Why Mathematical Types Like Me Shouldn't Be Riding Motorcycles ...

 I was coming home from Kalamazoo on I-94 today, in dense holiday traffic.  I
was in the right lane going about 65.

A trying to get on the freeway was on a succcessful path to merge (very
short ramp, construction apparatus that blocked him from chickening out onto
the shoulder if he couldn't merge successfully).

Anyway, I thought he was doing fine, and he was all set up to merge into the
right lane a couple carlengths in front of me.

But he chickened out and hit the brakes fairly hard while on the ramp so
that he could stop before coming into the right lane of the freeway.

I didn't feel I could trust what he was going to do (one flick of the
steering wheel and he could have hit me), so I was on the brakes as well to
keep behind him.

Because there was a semi and other dense traffic immediately behind me and
I'd already shed so much speed, I braked even harder and pulled in behind
him on the entrance ramp (I got out of the right lane to protect myself from
the semi behind me on the freeway).

So it ended up with both of us stopped on a freeway entrance ramp.

Finally he found a break in the traffic where he could get on the freeway
starting from zero speed.

I found a similar break maybe 20 seconds later and re-entered the freeway.

He got off at the next exit.  I suspect this was because he could see me
behind him and was either embarrassed or thought I might be psycho.  I
suspect he got back on the freeway after he saw me not follow him on the
exit.

I proceeded home.

Here is my analysis of the situation:

a)I think he did everything right.  Sure, he botched it merging ... but I
think what happened is when he saw he was merging in front of a motorcycle
he freaked and decided to do the 100% safest thing.  Or, perhaps he didn't
actually see me until the last instant and freaked.  But, in any case, I
fully agree with his decision to play it safe.  If you aren't sure, don't
try it.

b)My method for making decisions is possibly harder to defend.  I really
felt that all of my choices were poisoned.  If I didn't brake, I would have
given him the opportunity to hit me (I felt I had to stay out of his swerve
range).  There wasn't enough time to look left and try to make it one lane
over (and traffic was too dense).  From a game theory point of view, fleeing
the freeway and getting behind him on the ramp seemed safest.  It seemed to
be the choice that gave me the lowest probability of getting hit.

But still, I feel on some level I blew it.

Maybe the right answer is that I shouldn't have been in the right lane to
begin with.

Surprisingly, I didn't interfere with traffic at all.  The semi behind me
probably laughed his ass off at what he just saw.  But I'm guessing he
understood it.  He went whizzing by me at full speed.

I wish I could have talked to the motorist involved.  My only comment to him
would be that I felt he did the right thing.  If you have any doubt about
your ability to merge ... ABORT!

Datesfat.

 Datesfat Chicks wrote:


[Trying to make like Sherlock Holmes here]...

 From my Rand McNally, I-95 at Kalamazoo is roughly easy/west, something
like half way between Detroit and Chicago.

Because you didn't specify where "home" is, I don't know whether you
were riding east or west. This may be significant to your story however.

We do have a few clues:

 > dense holiday traffic

It was early in a long weekend, so most of that traffic would be
outbound to a holiday destination. I can't imagine many people
deciding to spend their time off in either Chicago or Detroit;
the holiday resorts along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan
seem more likely.

Therefore my guess is you were westbound, meaning you live in Benton
Harbor, Michigan City, Gary or somewhere in the Windy City itself.

This is reinforced by another factor, that the sun in the driver's eyes
might have been a cause of his hesitation and uncertainty.

Westbound in the United States the sun is more likely to be in
the driver's face than eastbound due to the driver's sitting position
on the left side of the car.

I wonder if anyone has done a statistical study of the sun's effect
on traffic accidents.

Meanwhile, it seems to me if the sun is behind a cager he's more likely
to see you than if the sun is behind you and in his face. Therefore
it's a good idea to take into account the sun's position while riding.

SQ

 

 ¿ wrote:

Oh well, the fun was in the speculating.

Acting on your tip, I looked back at recent postings and of course
there's his declaration that he was moving to Rhode Island.

However, it's at least 750 miles from Kalamazoo to Providence
(or anywhere else in RI for that matter), a long day's ride
on a motorcycle.

Then of course when you examine his reason for moving there
it becomes fairly obvious that he was speaking ironically and
probably wasn't serious (something about legalized call girls,
such as Gloria Wandrous played by Liz Taylor in _Butterfield 8_).

So still I'm no wiser about where DFC lives but then again even
Sherlock Holmes didn't always get it right the first time either.

SQ

 
I can't make it too easy for you.  Let's see if this works for you:

KAZO -> KRMY.

Datesfat.

P.S.--If that still doesn't work, let's try another one:

ICAO.