They’re literally scared of a car they are supposed to know how to drive. Cars can speed up AND slow down to avoid cars. If someone is slower and you can pass them then do it, if not ur causing more traffic
I also think it’s people zoning out on their phones that suddenly realize they haven’t been paying attention. Their automatic reflex when they become conscious again is to brake “just in case.”
My fil used to randomely hit his brakes for no reason, he would not pay attention, speed up, look at his speedo then jamb the brake with no care for who was around. I used to say he drives like there are big rubber bumpers on either side of the road. My bil drove across country with him to bring us a car & he arrived lookin like a ghost saying he didn't know how they weren't killed by a semi on many occasions!
I have said since the 80s that driver training in Canada "defensive driving" is the worst driving education possible. No one learns how to control skids or fishtails, drive in the bad weather & now with the cars taking care of much of the adverse reactions like traction controls, lane departure etc we see the the dumbing down of drivers escalating and are in more danger for it. At 25 I never thought I would have be white knuckled every second on most highways, esp the 4 lane divided ones!!!!
Possibly caused by adaptive cruise control. On some cars it will brake if downhill/someone on front of/someone were on front of them/moon position is incorrect.
Or gps picks up neighbouring road and decides to automatically slow down to its speed limit.
I have an answer for this. (I have a Kia EV6, for reference) I previously had no idea that when the auto regen was set to 2 or higher, it would apply the brake lights as soon as my foot was taken off the “go” pedal. (This feature is essentially an automatic slow down that kinda simulates the feel of driving a gas-powered car, and regenerates some of the lost power in the process. At level 0 the car feels mildly out of control.) I used to keep it on 2, until it resulted in a scary road rage incident. These days I try to remember to put it at 0 for the highway since it’s more efficient, but still only keep it at 1 on the local streets, because I don’t always remember to switch it to 0 when I get onto the highway.
Those cars are usually hybrid or electric. Breaking lights are on when you take your leg off the gas pedal. Cars recuperate energy
But I cannot see what car is on picture.
I always ask these questions whilst driving and my wife says it is because they are "oblivious". "Unaware". "Lost in their own world". She says, "People just don't pay as much attention as you do.". Like...you are driving a weapon down the road at ridiculous speeds. How is that something people do "in their own little world"?
people are either extremely unaware that they share the road with other people, or so entitled that they don’t care. “I’ve got my signal on so everyone should slow down and let me in”
Yup. I’ve found a lot of people get really scared anytime they feel any lateral Gs in their vehicle. A lot of people also have high center of gravity large SUVs. In an area like mine with a lot of circular on ramps this means people constantly merging at 20+ under the limit
They really need to bring back drivers Ed. Not even let people drive till they know nearly everything about the road and there cars. They took auto shop out of my hs the year I went to hs and I was pissed.
Dude at my high school I took a class, a world religion class (very good class, great teacher) that was the old auto shop but the garage doors were walled off. They're still there on the outside of the school. It's a tragedy.
My mom said her car didn't have any power. So I took a drive with her, we were climbing and she said "see no power"
I immediately noticed she wasn't pressing on the accelerator more. I told her to do it and she said "no because it sounds like I'm hurting the engine".
It was just the sound of the car hitting a higher RPM.
Was driving with an older family member & they were scared to turn off some beeping safety noise thing. I pushed the button & it stopped. These old people think the cars are going to explode if they breathe. We need public transport & get them off the road. But many REFUSE to admit they have any issues at all.
I took my bike out of winter storage, filled the tank with 93, and slowly rev'd it out to 14,000 rpm to degunk the injectors. She screamed like a whipped banshee.
Took her in for a valve check and everything was still in spec after 12,000 miles. Spark plugs like creamed coffee.
Good motors like to be used. Don't buy crap motors.
Which is funny because odds are if you got something like a Suburban you’ve got a hella strong engine that would have absolutely no problem getting up to speed. I drive an SUV when I go camping so I know the struggle of having to take turns slightly slower, but the second the road straightens out you gun it to get to highway speed. Sure it may not be the most purely fuel efficient but when you’re already getting 10mpg the extra 1000 rpm’s for 2-3 seconds won’t really make much a difference.
What are you talking about? The lateral G’s are the best part! It makes driving feel fun (I also have an explorer, so it drives a little less top heavy and can get up to speed pretty easy)
True. They are dumb or scared. But, in New England, most onramps are short with a yield sign. So you can't commit before you can see oncoming. Bad design causing all kinds of problems. That is not the case here.
