. I had to slam on my brakes the first time I saw this since I was not expecting the car in front of me to STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING ROAD.
I also witnesses a lady at a busy intersection stop her car and point in 3 different directions waving cars in from all over the place like she was a freaking traffic cop. Sheesh, let one car in and go. If everyone takes turns it goes smoother and you aren't backing up the line behind you.
But you're absolutely right, when someone gives up the right of way it creates hesitation and unecessary danger, since they aren't acting within the normal rules of the road.
Best you can do is to try and minimize their traffic disruption as well as you can, ie, GO if they aren't going to, and don't waste time motioning them on if they don't know what the proper action to take is.
It's like when two people get to an 4 way stop at the same time, and they both want to turn onto the same road. Both people just sit there and wait for the other person to go, then they both decide to go at the same time, both brake again, wait for each other some more, then one finally cautiously moves forward, and the whole damn process takes like a minute when it should have taken 5 seconds.
I had to slam on my brakes the first time I saw this since I was not expecting the car in front of me to STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING ROAD.
Maybe that wouldn't have been a problem IF YOU WEREN'T TAILGATING THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU! If someone ahead of you slowing down and stopping means you have to slam on the brakes, you're WAY too close to the car in front of you.
I suspect people tend to yield their right of way most frequently in an attempt to "play it safe." This does often cause an unsafe condition, but I doubt they realize it. Yet, there are so many drivers who disrespect the rules of the road and take a right of way which is not theirs, I can see why some driver's would rather yield their own right of way rather than risk taking it and ending up in a situation where another driver doesn't respect their right of way.
Defensive driving usually is a better fail safe in a time of uncertainty in real world conditions than aggressive initiative taking.
Not sure I get this, there's a yield sign at the top of the on-ramp, where the ramp merges into the highway? That's pretty boneheaded, a yield sign is effectively a stop sign, and those should only be used on hyper-short ramps with no space for traffic to properly merge.
There are two "entrances" to the onramp for cars travelling in opposite directions. See my mini diagram below. Straight line is the main road - Y is the ramp. Cars coming from the right would take a left turn on to the on-ramp; cars from the left would take a right on the on-ramp. The ramp merges and then connects to the highway.
______
Y
Typically the cars making a right turn on to the ramp have a yield sign (actually I think this is always the case). So you have 2 cars trying to get onto the ramp at the same time and only one person should yield.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr
Best you can do is to try and minimize their traffic disruption as well as you can, ie, GO if they aren't going to, and don't waste time motioning them on if they don't know what the proper action to take is.
It's like when two people get to an 4 way stop at the same time, and they both want to turn onto the same road. Both people just sit there and wait for the other person to go, then they both decide to go at the same time, both brake again, wait for each other some more, then one finally cautiously moves forward, and the whole damn process takes like a minute when it should have taken 5 seconds.
That's the problem if you try to just go. There's that hesitation and it quickly becomes unclear who should go. And I'd say it can get dangerous because when a car is turning left, often people will go around on the right.
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