barmar, on 2014-August-25, 18:09, said:
Getting back to the sub-thread about traffic, I wonder what people think about this situation:
There are two travel lanes in your direction. When nearing an intersection, the left lane is also the left-turn lane, as there's no separate turn lane. If someone is trying to make a left turn, and there's no let-up in the traffic in the other direction, everyone behind them in the left lane is stuck waiting.
You wisely got yourself into the right lane early, to avoid getting stuck. When you see cars with their right-turn signal on, because they want to get out of that logjam, do you ever slow down to let one of them in? Or is it every man for himself, they have to wait for a natural gap in the traffic that will let them pull over (or for the left-turner to succeed -- but often there's more than one of them).
It depends a little on the circumstances (doesn't everything?) but mostly I think that they are just stuck.Let's take a fairly typical situation. Traffic in the right lane, the one you are in, is going maybe 35 or 40. How do I let him in? Practically speaking, I can't. Let's vary it a little. Traffic still going 35 or 40, but not dense. There is enough room between me and the guy in fromt so that if the guy in the left lane is alert and pushes it, he can get in.. Well, I definitely don't speed up to close the gap and keep him out.Possibly I ease off just a bit if it seems practical but usually I think it is best for everyone if I just keep moving. maybe even for leftie, at least my car will be gone.
Here is a version that just happened today. I am one of the left laners. We are all, left and right, stopped but now ready to go. Oops. The guy in front of me is not a left turner, he is stalled, going nowhere. I see this as the guy who was in front of me edges right. allowed to do so by the right laners. And then, shortly, someone lets me move over.
But in the basic situation that I think you are describing, I expect to be stuck if I am in the left lane and I think that's the way it has to be.
We live in Maryland but Becky and I were recently in Lincoln City OR, right on the beach on the Pacific Coast. It was terrific, lots of nice beach walking and trails and so on. But the traffic was often quite a problem. Very much of every man for himself. I thought a bit about this thread. I think what was going on was that many, probably most, were out of towners just as we were, and were not ready for this. Back home, I know where the problem spots are. most others do also, I accept that there will be problems,. so does everyone else, we figure we are all in this together and we slack off a bit with our aggressiveness. We know there will be delays but we slip some Ellington into the player and relax, we will get there. I repeat that we had a great time on the Oregon coast, I like the Pacific a lot, and we enjoyed the people we met. But the coastal traffic was not part of the enjoyment. For anyone, I think.