You are entering a crowded freeway. What should you do to merge into traffic?
- Use your side and rearview mirrors and check your blind spots.
- Use the acceleration lane to adjust your speed to match the speed of freeway traffic.
- Yield to traffic already on the freeway.
- All of the above. ✓
Answer: D. All of the above.
You should do all of these: check your mirrors and blind spots, use the acceleration lane to match freeway speed, and yield to traffic already on the freeway.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's entering procedure covers the same three jobs. As you come up the ramp, you begin checking for an opening and signal, then you build speed in the acceleration lane and adjust it so you can merge safely. It also says you must yield the right-of-way to traffic on the highway and not stop in the acceleration lane unless traffic is too heavy to enter safely. That makes checking, speed matching and yielding parts of one merge, not separate choices.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Use your side and rearview mirrors and check your blind spots. — Checking mirrors and blind spots is part of the merge, but on its own it does not cover building speed in the acceleration lane or yielding to highway traffic.
- B. Use the acceleration lane to adjust your speed to match the speed of freeway traffic. — Matching freeway speed in the acceleration lane is required, but it is not enough without checking for an opening and yielding to traffic already there.
- C. Yield to traffic already on the freeway. — Yielding to traffic on the freeway is required, but you still need to check for space and use the acceleration lane to match speed before merging.
Remember it
Think of the merge in three steps: ramp means look and signal, acceleration lane means match speed, merge means yield.