And most highway exits don’t block your view of what you’re approaching like that one. People get accustomed to things like big cloverleaf interchanges where you have tons of time to reduce your speed as you turn gradually and you have a clear field of vision of the road you are approaching.
People should slow down more and follow signs but that highway exit is not terribly well designed (as far as I can tell from the video). A few rumble strips there would go a long way (if they’re not already there).
Yeah that was a video showing how you’re supposed to drive it. I’d like to see the onboard of one of the crashes. I’m guessing watching the posted video at 2x speed is what it would look like.
I feel like that’s about 50% of the people who do this, the other half are people that are zoned out and once someone starts to blow by them they’re suddenly like “oh shit I was going pretty slow, how did I not notice that!” and decide to choose that very moment to accelerate. I hate to admit sometimes that’s my instinct too, but I make sure to let the guy fully pass and then just match his speed at a safe distance once he’s in front of me.
Atlanta has one of the worst exit ramps of all time and it was at the center of a crash that killed 7 people:
I-75 southbound, entering the heart of the city. Massive highway. There is an HOV (carpool) lane on the left, BUT there is also a fucking HOV exit lane to the left of that. The exit lane goes up a ramp and stops at a t-intersection on a goddamn overpass.
In the above-linked story, it was 5-something in the morning and the bus driver wasn’t familiar with the area. He was in the HOV lane and thinking he was still traveling on the highway, accidentally took the HOV exit lane (it just kind of keeps going like the highway lane, with a slight separation). He didn’t notice what was happening until it was too late. He slammed the brakes, tried to turn onto the surface street, and fell off the overpass.
The exit lane is marked a lot better now. All sorts of signs and warnings, but it’s still pretty shitty.
Having trouble finding good pics, but here you go. These are before the changes.
The driving crap is one place where getting old has been extremely helpful. Going 60-ish in the right lanes has kept me out of trouble for the most part the past several years. And I’ve done beefy road trips during that time.
The most fun though was driving through Idaho with the cruise control set at 90 which was the limit on the rental I was in. Still had plenty of people passing me very easily too.
Downtown Toronto has a bunch of entrance ramps onto the highway that have between 40 and 120 metres to merge onto the highway, without a shoulder to continue on in some spots if you don’t. Creates tons of traffic as a result and a number of accidents.
My biggest pet peeve with drivers is not gunning it on an entrance ramp, you need to match the speed of the highway.
