How to Merge onto a Highway: How to Merge Into Traffic

Merging into traffic can be a tricky maneuver, especially in high traffic areas. Merging onto a highway requires hand eye coordination, depth perception and expert control of the vehicle. If you drive in heavily populated areas, you need to master the merge. These steps will help you merge safely.
Instructions
1. Notice the vehicles around you. Check your mirrors to be aware of nearby vehicles, especially those next to and behind you. If a vehicle is blocking your entrance to the highway, slow down so that you can try to merge in behind that vehicle.

2. Increase your speed. Before merging onto the highway, you need to be driving near highway speed. If the acceleration lane is long enough, accelerate to match the speed of the vehicles on the highway before you merge completely.

3. Use your turn signal. Put on your turn signal to let the drivers around you know your intentions. Seeing your signal, the drivers on the highway may adjust their lane position to allow you easier access to the highway.

4. Check your blind spot. Even though you have checked your mirrors, double check your blind spot by turning your head toward the highway and using your peripheral vision. Depending on the angle at which you are approaching the highway, your blind spot may be larger than normal.

5. Accelerate into the open space. When there is space for you on the highway, merge into the space, bringing your vehicle up to highway speed as quickly as possible.

How to Merge onto a Highway

Merging when you are on the highway is one of the number one causes of traffic accidents on major highways and roadways. Too often, I have seen near misses on highways where someone is trying to merge but the other lane of traffic will not let them in. Merging into traffic is almost like watching a dance. You have to get the steps down just right in order not to step on anyone's toes and ruin the dance move.

The thing to remember about merging is that when you are actively trying to merge into traffic on a highway, the people who are already traveling in a straight path on the highway have the right of way. Before you actually get onto the highway, depending on what kind of a highway you are trying to merge onto, there may be a stoplight or a sign indicating that you need to increase your speed to whatever the current speed is on the highway. This is all done in an effort to prevent unnecessary accidents from occurring.

When you are getting ready to merge, it is important to look over your shoulder and gauge where the next car is behind you. Be prepared to step on the gas and really crank it up in order to successfully accelerate to whatever the current speed is that is being traveled by most of the vehicles on the highway. If you are not quick enough or if you try to merge onto the highway without accelerating to the proper speed, then you run the risk of actually causing an accident. For instance, imagine that you are already on the highway and you are traveling in the far right lane. Suddenly a car tries to merge right in front of you. The current speed that is being traveled by most of the cars on the highway is roughly 70 miles per hour. However, the car that has unexpectedly merged in front of you is traveling at a speed of 50 miles per hour. As a result, you have to slam on your brakes hard, which causes the person behind you to have to slam on their brakes hard. If someone isn't paying attention behind you, they might end up rear ending you or trying to perform a last minute maneuver in order to get out of the way, thereby causing another accident in a different lane of traffic.

It is important to remember to keep your distance (even more so) on a highway versus a residential street. For residential driving, you are supposed to maintain at least two car lengths behind the person in front of you (which people seldom do). However, when you are on a highway, you are almost always traveling at a much higher rate of speed, which means that you need to increase your stopping time between you and the person in front of you. Therefore, you should adjust your distance to approximately four to five car lengths since it would hypothetically take you longer to stop in the event that the person in front of you were to slow down.

How to Merge onto a Highway: Highway Defensive Driving Tip

Driving safely on the highway nowadays takes loads of concentration, expertise and effort on everybody's part. Knowing the meaning of traffic signs is a highly important part of defensive driving, and not knowing the meaning of any traffic sign should be an important factor to stay off the road and retrain your capacity on understanding what each highway sign signifies for the sake of your well-being and others.

Drivers do lots of highway driving and it sure get scary out there and it is not getting easier. In fact, drivers are getting bolder. In reference to dictionary, yield signifies to surrender to another and or surrender to stress. This means that on a busy activity highway or any traffic would be factor to yield to others coming from behind at a higher speed that is carrying 2,000 lbs or bigger of moving stress. Drivers never did stop and estimate exactly how many tons of moving metal could probably be coming their way, if you know what I mean.

Merging onto a highway with flowing traffic may be a very prejudicial maneuver, principally if you do not know what the meaning of a yield sign is, or what one feels like. I believe when you study a defensive driving book, and I am sure that the book are not out to trick you on any changes. It signifies yield for other traffic, give up to another and or surrender to stress, or stop if necessary! So why do a lot of automobile drivers assume that highway traffic has to let them in if they run out of roadway when they are trying to merge on?

The key to secure driving is not to assume everything. The proper alternative to merge onto a highway should be a quickset blueprint. The path ahead of you has to be clear and have a long enough roadway to let you to get up to the speed of highway traffic. The next is a defensive driving procedure on merging into traffic safely.

When the highway traffic coming up alongside your automobile is behind you, put your signal on and quickly accelerate your car up to an identical speed if the path ahead of you is clear. The ambition here is to get up to an identical speed on traffic so they cannot catch you. If you are doing an identical speed as the traffic behind you, they cannot catch you except they are speeding and or you are slowing down. If you think that you cannot accelerate to their speed, release the gas pedal and let the automobiles go by, then quickly pick up speed again to stay ahead of the traffic coming up from the lane you wish to merge into, if it is clear ahead of you.

When necessary, stop if you have to allow all traffic go by and merge in just after the lane you wish to merge into is clear. The automobile traffic in the lane that you wish to merge into should not have to brake to let you in. From time to time, you will find a courteous driver hold back on the gas pedal to let you. Quickly accelerate and move in, only if secure and clear ahead of your automobile. This maneuver should be practice with a recognized driving school tutor, or an adult with loads of driving experience. It is a highly important part of defensive driving.