Delay that urge to merge in traffic

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, February 20, 2005

There is yet another way drivers are too safe on the road.

Reader Tom LaBelle of Clearview wrote recently to share his favorite Random Act of Safety, a term I use for the driving habit of being so nice on the road that you actually create a hazard.

LaBelle’s pet peeve has to do with merging too soon when a freeway lane is about to end.

“How about the people who, on seeing a ‘lane ends’ sign, immediately swing over into the through lane and form miles-long queues while the lane that will be ending goes empty?” LaBelle asks.

The resulting traffic backups from this random act “often spill out onto other roads where overtaking drivers find cars ahead of them suddenly stopped dead in the road.”

I have to admit that when I read his question, my first response was that LaBelle was wrong; traffic flows better if you merge out of the lane that’s ending sooner rather than later. LaBelle’s response:

“I asked a state trooper about this and he said we are supposed to keep on going and merge into the other lane only when we get to the place where the lane we are in comes to an end. If your politeness cranks doubt me, stop a cop and ask.”

Well, I stopped a cop and asked. And wasn’t I surprised.

“I would have to say the reader is correct,” state Trooper Lance Ramsay said. “It is better to (keep) both lanes (full) and merge from there.”

When the merge finally happens, however, drivers must be courteous. Unfortunately, Ramsay said, there are drivers who believe the lane they’re driving in is their personal lane.

Ramsay recalled a recent incident that occurred directly in front of him where two vehicles were playing a game of not giving up to let the other get in front when merging. They ended up colliding. The trooper said the two drivers admitted blocking each other.

“How more ridiculous and immature could these two individuals be?” Ramsay asked. The two drivers “represent the ones that law enforcement contact on a daily basis that waste police time, cause traffic congestion, waste court time … and threaten the safety of others on the roadway.”

So what’s the moral of the story?

Don’t leave a freeway lane empty. Makes sense to me. And the next time I see Mr. LaBelle trying to merge in front of me, I plan to let him in.

Trailers OK in carpool lane

Question: Is a passenger vehicle with two or more people allowed in the carpool lane while towing a small utility trailer? I have had three different answers from three different troopers.

Howard Tate, Everett

Answer: All vehicles are allowed in the carpool lane if there are two or more passengers.

Vehicles with trailers heavier than 10,001 pounds are not allowed in the left lane. The left lane is considered to be the one to the right of the carpool lane. Vehicles with trailers are allowed to cross the left lane to get to the carpool lane.

Trooper Lance Ramsay, spokesman for the State Patrol.