Slow mergers are drivers who attempt to enter the freeway at speeds well below the pace of traffic. There are very few possible reasons why slow mergers do what they do:
- They don’t understand how the freeway works
- They’re suicidal
- They want to save gas
I want to rule out the first two by assuming that at least 99.9% of the driving population has driven on the freeway before AND would like to live through the day. Which mean the only possible reason left for slow merging is to save gas.
And to that reason, I ask: is it worth it?
Let’s say Mr. Slow Merger is driving his Prius and likes to go 0-60 in about a quarter mile to maximize fuel economy. By doing so, he enters the freeway at about 40 mph, rather than the 65 mph speed-of-traffic. This puts himself in great physical danger of getting run over by a semi, creates a mini traffic-jam behind him, and screws up the ability of other cars on the on-ramp to merge efficiently.
Let’s say you have a 528 foot on-ramp (.1 miles). On a slow acceleration to freeway speed, let’s say the Prius gets 30 mpg, but it takes .2 miles to reach 65 mph. To accelerate for that distance, the car uses .006 gallons (1/150th of a gallon). At $3 a gallon, a slow merge costs $0.02.
But how much would it cost to do it right? Let’s say the Prius gets 15 mpg on a fast acceleration, and reaches freeway speed in the .1 mile length of the on-ramp. To travel half the distance at half the efficiency, the Prius uses an identical 1/150th of a gallon. What?! At $3 a gallon, a “fast” merge costs the same: $0.02. And it was probably more fun.
But wait, what about the next .1 mile that the slow merger already covered? Well Mr. Fast Merger gets to drive that distance at highway fuel efficiency — an EPA estimated 48 mpg. So it takes him .002 gallons (1/480th of a gallon), or $0.00625.
So for 6/10ths of a penny — 28 cents a month if you commute 22 days and take the freeway to and from work — you risk life and limb of yourself and fellow mergers, and slow traffic for everyone else. I’d say that’s selfish, but mostly it’s just dumb. So step on it!
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Tags: driving
Sure you didn’t have a minor in math along with way? The worst mergers are the one’s who get freaked out and come to a complete stop! This happens while you are looking over your shoulder to pick your “spot”, and turn around just in time to find a parked car 10 feet in front of you. Sad, but I’ve done this a couple of times…
[...] the freeway. Either way, it’s unsafe. Don’t screw up traffic for everyone else by trying to merge at 55 when the common speed is [...]