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The perfect merge: you cruise up the on-ramp and enter the acceleration lane, constantly checking over your left shoulder to assess the speed of traffic and look for gaps. You accelerate smoothly, so that by the time you enter the freeway, you are at or nearly at the speed limit. You merge seamlessly with the flow of traffic. No horns, no shaking fist, no brake lights.

It doesn't always work out this way, does it?

Merging can be tricky and dangerous; it's a high-speed maneuver with very little room for error. However, if you practice good driving etiquette and are familiar with the law, you should be able to make nearly every merge a perfect one.

By law, the merging motorist must yield to traffic already on the freeway. (However, traffic on the freeway may not deliberately block a motorist from merging by speeding up or slowing down.) As much as you may think the other motorists "should" move over, your hurt feelings or sense of entitlement will get you nowhere in court. Your best bet is to learn to merge skillfully so that you feel confident and don't have to rely on other motorists.

Two common errors:

1. You merge onto the freeway more slowly than the flow of traffic.

2. You accelerate too quickly from the on-ramp, and then have to slam on your brakes to avoid a collision.

In both these situations, the best case scenario is that motorists behind you are forced to brake unnecessarily. The worst case scenario is a rear-end collision.

Solution:

- As soon as you enter the on-ramp, look over your left shoulder to check the speed of traffic.

- Make sure nobody is in your blind spot, and look for gaps in the flow of traffic. Decide which gap you are going to insert yourself into.

- Accelerate smoothly in the acceleration lane. Never cross the solid white or yellow line which separates the acceleration lane from the flow of traffic.

- Adjust your speed so by the time you run out of acceleration lane and enter traffic, you're able to keep up with everyone else.

The best way to increase your confidence is to practice and improve. And if you're in the flow of traffic, look for merging vehicles and move over to the left lane to let them in. It's not required by law, but many accidents could be prevented by common courtesy. If you were walking down a crowded sidewalk and spotted someone trying to squeeze in, you wouldn't rudely stomp on by, would you?

Learn more about this author, Antonia Anderson.
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