I agree with the person who said this:

"If you let them in front of you there is an excellent chance they are going to continue to drive in a little-old-lady fashion and are more than likely to impede your own progress significantly.

I always signal, but I do so when there is a clear space that I can see that I'll be able to get into, not as a request for someone to make me a space into which to squeeze and I signal not more than a second or so before I start my actual lane change.

When you are going to change lanes you should accelerate, not slow down, this greatly reduces the chances of your getting in the way of someone already in the lane into which you want to go."

I live in Dallas, and (during rush hour especially) there is no way in hell I'll slow down for someone signaling to enter my lane but going slower than the flow of traffic. If I did such a thing I would be placing myself at risk for either someone else running up on me (not expecting me to slow down) or getting trapped behind this insecure driver and having to make an increasedly dangerous lane change to get around. Trying to change lanes while simultaneously watching traffic in front and behind is extremely dangerous for anyone.

If someone is driving at traffic speeds and wants to enter my lane in front of me, I'll let them as long as there is space or I can slow down to create space without putting myself at risk. But first I consider what the risks are to me for being accommodating.

Considering merging due to ramps and such, traffic should come together like the meshing of teeth of a pair of gears. That requires the vehicles entering the roadway to speed up to the flow of traffic before beginning their merge. When I see a car that is either going too slow to properly merge without affecting traffic flow, or, heaven forbid stopped and looking for a gap, I do my best to get past that car and any traffic problems they have the potential to cause when they actually make it into the lane.

I wish you luck in your efforts to calm down behind the wheel.

Be safe,

I'd have emailed him with this correction instead of posting it here if I could have.

It is the Pulaski Skyway, not the "Pularski Skyway".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_Skyway

While it is a great, historic elevated road, I've seen some crazy driving there. I once saw a minivan back up for a mile into oncoming traffic because the traffic on the skyway was at a standstill. He flipped me off while he was backing up because I wouldn't get out of his way.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned teenage drivers. I live in a fairly affluent northern suburb of Chicago, where it's pretty much de rigeur to give kids cars for their 16th birthdays. Many of these kids don't have after-school jobs; Mexican immigrants man the fast-food counters and such. So, the kids mostly tool around aimlessly in their cars. With the price of gas and the threat of global climate change, why aren't parents rethinking this? Do kids really need to have their own cars? What, are parents afraid that Little Johnny will have a hissy fit, or (gasp!) hate Mommy and Daddy for a while?

I've driven in New York City for nine years before moving here six years ago, selling my car, and becoming a pedestrian. Here's what I've observed.

First off I totally disagree regarding not using one's directional indicators. They should be used anywhere and everywhere. Just because you know where you're going, the drivers and pedestrians don't. And whenever possible, turn them on before you start braking as when someone see's brake light they tend to reactively step on their brakes whether it's necessary, or not.

Also if you're double parked/standing or attempting to parallel park then put on your hazard lights. This way people coming up from behind you know that you're not just sitting there waiting for traffic to move. Many times I've been boxed in because of someone stopped in the street for one reason, or another. Had they used their hazard lights I could have navigated around them.

And the largest cause of unnecessary traffic slow down in New York City are cab drivers not doing what I mentioned in the previous paragraph and the fact that they don't pull all the way over when picking up and dropping off fares. Most every cab driver I've observed parks on an angle, blocking park of the driving lane. And, again, they should turn on their hazard lights when picking up and dropping off fares.

According to energy investment banker Matthew Simmons and most independent analysts, global oil production is now declining, from 74 million barrels per day to 60 million barrels per day by 2015. Because the demand for oil is so high, it will always be higher than production; thus the depletion rate will continue until all recoverable oil is extracted. Whatever we conserve will be used up rapidly in the rest of the world.

We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel trucks for maintenance of bridges, cleaning culverts to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables, all from far away.

This is documented in a free 48 page report that can be downloaded, website posted, distributed, and emailed: http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html

I used to live in NH-USA, but moved to a sustainable place. Anyone interested in relocating to a nice, pretty, sustainable area with a good climate and good soil? Email: clifford dot wirth at yahoo dot com or give me a phone call which operates here as my old USA-NH number 603-668-4207. http://survivingpeakoil.blogspot.com/