Can we share the road?

late stopping position 2As I drive around our fair country, I often have to struggle for space for my vehicle. Is this fair to drivers or do we bring this upon ourselves? Ontario alone gets over 150,000 new drivers every year, but are the roads big enough to handle them, or do we need to learn how to share the road?

 

I often travel the freeways and sometimes find it difficult to merge onto them. I accelerate to match the flow of traffic and try to fit in between the packs of cars, just like you’re supposed to do. The difficult part of this is that other drivers won’t let you in. After I’ve checked both inside and outside mirrors to judge the speed of traffic, I accelerate to stay between the cars, but often the driver behind begins to accelerate, almost as if to block me from merging. What have they got to gain? How simple would it be if they either adjusted their speed or changed lanes to let us in? Are those drivers oblivious to traffic around them or are they unskilled as to what their responsibilities are while driving on the freeway?

 

The other day that happened to me on the freeway. The onramps are short enough as it is, but when other drivers tend to follow closely to one another, it makes it difficult to merge safely. It would be nice if drivers increased their following distance as well, so merging can happen a little easier, or they could move over. Perhaps sharing the freeway would help everyone arrive safely, especially at higher speeds.

 

Other problems that I’ve noticed about drivers who don’t share happen in the city. I once had a student who said her father would speed up to stop someone from changing into his lane, even if the other lane was ending. What does he have to lose or gain? Have they thought about what it would be like if someone did that to them?  I doubt that.  Remember, you have to play nice out there!

 

Maybe one of the best ways of sharing the road is when driver’s car pool with one another. If you’re one of 2 or 3 people all going to the same place, why not share the drive? I know everyone wants to drive because they feel like they are the one in control, but think about how much more space there would be on the roads if people shared their rides every now and then. The rush hour traffic could flow more easily because there are fewer vehicles on the road. Your vehicle could last longer since you wouldn’t be putting on the mileage as quickly. It would also save on costs, like fuel and parking. Try it sometime. You may even learn to like it.

 

Now that I’ve shared my thoughts to you, maybe you can share them with other drivers while out on the road! Maybe our life could be “sunny” and “share”!