Quote:
Originally Posted by xQx
Idiot who has a tendency to do exactly that here - or one to scream past three people only to get one car ahead at the next red light.
Local conditions may differ, but where I live people love to merge at walking pace and stop at the first breath of an orange light.
Generally speaking, you don't know when the lights are going to change, and you don't know if the highway is going to be banked up or free flowing. If we're talking about screaming onto a highway at peak hour that's always banked up - sure, dude's an idiot.
But I do it because eight times out of ten you can expect the driver to come to a complete stop at the end of the onramp then wait for a written invitation before merging into traffic. Knowing that you have the capability to merge into a 4-second gap in 100km/h traffic from a 30km/h rolling start means you want to get in front of any other cars on the onramp and get onto the highway to avoid being stopped at the choke point for 10 minutes.
Same with traffic lights, you don't know when they're going to go red, and 50% of the time, all your overtaking was for nothing. However, the other 50% of the time I get through the lights when I otherwise wouldn't have because I'm not stuck behind the retiree who's slowed down on the green light and screeched to a stop the second it goes orange. That can save 5 minutes off a 15 minute trip.
On the flip side, if I'm doing 108km/h in a 100 zone in the fast lane and someone comes screaming up behind me, I'll be the first to pull into the slow lane and let them past. I've never understood the attitude of people who sit in the fast lane at the speed limit and don't let people past "because I'm doing the speed limit, why should I pull over? They're speeding anyway.".
People love to hate the guy going fast & weaving through traffic (admit it, that's part of the reason people hate pushbike riders) - but little do they know they're ofent being just as much assholes themselves by being inattentive and obstinate.
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I agree with you here. I do the same. However, I'm just pointing out the times where situations arise when you will not gain any advantage in positioning. As in gridlock traffic - just as the OP wrote.