Highway driving is like taking your life in your hands these days. I do it less and less.

That being said....access from an on ramp onto a highway is controlled by individual State law. I don't know how it is today...but years ago...seeking access to a major highway in Florida lawfully demanded that the driver seeking access stop until the traffic on the highway was clear enough to gain access safely. No merging allowed. However, today many States have merging laws...allowing the approaching drivers to meld into the ongoing traffic.

Having driven in several States over my driving career...when I approach an access ramp with an obvious vehicle looking to enter the highway...traffic allowing...I automatically move over to the left lane next to me. It's force of habit...but I think it's also the law in CT. To me it only matters that it's a safe habit and has saved me on many an occasion when an approaching driver is less than polite or driving at an unsafe speed. If the lane next to me is occupied...I slow down and allow the access.

Glad your experience didn't result in any harm to you, Susan. There are too many inconsiderate drivers out there these days.

I would have either sped up or slowed down. Life is too precious to take chances.

The only way I wouldn't move to the left lane is if I couldn't. Law or not, it seems in my best interest to protect myself from aggressive drivers. If necessary, I will slow down if I can not move to the left lane.

Like you I move over when I am able. When i find myself in the situation you did it's better to yield if you aren't able to speed up. I also don't think it's the best idea to use cruise control on moderate to heavy traffic or where people are merging. Sometimes defensive driving requires one to be able to power out of situations.

That said I wish people would merge properly. A pet peeve in my area is that people today don't understand that they should be going the speed of traffic when merging, not 10 or more miles below. That is why the entrance ramp is also known as the acceleration lane.

The car merging is accelerating to freeway speed. You see the car. You can't move left to maintain your speed. Now you be proactive. You either slow down or speed up, but you don't play chicken with the merging car. Defensive driving is the key here.

Ed. to add that not "having" to move over is a lame argument after the accident.

Like you, I generally move over, traffic permitting to allow a merging car easy access. Also, in most states, it's law that you move over if you see a patrol car with flashing lights and an officer talking to the driver of the car pulled over up ahead.

"The Department of Licensing's Washington State Driver Guide advises the vehicle on the arterial to move over a lane and make room for vehicles entering a roadway that has two or more lanes, but there’s no legal obligation to do so."

I used to travel to the middle of the country for business a few times a year, and I and my colleagues would trade war stories in the lounge at the end of the day, many of which revolved around "People around here don't know how to merge!" Unfortunately, merging in heavy traffic is normal in Southern California, but way too many people didn't learn to drive here and don't know how to merge here either. :)

However, merging is what one does when two lanes become one, whether from a narrowing of the road, or an entrance ramp with a freeway lane. California law doesn't really speak about it but expects the occupants of both cars to work it out between them. Moving to the left in traffic on the freeway, once you're already in a merge situation, is rarely safe (there's likely a car there, or one moving there). If I'm in the right hand lane, generally in anticipation of exiting, I keep an eye on the entrance ramps, and adjust my speed, either faster or a little slower, so that we can merge properly. It should go like a zipper. If the entering car is well below freeway speed, I always speed up. You don't go slow on the freeway.

That's very different from a highway. When there are two lanes in each direction (four lane divided highway), and very little traffic (i.e., neither lane full and good distance between cars), one should drive on the right and pass on the left, and it's good practice to move to the left when you see people coming onto the highway. This is especially true because on a highway they're often coming off a dead stop, and that gives them room to get up to speed. It's not required, however, and as you noted it can be dangerous. Generally, entrance into a highway is different from merging, which has two lines already on the road (a freeway ramp is considered 'on the freeway'). The car already on the road has the clear right of way (unless you have a differing law I haven't heard of). The entering car should adapt and not impede your progress. But that basically is for assigning blame when there's a crash. Reality is, no matter what's going on, get out of the distracted nut's way! Best to speed up if you have open road in front of you, but if you have to brake, it's better than getting smooshed.

I wish drivers would realize that if they are entering or exiting the freeway they do NOT have the right of way. It is on them to merge into traffic safely. It is not incumbent upon me to floor it or slam on my brakes to let them in. Too many seem to have the attitude " here I come, get out of my way"

That said, as a courtesy I do try to move into the next lane....in fact I try not to drive in the far right lane at all until I'm getting ready to exit....less hassle for them and me. I won't play chicken either.....like everyone, I'll hit the brakes and let them in, but I secretly want to shout "ever heard of 'yield to oncoming traffic?"

elbeeca: You wouldn't last 5 minutes on our Bay Area freeways. Merging most definitely involves teamwork.

