Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
getting on the highway or freeway or
merging onto a multi-lane highways. You
can see behind me here this is the
on-ramp section onto a highway 97 North
here in the Okanagan Valley. And you can
see that it's obstructed by the overpass
and the berm here. I had a comment from Avi
Rao and he asked me to give more
clarification, because when he was
getting onto the freeway and
his vision was blocked by trees, fixed
objects, and overpasses such as the one
behind me here. And so what we're going
to do today, we're going to go out on the
highway and show you how to merge onto
the highway when there are trees and
obstructions. And it's important when
you're merging onto the highway or
freeway to match the speed of the vehicles
in front of you on the on ramp or look
as far down the freeways as you can see to
see how fast the traffic flow is. But
it's important, that when the on-ramp
transitions to the acceleration lane
that you put your signal on and
communicate to other road users, because
getting onto a freeway is somewhat of a
team event and as long as you put your
signal on and communicate to other
traffic that you wish to merge onto the
freeway,
they're going to help you out. So today
we're going to give you a bit more
information about that. Stick around
we'll be right back.
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Hi there smart driver, welcome back. Rick
with Smart Drive Test talking to you
today about how to get on a
limited-access highway, interstate. or
freeway. They're pretty much all the same.
With obstructions that prevent you from
seeing the roadway when you're getting
out onto the freeway. I had a comment from
Avi Rao - he was having some
difficulties with obstructions that were
blocking his view and here you can see
that this vehicle in front of us is not
accelerating to the highway speed. So
we're just staying back from that
traffic and oftentimes that's what
you're going to have to do.
And you want to have your signal on all
the way out onto the freeway, from the
time that you get onto the acceleration
lane, because if you ask other drivers
nicely i.e. your signal...
your turn signal, they will move
over to the left hand lane or they will
slow to create a gap for you. Because
oftentimes, when you're coming out in the
acceleration lane, you're accelerating
and if they simply let off the
throttle a little bit,
oftentimes that will be enough to create
a gap for you to move into. So when you
get on the acceleration lane, you want to
either do the posted speed limit or the
flow of traffic, whichever is less. And as
I said, it is important
that you communicate well with other
traffic because if you communicate
with other drivers and ask them, via your
turn signal, they will often either slow
enough to create a gap for you to move
out onto the freeway or they will move
over to the left-hand lane. For those of
you in Australia and the UK they will move over to
the right-hand lane for you. And remember
what I always say about turn signals:
"turn signals are to indicate to other
traffic that you wish to move over. It is
a request to move over,
not that you are moving over. All too
often in "social driving" you'll see
people - they're already moving laterally
and then they put their turn signal on. It's
just kind of a courtesy. They put one
flash on, which doesn't help! You you need at
least three flashes on a turn signal for
other drivers.1) the first signal gets
their attention; 2) the second signal allows
them to locate you; 3) and the third signal
allows them to take
some sort of action. So you need at least
three flashes on a signal before other
traffic will help you out. If you ask
nicely and give them enough time, most of
the time, other drivers will help you
out. They're not going to be aggressive and
try and force you off the road and
that sort of thing.
So blind on-ramps:
get the vehicle up to the posted speed
limit, or the traffic flow, whichever is
less. And if you can't see the traffic,
look as far down as you can see because at
some point the on-ramp is
going to transition to the acceleration
lane, and when you get out onto the
acceleration lane you at that point
willl be able to determine what the
traffic speed is at that point. So look
forward, look as far down the road as you can see. And you
can determine the speed of the flow
of traffic or the posted speed limit
whichever is less.
Now what we're going to do is we're
gonna go up here and we're going to get
off the freeway or off the highway - this
is a limited access highway, it's not a
freeway.
There's a deceleration lane and then the
off ramp. Now when you get off on the
deceleration lane, do not slow down on
the highway until you get off onto the
deceleration lane, unless the traffic is
backed up on the deceleration and out onto the highwat, which
is not very often. But
wait until you get into the deceleration
lane before slowing because if you slow down on
the highway or freeway you are creating
an unpredictable action and potentially
other drivers won't know what you're
doing and could potentially cause a
crash or a near conflict which could
result in a crash. So stay on the freeway,
as you can see in the speedo camera here,
get off the freeway until you get fully
into the deceleration lane - do not start
slowing down and you saw that the truck
in front of me did exactly the same
thing. The driver didn't start slowing down until he
or she got completely into the
deceleration lane and then once he or
she got into the deceleration lane slowed
down. You can see that they're starting
to slow down here.
