by Kevin Lamb

Created on: December 04, 2008   Last Updated: February 25, 2009

The dreaded merge is a move which some drivers don't even think twice about. Some people go down the road in their own little world (in their cars) and never even bother to use either their mirrors or their turn signals. I believe most drivers believe that these two accessories are "optional."

In my way of thinking, mirrors and turn signals are one the most essential accessories in a car, and yet they're seldom used. Any time you make it back home safely after driving in a car should almost be considered an "Act of God." The mentality of most drivers anymore is; they figure everyone is a total physic, and knows exactly what their going to do.

Merging is one of my gripes when it comes to sharing the road with other drivers. At night when I drive on my job I always move into the fast lane when I come up on an exit ramp whether I see a vehicle or not. Most of the time there's a car anyway which usually comes flying off the ramp like he's preparing for the start of the "Indianapolis five hundred."

If in fact I'm being passed by another vehicle and can't get over as the merging car rides besides me "sometimes" I'll slow down just to let them in. But, most of the times the person in the car has just noticed my 60 ft truck and slows down also. Then he goes flying past me like a bat out of hell flipping me the bird. And now I'm left struggling up the road at a less than safe speed with forty thousand pounds of freight on the truck.

Driving etiquette is almost a lost art in today's society. No one pays any attention to what's going on around them; much less notices what's going on beside them. Usually, they never even look into traffic until their at the end of the ramp at the last second. Most of the time they lock their brakes up; which almost causes a rear end collision, or they dart out in the middle of a pack of traffic which is running almost twice their speed.

Every driver on the road deserves respect from their fellow drivers as they travel down the road. It's a "privilege" just to be driving, not something their requested to do. Driving etiquette is something which has saved many lives; when other drivers were simply not paying attention to what they were doing.

I can't count how many lives I've saved as a car pulled directly out in front of me; with children waving to me out from the rear windows as I dodged at the last second to avoid running over the entire family. I don't even believe the driver ever saw me.

A fellow driver at my company had a car (who didn't

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