In my state, you would have had the right-of-way: Vehicles entering the highway from an acceleration ramp yields to those already cruising the highway. However, as a courtesy, most drivers adjust their speed to accommodate the entering vehicle. We will speed up to be in front front of the vehicle on the ramp, or slow enough to provide a space for him to enter.

A driver accelerating down the ramp has a difficult time, especially if there is another car in front of him. Traffic coming up on his left most often is not visible in this side mirror due to the entering car not parallel with the left lane. The view in the mirror shows the ramp lane. If he turns his head to look back left, he then is not watching the traffic in front of him and risks rear ending the car in front of him it it decides to slow.

I have encountered at least two problems in this situation when I am the one already on the highway and these are: (1) the Ego Hound who thinks his rightful place is always in front of the other car, and (2) the 'train'. The train is 2 or more cars coming down the ramp that refuse to take their turn melding into traffic. They refuse to leave a gap between their cars and tailgate the car in front thus both cars (or more) try to enter together when there should be a gap between them so that traffic from each lane can meld together much like teeth on a zipper, each taking their respective turn.

It is better to give up the right-a-way than to crash.

When I learned to drive, I was taught that the driver entering the highway was in the acceleration lane and it's his job to get up to speed and merge into the traffic. You in the right hand lane should get out of the way if you know the inbound car won't be able to merge in smoothly. In my opinion, you were in the wrong. The only way my opinion would change is if there was a redlight/green light at the end of the inbound lane.

I do whatever I need to do to avoid a collision be it slow down, speed up, or move over. When a driver won't yield to the right of way then they don't care if they live or die. So if they don't care about their life, I know they sure as heck don't care about mine.

Oddly, this was in our paper yesterday. Freeway traffic has the right of way in Oregon. Yes, moving into the left lane to assist the merging transition is required, if possible.... but the movement of the freeway traffic has priority. Common sense prevails in order to drive defensively and avoid mishaps. /Im always thankful for the courtesy of most drivers in my state....it is scary someplaces!

Teamwork here is someone passing on the left at exactly the same time that someone on the right is barreling onto the freeway, both of them with no apparent regard whatsoever for how it affects the party caught between them.

The same squeeze is also applied by numerous individuals via the mere changing of lanes, without ramps being involved.

These and various other combinations occur because the Right of Way for many consists of wherever they want to go, whenever they want to go there*.

4-way stops here are an absolute free for all.

Even better, in California they have signs on the freeways telling you to drive faster. Last time I was there I saw cops on the interstate maybe twice.

*Compounding the already inherent inattentiveness and self-absorption was the addition of cell phones. As I have posted here elsewhere recently I saw a woman driving at night at high speed in the far left lane holding an illuminated cell phone directly in front of her face, blocking her view through the windshield. A pack of cars was not far ahead of her, in the same lane

When I'm traveling in an area that has busy on-ramps, I just stay in the middle (or left) lane for that very reason. As said, too many merging drivers seem to have the "Here I come" attitude.

25 years or so ago on the NB I-5 in San Clemente, CA, I got boxed in by 3 tractor-trailers and one coming down the on-ramp! Really thought that was it, but somehow I escaped. I honestly don't remember how. Traffic in So. Cal. was so bad then, I can only imagine what it is like now :-0.

She asked what you would have done, not "what was legal"? I would've merged as a team player. The "zipper way". I would've slowed down or sped up so they could merge in. I think someone in the main lane has the greater control and should help if they can. If it helps to move out of the lane completely, then do so! If not, speed up, slow down. Not moving or helping is causing an accident, whether it's licit or not.

When I merge from a ramp onto a highway I merge and yield to the cars in the far right lane which I am entering. Sometimes that means slowing down or speeding up. I do not just enter the right lane and expect that cars in it will move out of my way.

That driver was an idiot.

