The expert towing service providers at Towing Chicago know all the in’s and outs of the various issues that cause drivers to require towing service. Many accidents that cause car’s to end up needing towing service are a result of poor merging and lane switch practices. Here’s a list of essential tips to safely switch or merge lanes.
Yield to Vehicles with Right of Way
When you’re merging onto the highway from an exit ramp, make sure to yield to cars that have the right of way.
Cars in Front of you have Right of Way when Lanes End
Even if the car in front of you is driving frustratingly slowly, they have the right of way when you are maneuvering onto the freeway.
Leave Room in Heavy Traffic
You might want to try and merge lanes as rapidly as possible to speed beyond surrounding vehicles and get to your destination more rapidly. When there’s lots of traffic, however, it’s definitely best to go slowly and switch off between your vehicle and others in terms of who gets to merge first.
Utilizing turn signals
Always use your turn signal when merging onto the highway so that the people already on the highway and the cars behind you know that you’re about to merge.
Bring your Car to Legal Speed
Sometimes traffic will force you to merge more slowly than you usually do, like if there’s stalled cars ahead or if you’re in the middle of rush hour. Make sure to try whenever possible to match the legal speed of whatever highway you’re merging onto.
Anticipate Using your Turn Signal
Signal up to five seconds before you decide to switch onto another lane in order to let other drivers know when you’re going to want to.
Eyeball Mirrors
Makes sure to look at your mirrors to ensure that the lane you want to merge onto is already clear; they can really help you notice a rapidly approaching speeding car that you may not have already noticed.
Blind Spots
Even mirrors can’t help you see blind spots so always turn or get a car passenger to verify there’s not a small vehicle, motorcycle, or bike immediately in the danger zone next to or behind your vehicle.
Turn off Signaling after Lane Switches
After you merge onto the highway make sure to turn off the turn signal that you hopefully turned on right before you moved your vehicle.