ORLANDO, Fla. – News 6 traffic safety expert Trooper Steve Montiero answers viewer questions about the rules of the road every week, helping Orlando-area residents become better drivers by being better educated.
News 6 viewer Kathy asked, “When merging and traffic is too heavy, can I stop in the merge lane?”
“I’ll never understand why merging is so difficult here in our area. Maybe because it requires teamwork, and a lot of drivers simply are not aware of their surroundings,” he said.
When merging onto any roadway first you need to get up to speed. Once up to speed that’s when you begin to find a safe space to begin to merge into the main traffic. Sometimes traffic is so heavy that it’s close to impossible to merge in and other drivers not allowing you in contribute to a frustrating situation.
A driver that is merging has no right of way to push their way into traffic. If a merge was not possible, then a driver would have to come to a stop prior to placing themselves in traffic.
“But you already know what I’m going to say. The zipper method allows for main and merging traffic to become one in an orderly fashion. It takes the driver on the mainline to have enough awareness to see merging traffic and begin to allow the zipper method to happen,” he said.
If you have a traffic question for Trooper Steve, submit it here.
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