I know on some interstates in the United States
that the deceleration lanes and the
acceleration lanes are quite short.
So you're gonna have to watch that as
well. The other....
I have to move forward until we can see.
The other note of caution on interstates--
off-ramps and on-ramps - some times the deceleration
and the acceleration lanes can sometimes be
the same - one in the same as you can see
in the image here. And those are
pretty dangerous. They're beginning to
eliminate those. Those are rare now
because they were deemed not safe and
they're definitely not safe and there's
a reason why. So just a note of caution on
those. Now again, we're going out onto the
freeway here--the highway--the on-ramp
just went to the acceleration lane and
we accelerate to the posted speed limit.
I've got my signal on, now I'm checking
traffic and I'm just concentrating on
getting my speed up. And I'm doing the
posted speed limit of 90 kilometers an
hour 55 miles an hour. I stay on to the
end of the ramp and I move over onto the highway.
The traffic behind me didn't have to adjust
because i got my speed up to the highway
speed before I moved out onto the
highway. Now just going back to what I
was saying previously. The
acceleration lane and the deceleration
lane can be one-and-the same!
So one end of it exits and the other end
is the on-ramp onto the highway.
So just take note of those as they are
dangerous. As well as you can see here
in the dash cam on the right are
continuity lines. If continuity lines are
on your left, the lane you're in is either
going to end or it's going to exit. And
continuity lines are half as long and
twice as wide as normal lane dividing
markings. So take note of the continuity
lines. And again, if you're in a lane that
has continuity lines on the driver's
side the lane that you're in is either going
to exit or it's going to end and in the
case of a on-ramp it's going to end and
you're going to have to merge over onto
the highway.
Quick review of entering and exiting a
freeway. It's important that you get up
to speed when you're entering a freeway.
And know when the on-ramp transitions to
the acceleration lane. And often in North
America we know that because the yellow
lines transition to white lines. And now
you're on the acceleration lane - if you
have traffic in front of you
you're going to have to match the speed
of the traffic in front of you, but if
there isn't traffic in front of you try
to get up to the posted speed limit on
the acceleration lane and look for your
gap as soon as you get on the
acceleration lane. Put your signal on
because as I tell students all the time,
signals are to tell other traffic that
you wish to move over
not that you are moving over. And if you
communicate to other traffic, it becomes
a bit of a team event and the other
traffic on the freeway will help you
move out onto the freeway, either by
slowing down and making a gap for you or
they'll move over to the other lane and
allow you to merge out onto the freeway.
So it's important that you communicate!
Same thing when you get off the freeway -
do not reduce your speed until you get
into the deceleration lane because if
you slow down out on the freeway you
are now an impediment to other
traffic and could potentially cause a
crash. So make sure that you don't slow
down until you get into the deceleration
lane. When you're on the deceleration
lane and go to the off ramp, again which
transitions from white lines to yellow
lines - pay attention to all the signs
there. The cautionary signs - especially if
you're not familiar with that roadway, so
you know to slow down and whatever the
speed is because there could be sharp
curves and whatnots on the off-ramps or
you could be coming up to a stop sign as
you saw in the video there. Question for
my smart drivers: do you have any tips
for new drivers learning how to merge
onto the freeway or getting off the
freeway? Leave a comment down in the
comment section there. All that helps
out the new drivers learning how to
drive after they get their license.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test - thanks
very much for watching. If you like what
you see here share, subscribe, leave a
comment down in the comment section
there. As well, hit that thumbs up button.
Check out all the videos here on the
channel if you're working towards your
license or starting a career as a truck
or bus driver - lots of great information
here. As well, head over to my website -
lots of great information over there as
well. And stick around to the end of the
video,
links to other videos and the link to my
website. Thanks again for watching - good
luck on your road test. And remember, pick
the best answer not necessarily the
right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now.
Question
my smart drivers... what is a question for
my smart drivers? [DEEP INHALATION]
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