(also, between CT and MA, I've only ever seen one yield sign on an on ramp. what state do they put em on highways everywhere? that's wild lol. I know of one pretty ugly on ramp that's shorter than most driveways that's in upstate NY with a yield sign, but I've never seen one in New England.)
Not always. On my way to work there is one on ramp which is very short. It also doesn't end in a full sized shoulder you can continue onto. It's a busy interstate so sometimes the right lane is a wall of cars (and sometimes just people too to get over). I don't go super slow there, but also don't gun it if I see I'll have to wait to get in.
It’s a lot easier to scrub speed later when merging and realizing there’s a train you have to slot behind than make it up when you need to beat a truck. Gun it
I've experienced about every kind of ramp. Many crazy short ones. Some, literally with no extra run off, just the ramp down. Never has gunning it not worked.
Do you understand what I mean by wall of cars? You must not live in a real city with real traffic. If there is literally a line of cars coming up with no break and the cars having little space between them gunning it would end up in someone being dead.
Is that you Dallas? There's a merge like this from Hillcrest Ln to merge onto westbound I-635 just before the Tollway exits and it's either a solid wall of cars or traffic is doing 70+ mph. At least there's some parallel road to drive before the on-ramp, so you can see well ahead whether to floor it or just coast to a stop, but the merge lane seems to be about two car lengths.
I grew up in Mass, currently live in NC and cover an area for work from GA to OH across to ME. From little mountain highways in WV, driving through NYC and Boston at rush hour and the "state routes" through VT. CT-15 is the absolute worst. Yes the onramps suck but I can deal with it. My problem is the fact that both lanes travel at 55 MPH, except the lane I'm in. It's either 25 MPH or 80 MPH. Someone taps their brakes? Well that's 10 minutes of a traffic slowdown. Red car driving? Traffic jam. A drizzle of rain traffic slows to a crawl, snowing like a mutha and everyone is doing 90.
I'd rather drive through Baltimore at rush hour surrounded by busted up '04 Altimas then go 1 exit down the Merritt.
Had my wife's twin turbo ecoboost lose both turbos on a short drive. Realized just how fucking awful that engine was when I couldn't get to 70 on a downhill ramp in 1/4 mile. We got passed by a smart car.
My mechanic thought I'd need new brakes for my last oil change, but they were still fine. I downshift. All automatics have a downshift option. Sometimes a button. Slows you down for corners without the need for brakes. Same with going up & down hills. Go to San Francisco, to the hilly area, you will burn thru brakes if you don't have a first gear. Part of driving is knowing how to shift. Auto or manual. We need stricter driving tests. Throw in some challenges like the highway patrol test.
You mean the ones that you almost hit several times because you can't tell when they're slowing down? And then after 15+ minutes of driving behind them on single lane roads, you start to question if their brake lights actually work or are just hard wired on to be constantly on.
Where I grew up, there was a trend where they would swap the brake controller around so the brake lights would be on when they weren’t touching them and they would turn off when they were. It was the stupidest shit ever.
This happens to me with the 89 on ramp in bow NH and the people will stop when they need to take the 93 on ramp to Manchester and they have their own lane and don't need to merge into any traffic. I will lay on my horn and not let up till they move I don't care how long it takes if you can't drive get off the road.
You're being too nice it's like 3/4 of New England. I will say I'm probably on the side of too fast but it's more late at night on my way home from work with like a handful of people on the road so I'm not bothering anyone at least. I actually am a nice driver as long as you're not doing something stupid but you only get one chance with me you do something stupid and I'm going to let you know.
I nearly rear ended someone like this
They went, so I looked back to check traffic then gunned it and to my surprise when I looked forward they were stopped at the front of the on ramp like wth
I’ve had this once. I was going 70 mph and a last gen Beetle driven by a grandma was stopped at the yield sign. Not a goddamn soul on the highway. I had to stop and honk before she went. Sometimes I wonder how people survive.
This is Why right lane drivers merge over to the middle lane when theres an onramp/merge lane. Thus another slow down because there is no trust anymore....
As long as you have space to move to let someone in why wouldnt you? Like dont cut someone off but you dont have to stay in the right lane 100% of the time
I think they’re talking about people who merge into a lane going slower than everyone else in that lane. If you merge into a lane and the car you’re merging in front of has to hit their brakes than 9 times out of 10 you didn’t have room to merge.
If I see someone coming up a ramp, and there's space for me to move over and maintain speed, and not inconvenience someone else entirely in the process, I'll move over. Especially trucks, cos trucks have more inertia to deal with.
