Topic: Moe, Larry, and Curly Syndrome

[Dunrobin]

I came across the following post commenting a CNET article about road etiquette and couldn't resist re-posting it here to share it with everyone, especially since the author addresses a couple of my own pet peeves about other drivers.   


Moe, Larry, and Curly Syndrome
Posted by tonyny77 (See profile) - May 30, 2006 2:36 PM PDT

Brian and All,

The things that irk me most are:

(1) People who don't signal their lane changes. Do they think they're saving electricity or prolonging the life of their turn signal lamps by not revealing their intentions? Other than rear-end collisions, I suspect that more accidents are caused by improper/unsafe lane changes than by any other driving mistake.

(2) Re-merging, also known as "Moe, Larry, and Curly Syndrome." Oh, I REALLY love THIS one, let me tell you. Don't know what I'm talking about? It's simple. When you leave a through-lane to use an entrance ramp, exit ramp, or service lane to cut ahead by a few car lengths, all you're doing is starting or prolonging a slow-down by creating a volume stress point at the end of the lane you're abusing. I see it all the time. If the driver would simply seek a lane that's not adjacent to the ramp reserved for exiting/merging traffic, he'd make as much or more progress WITHOUT running the risks associated with the needless lane changes and he'd not prolong the slow-down by having to re-merge.

What does this have to do with Moe, Larry, and Curly? Sometimes when The Stooges were all stuck in the same room and needed to quickly escape danger, they'd all head for the door, of course. When no one wanted the other guy to escape first, they’d pull one another away from the door so the other guy couldn’t be first to escape. In the meantime, NONE of them is getting out, all because one always wanted to cut ahead of the other, thus the name "Moe, Larry, and Curly Syndrome."

Go ahead ... Keep on re-merging, if you like, and see where it gets you.

Tony

P.S.: Please signal all your lane changes. The only things you do that are simpler are blink and breathe!

P.S.: When you THINK no one's beside you and you don't need to signal your lane change, that's probably the time you need to signal most!

[Bangsmith]

Better not drive in the Boston/Worcester/Providence area!! I live right in the middle of that "Bermuda Triangle", and signalling for a lane-change is about as common as a football bat!! Right next door in Connecticut, everyone signals for a lane-change. Every time I drive through on the way to New York or DC, it amazes me! Then again, the fact that the cops in Connecticut will ticket you for breathing might have something to do with it!!!

[JazzBill]

I saw this happen a couple of days ago. I'm going down a 3 lane toll-road heading out of Chicago. Up ahead about a block, I see a person slam on their brakes in the far left lane, flip on the turn signal and start trying to get off at an exit. ( I could see all this because I was driving an 18 wheeler, and I sit pretty high) All I could see were brake lights, smoking tires and a whole lot of fish-tailing trucks. As much as this asshole deserved to get creamed, they made it off. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of what kind of moron would pull a little stunt like that but I wasn't able to get up to it fast enough. But if I had to take a guess, I would say it was some asshole ( probably a woman ) with a cell phone glued to their ear.