Originally Posted by David Harville

My most recent "interesting" experience came when I was in the right lane, doing the speed limit (65). An 18 wheeler was in the lane next to me as we approached an on ramp (he was going only slightly faster than me).

A car on the on ramp came up next to me (in theory, he was doing the right thing by accelerating to highway speed on the ramp). I maintained speed and he was right next to me for a couple of seconds. Just before the merge lane ended he decelerated enough to swerve in behind me. He flipped me off. I waved at him.

I guess he thought I was supposed to move over and crash into the 18 wheeler to get out of his way.

He slowed down enough to swerve around the 18 wheeler (a two-lane swerve), passed it, and did another two-lane swerve so that he was in front of me. He then decelerated to something less than 65. I slowed accordingly, but I closed the gap quite a bit -- enough to see that he was once again flipping me off. I waved again.

He took the next exit -- only about 3 miles from the exit where he entered the highway. I still wonder if all that aggravation was worth it to him.

If the 18 wheeler had not been in the lane next to me, I WOULD have moved over, because I was taught that that was the right thing to do. If you're in the right lane with traffic trying to merge into your lane, you move left if possible; then move back into the right lane as soon as safely possible.