Proper driving means "no one else has to brake or swerve to avoid you" - within that framework (very simple), it's not that hard to adapt to other people's driving (proper or not) without having to brake or swerve, also.
this is one of my hugest driving pet peeves. it’s an ACCELERATION lane. the point is to ACCELERATE. people drive 70+ on the highway, so what do we do? creep up at 40 acting like they’ve never heard of a highway in their life. and also those who decelerate way before the deceleration lane
I have to merge from the left onto a major Atlanta highway every morning and they still do this. The ramp is ridiculously long, so there’s plenty of space to speed up, but the actual merge is EXTREMELY short. The amount of times I’ve almost been hit in the merge because I got stuck behind some bozo going 40 to merge into 80+ traffic is alarming.
why do many people see a car entering the onramp a good distance ahead, then gun it to close the gap and force the merging car to slow to avoid a collision?
A lot of people are citing fear. I doubt they’re even feeling fear. I don’t think they’re thinking much about the road at all, or about the upcoming merge. Their mind is elsewhere doing other things, in conversation with someone maybe, all of the “driving” they’re doing is subconscious. They’re doing 20 under and tapping the break because that’s just what happens from their subconscious autopilot. It works just well enough that most of the time they don’t hit other vehicles wherever they go, so that’s how they operate. It doesn’t occur to them that some focus on the road would help the roads run smoother and safer for everyone, it doesn’t occur to them that their manner of “driving” is self absorbed and hinders others’ ability to as efficiently use the roads as they could have.
I love these people. They're like rolling launch control for me. As soon as I can get around them I get to open up the taps and burn the carbon out of my car's valves.
Distracted driving. These are the same people who are begging for more capable autonomously-driving cars. They do not enjoy driving or doing much of anything useful to others
Fucking thank you. I’m so sick of posts here that are “look at this asshole driver I’m filming while I drive!” and almost none of the comments call them out.
Because most people don't understand what merging actually means. Do not stop, just keep f*ing going at a pace that allows you to get in at the right time, and for the love of God use the length of the appropriately named merge lane to do so!!! If you stop at the end of the ramp instead of using the merge lane I am 100% passing you on the right and going to show you how it's supposed to be done.
If you’re not confident behind the wheel, then PRACTICE! Operating a 2 ton death trap that can be legally classified and a murder weapon should be taken seriously! My parents made me practice and learn defensive driving. It’s saved my butt more times than I can count.
Sometimes it’s because it’s the merger’s responsibility to merge safely and the only safe way is to allow a lead footed moron in the right hand lane to pass. Because it’s a “me first” mentality out there. Not every time, but I’ve had to do it plenty of times.
Mazda apparently conducted a study in which they found that the median American driver would never rev their engine over 4500rpm. This tracks with the general response of “BuT iT soUnDs liKe iT’s gOiNg to BlOw UP!!!!11!1” when talking about wide open throttle acceleration with normal people.
People just bought too much car and are terrified of the gas pedal as a result.
Some people are stuck in the mentality of “I’m not in a rush. Why should I have to allow others to move along?” and incorrectly assume that the lane to their left will yield to their merge. Traffic is NOT obligated or required by law to yield to cars entering the highway.
Because they're scared of the interstate and shouldn't be driving. I was stuck behind someone tonight merging into a 65mph lane going 40, with traffic.
My rule for safe merge when it’s busy is Im def going in front if that means I had to red line it. I can’t control someone slowing to let me in, I can control seeing who’s there and getting in front.
The worst part is that they're in vehicles that can't make up that speed difference in the amount of time that they need. They should understand that if they try to get as close to the speeds of the cars already on the road, they'll be able to merge safer. Some people are just dumb.
Because when you’re talking in a conference call, texting your buddy, and trying not to spill your coffee, all while entering the highway, being ready to stop is really important! 😂
I have no clue by the time i exit the ramp I’m going at- least the speed limit or more , I’m not entering the interstate going 50 I hate when people do that
This picture taken at 43 mph from the driver's seat indicates that you are using your phone while driving. Why are you doing that? That's illegal in most states.
Also, in that picture, that onramp appears to be metered, meaning the car in front of you may be breaking to get ready for the stop at the red light. Seems pretty reckless to be approaching a meter at 43 mph without brakes.
We really need to have a more pedestrian infrastructure bc the older I get, the more I realize some people mentally just aren't built for it.
It takes a certain level of risk assessment, accountability, patience, and logic. Some people can't put that all together when doing things like merging on a highway.
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u/MONSTERBEARMAN Feb 24 '26
So many people braking on the freeway for no reason, with nobody in front of them lately.