There is a right way and a wrong way of doing things, and when it comes to driving, doing it the right way gets my vote. I have received many concerns involving right-of-way violations.
Merging into traffic, whether it is from a stop at the curb, an on-ramp or transition road (that part of the freeway that takes you from one freeway to another) can be a challenge. The general rule is, a vehicle already occupying a traffic lane and traveling at the posted speed limit has the right-of-way.
What does right-of-way mean? Basically the driver of a vehicle operating on the freeway and not exiting or entering has the right to continue without having to speed up, slow down or take evasive action to allow another vehicle to enter the highway.
More times than not, merging drivers tend to put themselves and others in jeopardy by not doing the basic thing: speeding up. When entering traffic, your vehicle needs to be traveling approximately the same speed as traffic already operating on the roadway. When you enter a freeway with a posted speed limit of 65 miles-per-hour, your vehicle should be traveling 65 miles-per-hour. Today’s vehicles are capable of reaching these speeds in a short distance. The issue many times is that the driver of the vehicle is for whatever reason(s) hesitant to accelerate as is necessary. Senior drivers (not all of them) because of the aging process do not always judge their speed correctly and enter the freeway more slowly than is recommended. Many times it is unsafe.
This issue with senior drivers (I am one) has been a traffic concern since the advent of the automobile. Law enforcement deals with senior drivers in many ways, and requesting that they be re-evaluated is one. We’ve discussed the many concerns involving senior drivers in a separate column. We as a community need to remember that no one wants his driver’s license taken away, but on the other side of the coin, no one wants to lose a loved one because we didn’t take the appropriate action because it would hurt someone’s feelings or be an inconvenience to us. Enough said.
Back to merging. When transitioning off the freeway, do not start slowing down until you are off the freeway and on the transition road or off-ramp. When drivers start slowing down while still on the freeway in preparation for exiting, it creates an accordion effect, which can result in read-end collisions. I realize many exit ramps have recommended speed limits. These are exactly that, recommended. The actual speed limit on the ramp is freeway speed, but Caltrans has conducted speed engineering tests for these ramps and based on those, a reduced speed is posted. You would be well served to adhere to this recommended speed.
One of the most irritating traffic acts is the driver who speeds up to get in front of you and then exits. In most cases this is probably a violation. The driver likely made an unsafe turning movement, but as with any other violation, an officer has to observe the violation for a citation to be issued. Yes, a private citizen has a right to file a complaint against that driver. We will address that scenario in a separate column.
Finally, what about those four-way, uncontrolled (no stop signs, yield signs or traffic signals) intersections? Whatever the posted speed limit is for the area, if during the last 100 feet of the driver’s approach to the intersection the driver does not have a clear and unobstructed view of the intersection and any traffic entering the intersection for 100 feet, the speed limit is 15 miles-per-hour.
When all else fails, plain, old-fashioned, common courtesy usually works.
Monty Hight is a retired California Highway Patrol officer and public information officer for the North State AVOID Campaign. He lives in Redding. More information on AVOID can be found here.
