Why are some people *braking* on on-ramps?!

I've seen this behavior on a regular basis, and it is
puzzling...Are these people nervous about merging, and
instinctively brake, reacting to an imaginary peril?!
Today I was merging on I465 behind a small SUV, and,
about midway on the on ramp, it braked!
I swung around it, going over the
"zebra" painted on the road (illegal move, I know),
and merged ahead of it. I glanced over, and, predicably,
the driver was a **** yakking on a cell phone...

223rem wrote:
> I've seen this behavior on a regular basis,

I think people are trained by excessive stop signs and traffic lights to
simply stop when they encouter moving traffic. Reprogram traffic lights to
flash when traffic volume is low, for example, will help people learn to
think for themselves.

They are braking because they want to slow down.

Some drivers are not comfortable taking curves at the highest possible
speed when they have to also look out for merging traffic. Your move
sounds potentially dangerous.

223rem > wrote in
m:

> I've seen this behavior on a regular basis, and it is
> puzzling...Are these people nervous about merging, and
> instinctively brake, reacting to an imaginary peril?!
> Today I was merging on I465 behind a small SUV, and,
> about midway on the on ramp, it braked!
> I swung around it, going over the
> "zebra" painted on the road (illegal move, I know),
> and merged ahead of it. I glanced over, and, predicably,
> the driver was a **** yakking on a cell phone...

She may not have even realized she was braking.
Some(if not many) left-foot brakers unconsciously ride the brakes or
frequently tap them without realizing it.

We could do without the use of the "C" word,though.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, Jim Yanik wrote:

> 223rem > wrote

> > I glanced over, and, predicably, the driver was a **** yakking on a
> > cell phone...

> We could do without the use of the "C" word

Lookit Jimmy. **** thinks he's the Language Police.

"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote in message
.umich.edu...
> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, Jim Yanik wrote:
>
>> 223rem > wrote
>
>> > I glanced over, and, predicably, the driver was a **** yakking on a
>> > cell phone...
>
>> We could do without the use of the "C" word
>
> Lookit Jimmy. **** thinks he's the Language Police.

Some people can express themselves and articulate their position without
swearing or verbal abuse. You should try it sometime, Daniel.

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 15:29:59 GMT, 223rem , one of an infinite number of
monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters said the following in
rec.autos.driving...

> I've seen this behavior on a regular basis, and it is
> puzzling...Are these people nervous about merging, and
> instinctively brake, reacting to an imaginary peril?!
> Today I was merging on I465 behind a small SUV, and,
> about midway on the on ramp, it braked!
> I swung around it, going over the
> "zebra" painted on the road (illegal move, I know),
> and merged ahead of it. I glanced over, and, predicably,
> the driver was a ****


> yakking on a cell phone...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You just answered your question......

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:58:38 -0800, John S. wrote:

>
> They are braking because they want to slow down.
>
> Some drivers are not comfortable taking curves at the highest possible
> speed when they have to also look out for merging traffic. Your move
> sounds potentially dangerous.

Onramps (resp. the part of them, where these people brake) have no
curves and certainly do not lend themselves to slowing down.

Anyone, who tries to merge at low speed after braking on an onramp should
get his license revoked permanently.

Chris

"C.H." > wrote in message
news
> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:58:38 -0800, John S. wrote:
>
>>
>> They are braking because they want to slow down.
>>
>> Some drivers are not comfortable taking curves at the highest possible
>> speed when they have to also look out for merging traffic. Your move
>> sounds potentially dangerous.
>
> Onramps (resp. the part of them, where these people brake) have no
> curves and certainly do not lend themselves to slowing down.

The onramp I use the most often has a 80 degree curve to the right, at the
bottom of a steep hill. You have to reach the bottom of the hill and
negotiate the curve before accelerating if you don't want your car to flip.
It was built in the 1960s and is a terrible design but due to property
development surrounding it, an upgrade to something safer isn't feasible.

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 20:16:04 +0000, Skip Elliott Bowman wrote:

> "C.H." > wrote in message
> news

>> Onramps (resp. the part of them, where these people brake) have no
>> curves and certainly do not lend themselves to slowing down.
>
> The onramp I use the most often has a 80 degree curve to the right, at the
> bottom of a steep hill. You have to reach the bottom of the hill and
> negotiate the curve before accelerating if you don't want your car to flip.

We are talking about people hitting the brakes _after_ that curve, shortly
before trying to merge. If you reread the posting of the OP you will
notice, that the guy he was complaining about braked at the point, where
both of them were about to merge.

Of course braking (not _hitting_the_brakes_) to negotiate a corner safely
is ok, but no one was complaining about that here.

Chris