There are a couple of merge lanes on my drive home from work. When I see cars on in the merge lane, I'll either speed up, or slow down depending on where they are in the lane so that they can make a safe entry to the main road. It's usually almost impossible to move into the inside lane during my drive home because of heavy traffic. But lately, I try to stay in the inside lay anyway, because the right lane is also a bus stop lane and I hate stopping every block (city transit here is terrible... bus stops on EVERY...SINGLE...CORNER...). But, I do believe that when you exit a merge lane, it is that persons responsibility to ensure that he or she can safely get into traffic. If not, they are to stop. You are to YEILD to traffic on the main street. If you can't get in safely, you stop.

Cars should merge like a zipper. I slow down or speed up to let a car in, and if there are several cars wanting on the highway, I'll move to the left if I'm able. I always move to the left to let a tractor-trailer on the highway.

Thanks, everyone, for all the responses. I didn't realize I was playing chicken--it's not something I would ever do--but I guess technically I was. Silly me for expecting the merging driver to behave sensibly, but as things turned out I wouldn't say the choice I made was all that sensible either.

After I returned to the right lane, the car in question pulled out into the left and passed me (of course). I got a glimpse of them then: two teenage girls. At least they weren't texting (as far as I could tell).

I don't drive the right lane unless I am fully prepared to allow merging traffic in, period. I've been in that on ramp, getting up to highway speed and found someone blocking my entering the freeway, that is not how merging is supposed to work.

I'm glad everyone was OK, and the mention of texting is important. No longer is driving a matter of courtesy and common sense and having a grasp of the rules of the road; now we have to think ahead on how to deal in case the person driving near us is reading a cell phone screen without one thought on driving safety.

Our highway has been expanded. We have 3 through lanes and others on the sides for merging that can connect on/off ramps. In one case you never have to merge into traffic, just keep going until you exit, the merge lane is that long.

If I were Alisande I would have slowed down, since the traffic is usually heavy and the lane to my left would have been occupied(depends on the time of day). She occupied the lane and legally should not have had to do anything....but was legally expected to avoid an accident...giving her 50% accountability.

"I got a glimpse of them then: two teenage girls." That explains a lot. Used to be that the teen girls drove more cautiously than the teen boys....not any more. They scare me and I give them a wide berth.

I've always thought it was up to the merging car to "fit in" and that the flow of traffic has the right of way...

Golfergrrl......haha....I grew up and learned to drive in Southern Cal and now live in metro DC....when I enter or exit a freeway I don't fly on or off and expect oncoming traffic to hit their brakes to let me in. I adjust my speed and maneuvering so that I merge in when there is space to do so. Too many drivers zoom on and off without even considering oncoming traffic. Of course I am going to let someone in rather than have an accident, it's just frustrating that they don't seem to know or care about the concepts of right of way and yield.

Driving is increasingly more difficult as people fail to see how they fit into the whole around them in other aspects of their lives. The person fixated on his mobile 'whatever' is unconscious of what's around him. He walks into people. He walks into traffic. His mind is not even IN the physical world with his body. He gets into his car and continues to ignore what's around him, acting as though he is alone in a room with a game device and a TV screen on which he is 'driving'.

A driver is responsible for knowing what's going on all around him, not just through the front windshield, but to his left, right, and behind his car.

Alisande was aware that there was no car behind her. She should have slowed and allowed the in-the-wrong driver to merge ahead of her. This would have put her in the safer position.

I don't know a lot of Californians, but everyone I do know has been rear-ended more than once, sometimes when they were at a dead standstill, either in traffic or at a red light.

Driving is a full time job. We can't stop the in-transit eyebrow pluckers or the eaters. We can block signals to moving non-emergency vehicles to prevent cell phone reception until the vehicle comes to a stop. This minor, temporary inconvenience would prevent huge numbers of accidents -- permanent 'inconveniences', some fatal.

I've always thought it was up to the merging car to "fit in" and that the flow of traffic has the right of way...

That "is" true, the lane was occupied, but from in insurance companies stand point...unless the car hitting her was speeding and she had NO time to react, she has to try to prevent an accident.

I once had a claim where the woman said "I had to hit her. She wouldn't let me into that lane". She was given 100% accountability.

If there were room to move into the left lane safely, I would prefer that.

