That Merge Lane

Quite a few drivers end up caught without any sort of plan when they reach a merge lane. The consequence is that the task may be done too slowly, which reduces any chance of blending in to moving traffic.

The answer is to plan early, do a shoulder check, and figure out the gap you are aiming for. Then step on it, no dawdling or hesitation. It is not dissimilar to leaving the pits at a race track. Your job is to get up to the speed at which your gap is moving, no faster or slower. It should then be simple to ease over and take your position, without forcing other drivers to make adjustments.

Of course, watch out for those unfortunate motorists who haven't figured this out, and have come to a halt at the end of the acceleration lane. On a busy day, they may be waiting there for quite a while.

The check ride portion of a Sidorov Advanced Driver Training course covers this sort of stuff. http://www.spdt.ca