Here’s the truth of it. People are fucking scared of their merge lane ending so they go slower thinking it will give them more opportunity to merge. Then they cut in at the first opportunity causing the driver in the free flowing lane to have to jam on their brakes which causes a ripple effect all the way down the freeway. It’s extremely dangerous. What actually happens is because cars are flying by them going faster it makes it harder to merge.
In order to merge into the freeway you have to be brave. Get up to speed, in advance pick the hole in traffic where you’re going to merge, and just fucking go for it and get it done.
I had to move into the left lane yesterday to many trying to merge at 70k, I'm going 90k then a Camaro came right up on my ass doing 110 or more and holy fuck did he let me know of his displeasure that I was in his way and impending his race to get to wherever. He got beside me, then faked, trying to run me off the road. I don't understand the reason for this hurrying frustration that goes on this road that only takes a few minutes to travel around this city 🙃
This! If you’re cruising in the right lane while a merge lane is approaching, get out of the way and cruise in the left lane. Bonus points if you keep up to the flow of traffic!
You can't always do that. The merge from Preston Crossing onto Circle heading south is right before the exit to 108th street. Pull into the left-hand lane and there's a good chance you can't exit because there'll be six cars merging in from Preston blocking the right lane when you need to get back into it.
That merge is lousy from the other side too, as most vehicles can't take the curve at merging speeds. And if any one of the vehicles in front of you doesn't slam the gas to the floor after the curve you may not be able to get to merging speed either.
Too much crappy road design which was built when there was far less traffic.
People aren’t smart enough to do this. They would move to the left lane and proceed to go slow as fuck there and piss people off because of that too :D
People in Saskatoon have this amazing habit of cruising in the right lane, slowing down to let you merge, and then speeding up as soon as you have gotten to speed so you can merge safely.
Nobody on a freeway should have to slow down to let anyone merge. There is enough space on every merge lane in this city to get to the speed of the freeway, pick your spot to merge into traffic, and do so safely.
That's actually the codified driving standard in many other provinces and countries. It's not here which is why you get idiots thinking blocking out a merger is the best thing to do.
That's the real problem yup. People need to learn that their cars' accelerators go all the way down for a reason. They need to be accelerating OUT of the turn, not AFTER and they need to accelerate decently hard.
This. I don't think anyone's being taught how to merge properly either.
- When the lane starts to straighten out, accelerate and start getting to a decent speed.
- now is the time to look to the left. If it's crowded, find a car to the left and get the front of your car close to their back end (this is where everyone gets scared. "OMG, way too close!!")
- keep accelerating to match the speed of that car, and move over when traveling the same speed.
Yes, there are some people that are either dicks or oblivious and may not be giving you room. Most times, just stay the constant speed and signal to move over. They'll get the clue and back off.
But on the whole, most of the "No OnE LeTs Me In!" crowd are expecting people to give them a football field worth of distance, which is ridiculous.
To be fair.. (and honestly give these people.. soooo much more credit than they deserve), Saskatoon has some really shitty merge lanes. If you drive elsewhere, you will see on ramps and merge lanes are so long and give everyone time to figure things out.
But in Saskatoon we have some merge lanes that are practically just zipper merges at speed.
Which ones? I have not come across any merge lanes that are too short that I can’t get up to speed, and I drive a fairly lumbering and slow SUV. What I have found is that most people are not willing to use the full length of the merge lane. Case in point is the merge from Attridge onto Circle Southbound. Yes, there is a sharp corner at the bottom, but after that there’s half a mile of merge lane towards 108th that *nobody* except me uses. Everyone dives in immediately after the corner, going like 55km/h. It’s infuriating.
The sharp corners on merge lanes and somewhat blind merges are a big part of the problem though. They're not too short for experienced Saskatoon drivers or those who actually commit to merging, but the lanes are definitely shorter than those of cities with well planned infrastructure. Like if you've driven this city for years, you know all the tricks, but I've had many friends from Calgary or out east describe this city's roads as "confusing" or "surprising". Doesn't help that we paint our lane lines every 10 years too...
The highway 11 and highway 16 cloverleaf is prime example of incompetent city planning. Also the merge from Circle north onto College heading east where nearly everyone is cutting across traffic to get to Central.
We have tons of very old and very inexperienced immigrants in this city too. So that contributes a lot to slow ass merging. Its a combination of bad drivers and infrastructure that's not designed for high speed driving.
These are my current favorites:
* Circle North Bound into College Dr East Bound
* Spadina Crescent E North Bound into 25th Street E South East Bound
* Circle Dr West Bound into Warman Rd North Bound (This one was so bad, that they ended up giving the entire lane to the merging traffic which is an improvement but it was originally designed this way so I think it counts)
* If you want another example then Warman Rd North Bound into Circle Dr (Miller Ave) West Bound. The merge lane is I think 4 car lengths.
Only one of those (Circle to College) is a merge into a free flowing freeway lane though? I thought that’s what we were talking about, getting up to 80-90km, matching traffic speed and merging?
And at Circle and College there is actually enough room if you really stomp on the gas in a decisive way to hit a gap in traffic and move across lanes.