As I saw the other car moving on the ramp, with a possibility of wanting into my lane in the space that I would be wanting, I think that I'd put the cruise control on pause, as I need to be in charge of the vehicle.

As we came closer to merging, if the other car appeared to be wanting to move into the lane I'm occupying at the place that I'd likely be, I'd either speed up or, more likely, gently slow, in order to let that driver do his thing ... the gentle slowing would be to let a driver on my tail avoid having his/her hair stand on end.

Best to be calculating a quarter mile ahead what may be about to happen ... and take evasive action as may be indicated: results in fewer soiled undergarments (or much worse).

ole joyful

I don't know what the law is here, but it's a major city so quite a bit of traffic and several lanes of it both directions. Usually, when you are getting on the interstate, you are in a line of merging traffic. That determines your speed. I merge in and then go over a lane or two. If I am in the right lane then I'm probably trying to get off. I just work with merging people and do what I need to do to let them in and me out.

Alisande is exactly the type of driver that makes me insane. Blithely cruising along, and not allowing others to merge easily - mentioning that her cruise control was set and that she didn't release the control, and that she didn't speed up - is rude. And dangerous.

Right-of-way is one thing; common courtesy is another.

It doesn't matter whether you are right or wrong if you are dead. Be proactive.

I didn't ask if I was right or wrong; obviously, I didn't make the best decision in this case. As I explained, I usually make one of several other choices in this kind of situation, and will certainly go back to doing that. I love driving, and have always taken it seriously.

When I got my learner's permit as a teenager, an uncle gave me a piece of advice I never forgot: "Anticipate. Be aware of the vehicles around you, and try to anticipate what they will do." It was good advice, but maybe the second part of it should be, "keep in mind that you might be wrong."

I wasn't quite sure what you were asking until you later clarified. I guess I usually move over when there isn't traffic. So many people just don't know how to merge it's a way for me to eliminate frustration. Actually I usually stay in the middle or left lane to eliminate merging issues like this too. And I seldom use cruise control. It wasn't until the vehicle I got about 12 years ago or so that was the first vehicle I ever had with cruise but living in a climate that has winter, I found that cruise isn't something I use much for several reasons but that's another topic. SO, back to the initial question!

Although I would probably move over, I'd also likely speed up a bit or if they're moving up enough to obviously give some speed I'd let them go in front of me. Occasionally I get "people" (and I'll refrain from calling them what I want to call them!) who play chicken, so I try to avoid it. I run into it a lot around here when there's a lane ending and someone tries to get that extra car length... It's frustrating but the older I get the more I try to make it not bother me.

The piece of driving advice that sticks in my mind is from a friend's father who told his son "Drive like the other guy is crazy!" Best advice I ever heard.

I actually had to ask my husband what he thought, and he agreed with me. In all my years of driving, I have never moved over when driving past a merging lane. I either slow up or speed up a bit, depending on the situation.

When merging, I have never had a car move over a lane to get out of my way.

It is the driver who is merging who has to negotiate the situation.

I'm in NYS. Maybe you all have different rules?

I will admit that the largest city I ever drive in is Kansas City (well, once in St. Louis), so my experience obviously isn't as broad as some of yours. However, when I'm driving smoothly along and I see someone getting ready to merge into my lane, I ALWAYS move over to the left if I can. If I can't move over, I slow down and let the car come into my lane in front of me.

People are crazy, absolutely crazy. I'm not taking a chance on making another driver angry with me these days. They can easily use their car as a weapon against me, or even use a real weapon they might have handy under their seat. Not worth it. So what if I have to take the cruise control off, or lose my place in my lane? Who cares? I'm not driving in the Indy 500.

I don't think there's a rule, Ellen--or if there is, I don't know about it. I'm sure we've all had the experience of a merging car that doesn't do what we think it's going to. That is, there have been times when I slowed down for a fast-moving merging vehicle, only to have the vehicle slow down as well. So there we are, neck and neck anyway. The same conflict can happen if both of us speed up.

For that reason, depending on traffic conditions, moving to the left sometimes seems less complicated. I probably do it about a third of the time.

I do believe that in my state (WI), it is up to the merging driver to stay accountable...with that said, I scan ahead quite aways ahead of the ramps and move to the passing lane to permit easy access. I am intimately familiar with the stretch I take to work each morning.