Tips for Merging for the New Driver

Merging is, in my opinion, one of the more daunting tasks for the new driver. It involves relatively high speed compared to ordinary city/town driving, it puts you on a straight path with few escape routes and is really a "no turning back" situation once you get on that ramp. It can be stressful and scary if you are unfamiliar with the task, as in the case of the inexperienced, learning driver.

What merging really boils down to is a game of adjusting your speed on the on-ramp in order to slot yourself into an opening by the time you reach the highway, at which point you must enter the right-most lane. Sounds simple, right? In principle it is, but when you're out there for the first time, and you are concentrating on a million things at once - maintaining speed, staying on the ramp, watching for cars that are behind you - it can be quite nerveracking. It actually is quite hard to see cars behind you when you are faced with other tasks, such as driving safely yet somewhat rapidly down an on-ramp. This is especially true because of the extreme angle you need to turn your head to see oncoming cars behind you, and things such as pillars, multiple lanes, etc. will confound you and make it harder to identify which oncoming cars you need to worry about. Here's a few overall tips.

Learn to use and trust your mirrors! When you start out driving you may be tempted to distrust your mirrors, preferring to look directly out your windows in various directions. While this is not inherently a bad thing to do, realize that mirrors are there to make it easier to find out about your surroundings, and if you can make a job easier you will become a calmer, less flustered driver, one less prone to making mistakes. But when you're learning, it's a good idea to begin to get a sense of what your mirrors can tell you and what they can't. Get a sense of the distance a car is away from you, and how that translates to its appearance in your mirrors. How does this apply to merging? If your on-ramp is a long one that goes almost parallel to the highway at the end, your mirrors can be invaluable for telling you what's oncoming, saving you the trouble of twisting your head 170 degrees, taking your eyes off what's in front of your car.

The only thing your mirrors can't see is what's in your blind spot. Realize that you can see a vehicle in your blind spot simply by looking directly out your side window. A car in your blind spot is essentially driving right next to you, lagging you by maybe the length of your hood, give or take a couple feet. At night, it's particularly easy to see a car in your blind spot because you will see its headlights illuminate the lane next to you. I didn't mention it earlier, but always be aware of motorcycles because they are small and you may miss them if you take a quick glance. A helpful idea is whenever you spot a motorcycle on the highway in your vicinity, track it and keep aware of its position. Ideally you should always know what's in your immediate surroundings, but in moderate to heavy traffic it can become difficult to keep tabs on every vehicle, so you want to just prioritize what you actively track. Also, another way to check your blind spot without turning your head as much is to rock forward and get a shallower angle out of your wing mirrors. Try it a couple times.

So anyway, when you merge, the idea is to aim for an opening. You always want to look ahead if possible, take a snapshot of oncoming traffic, and adjust your speed on the ramp to aim for a particular gap in traffic. In choosing a gap be aware that you are probably going 10-20 mph slower than the cars already on the highway, and so you want to look a ways back and aim for a gap there. In moderate-heavy traffic there may not be a gap that's nice and spatious, so you will be forced to wedge your way into a non-ideal gap. This is definitely possible. The way to do this is to get yourself almost alongside the car in front of the gap, in order to force the car behind to let off and open the gap for you. This means that you will have to match the speed of the highway cars at this point. Remember, gaps are not fixed - cars on the highway will open the gap for you if you wedge your way in as described above, they won't compete for it if you're already ahead of them and you've matched their speed.

That said, when you merge it may be wise to hug the right boundary of the on-ramp and lane throughout the process; that gives the cars on the highway the most available room possible to avoid you if you screw up. As for using your signal, for merging, I recommend signaling at the moment that you are entering. This will alert drivers that you have decided to enter a highway lane. Alternatively, if you leave your blinker on continuously from way back on the on-ramp, it's not as useful because no one will know when you've definitively decided to merge. This blinker strategy can be modified for lane-changing: in a nutshell, leaving your blinker on can cause people to open up a gap for you to change lanes where there wasn't one initially.

Obviously, the way that you merge depends on the situation you are in--traffic conditions, the geography of the roads, the vehicle you're driving, etc. Some on-ramps are easier to use, providing a long distance for you to gain speed and judge oncoming traffic. Others are absolute nightmares--they take you out of a sharp curve right onto the highway with no real opportunity to look well ahead at oncoming traffic, possibly because there's trees blocking your view. Needless to say, just be careful on these--if in doubt, slow down and hug the right. I haven't figured out a good way to negotiate these horrible layouts yet, except just take it slow. And if you have to stop, you have to stop. Wait till it's safe and go. Don't be afraid of inconveniencing other drivers slightly; they will brake a little for you, so you don't have to wait for the gigantic gap where you don't inconvenience anyone at all. Just don't "cut off" anybody--pull out in front of them and force them to slam their brakes, swerve, etc.

I hope these tips are helpful to anyone out there learning how to drive. At the very least, they may provide a new perspective on how to approach driving, analyze the risks, assess the methods, and overall promote safer driving.