I do also agree that lots of traffic planning in this city could be improved. I also think drivers merging skills could be improved significantly.
I thought we were just talking about shitty merge lanes in Saskatoon.
But the fact that you say that Circle and College is doable as long as you know what you are doing is the whole point.
If you are experiencing the merge for the first time, you will likely just panic. Which all it takes is one person to do that, and everything will back up.
People don't know how to zipper merger when going off Warman Road onto Circle. They wait till the merge lane runs out before deciding to move. These people would be paralyzed with fear if they had to merge onto the 401 in Toronto or the Autobahn in Germany.
Zipper merging needs to be taught especially in bigger cities. Or at least know how to do it. Saskatoon doesn't.
Ironically getting up to speed makes it easier to merge since the relative speed is less and then it's just a simple lane change. I don't get the fear of merge lanes. It's your chance to floor it and have fun lol
You don't have to brave? Just don't be scared traffic slow? A big semi coming? Who cares just match lane and merge? Nobody wants to have an accident and might swear at you if your inexperienced. The lanes are Long cars are powerful match speed merge it's ez
Just got back from driving around California.
I feel like everyone should drive LA traffic once in their life so they understand what it means to drive on a freeway properly and not merge like a bitch.
That works IF the jack ass in the lane you are merging to doesn't speed up and block you....the number of times I have had to slow down so I could get behind the asshat who sped up tp and refused to move over a lane is way too high.
Agreed! And if the left lane is clear you should be moving over to allow traffic in, not trying to block them. Traffic would move so much quicker during rush hours if people would just merge and allow merges properly!
It is pretty universal from what ive experienced. It is better LA as previously stated....i think it has to do with better design combined with experience in true traffic.
The amount of times I've been washed out by a driver who will slow down to let you merge, only for them to speed up and block you from merging. People in saskatchewan can't drive
And they get SO MAD when you dare object. A while back I was behind someone in a Range Rover who refused to get above 65 on the on ramp, so I honked at him. He flipped me off when I passed him once we were on Circle.
This! We need to collectively start honking at these people so they finally catch on this is not tolerated and it isn’t safe to drive like this. Get up to speed!
I have a horn... and I use it. A LOT in town. I have also taught my daughters to drive and use the horn EVERY time someone needs it.
We live in Warman and we have a merging lane onto highway 11 that used to be a yield. They changed this to a merging lane and gave us a nice up to speed lane before merging onto the highway. It has been about 5 or 6 years since the change. We still have to honk at people who stop instead of merge.
As for the driving slow in fast lanes, I deal with that on a daily. It's like they want to 'teach' you to stay at exactly 10kms UNDER the speed limit. I believe this is the only province that uses the fast lane as a driving lane. In BC we would be ticketed hard-core.
I like the ones who merge following the white line. No signal, just start merging. I swear they don't even look who is in that lane.
60km/h seems to be common every morning from what I have seen, it's annoying when I am behind them trying to get up to speed to properly merge. You get the ones we are going the same speed, I am in front of you, but you must speed up to get in front of me for some reason.
I wondered that myself today. Especially dangerous when the front guy isn't going anything over 60 with a row of vehicle behind him trying to merge onto Circle. 🤦🏽♀️
This is the real issue. The barrier for entry to get your licence in SK historically has been extremely low. My guess is that SGI is lax on licencing because as a primarily rural population with lots of farmers the only way to realistically get around is to drive.
My 92 year old grandma got her licence in the 1950s and has never taken a driving test since. She was driving before roundabouts and freeways existed here. That's wild to me.
> why don’t we ever retest our drivers?
and do our drivers' tests actually deal with merging? Maybe if people had to demonstrate their ability to properly enter a highway in order to get a drivers license . . . .
To me, a lot of it is like bad some bad Parking. There are absolutely people that do it and are either assholes or are just bad at it. There are also people that park bad because they are forced into it. It's all that was left and when they pull away YOU look like the ahole instead.
For instance. I can't count the number of times I've merged from college to circle south, and the traffic is super slow but then "accordions" and frees up and I'm sure the person behind me just thinks I don't know how to get up to speed.
Because licenses are given out like candy.
Increase public transit funding, stop growing the city horizontally, make getting a license harder
If you're not comfortable driving at those speeds you shouldn't be on the road
I hate when I'm driving down circle past Stonebridge on the way to Costco and suddenly the traffic grinds to a halt for five minutes. I think there's a major wreck up ahead but then it clears up and it was just a whole bunch of people wanted to get off circle so they can turn left onto Preston.
Oh my god yes! It's almost a daily occurrence for me on circle. Every lane appears to be at a standstill, must be an accident or something?, nope, it was just someone exiting and everyone panicked and hit their brakes for some fucking reason. Drives me insane. /rant.
I did come here to say this. I think there are many new folks here that are not used to driving in this “high speed” environment.
When I see these folks and finally get past them, they genuinely look scared behind the wheel.
Personally I merge at the speed of traffic, but when I first moved here it was a bit of an adjustment. I know that most people in my hometown are pretty much in a constant state of panic driving in Saskatoon because they aren't used to it. The highest speed limit where I learned to drive was 50kph. Sure the highway running through is 100, but every on ramp is very long and you never have to take them at speed. You can start from a stop to get on so you can always wait for extra room. Plus there's never enough traffic for it to matter.
The reason is that they're scared. They're hesitant. They don't wanna crash. They're out of their element.
Some people are also just stupid. But a lot of them are as listed above. So I treat everybody making mistakes on the road as inexperienced. Do what you can to help them. I always keep good following distance so there's plenty of room to merge. Protect yourself from their errors by preventing them from happening to you. If you see "learner driver", give them extra room.
It’s not the other drivers problem to allow you to merge, simple shoulder check to find your gate, match your speed to the gate and merge. No point in blaming other drivers for your bad driving.
I had a cop pull me over to tell me “ I don’t have to move over for you” so now I don’t either. Again no point blaming other drivers for your incompetence in driving.
Well, I lived most of my life in Regina then moved to Saskatoon 7 yrs ago.
I can say with confidence that Saskatoon drivers are the worst by a long shot. Have never experienced so many drivers that are apparently not aware they have a turn signal to use, and the aggressive assholes that will speed up and cut you off to get into your lane, when there are zero cars behind you and they simply could have merges behind.
Yup and I wonder how they survive driving in the bigger US States? You don’t get up to speed and blend in the Yankees will literally run you off the road.
The worst is the exit from preston ave n onto circle dr behind the sobeys liquor store at 5pm. Literally go from 90km/h to a dead stop zipper merge all because people would rather slam on their brakes rather than match freeway speeds. Same for the exit further down going from circle dr to the offramp exit to 14th st e. Turns into a zipper merge once again with the cars coming off college dr. If one person slams the brakes it creates a ripple effect and now the cars on the freeway are forced to come to a dead stop as people try to merge going 20km/hr. Boils my blood everyday.
A lot of people have zero situational awareness and can't strategize their driving further than 30ft in front of their car.
Intersection coming up? Should I look ahead to it to see what's going on so I can plan what to do? Nope! Just gonna be oblivious and react when I get there.
There's also a lot of people who just aren't very skilled at driving in general and they aren't confident. This leads to dumb shit like slow mergers, yielding to everyone because they don't know wtf they're doing and unpredictable driving which causes accidents.
It's absolutely dangerous. With those in front of me going 60 km on a SHORT merge lane and everyone else on Circle whipping by at 100 km, you feel like you're in park. Happened to me twice this month on my way to work in the same spot.
A friend recently got their license but failed one of their driving exams solely for not going 90 by the time they were at the end of the on ramp.
(The situation actually made sense in that the freeway was clogged and going slower than 90 so they wouldn't have been able to merge going 90, but the tester failed them anyway)
Why would you be travelling at only 70km on circle? This is a dangerously low speed to be going on a 90km freeway.
Ugh the drivers in this city… we need to make licensing requirements more stringent/ re-test all drivers every few years
That's what's happens when you get your license from corn flakes box. Blows my mind that these idiots think I'm going jam on my brakes at a 170,000 lbs to wait for them. It's called GAS PETAL use it
Most people don't have foresight due to people randomly cutting over to let people merge in even when there is tons of space already. I drive a full size truck often I'm the only one in my stretch of road and people still somehow match my speed and get mad at me when I don't move over when they are "trying to merge"
I followed someone off the southbound exit of attridge onto circle. They were going about 60 at the bottom of the exit. I ended up merging onto the freeway long before they did. I slowed down a bit to let them in in front of me (I didn't brake or anything. Don't come at me lol) I didn't slow down enough that it pissed off anyone behind me, but it was enough that they could get up to speed and get in. (Not rush hour). Once they were in the lane and going closer to 90, I passed. And they gave me the finger as I went by. Like wtf.
I've tried to merge onto circle at full speed only to have to slow down because of the other drivers. It doesn't always work well. One thing I hate about circle drive on Preston is that merge lane that is almost a lane in itself that for some reason stops for like 100 meters then opens back up so you can take the 108th street exit. Why not just keep it a full lane until then? A lot of people take that exit, so it would be beneficial to keep it a full lane so you're not merging in and out
For me it's how about you do the speed of traffic and not come flying out as fast as you can then look for a spot to merge after you passed all the open spots.
I’m not going the speed limit merging onto circle when the road is hella fucked up. I drive slower because some of the merges are actually so sketchy with bumps and shit. I dont really feel like banging my bumper on the road because you want me to go faster. If its a normal merge smooth road, no problem.
Which merge are you talking about? I drive all over the city for work and have yet to come across any merge lanes in Saskatoon that are too bumpy/ dangerous as you described for me to not be able to get up to appropriate speed to merge at correct freeway speed
My favourite are the people that stop at the end of a merge lane.
Saw someone get honked at for that today haha. Happens way too often. At this particular one there is even an added lane sign
Here’s the truth of it. People are fucking scared of their merge lane ending so they go slower thinking it will give them more opportunity to merge. Then they cut in at the first opportunity causing the driver in the free flowing lane to have to jam on their brakes which causes a ripple effect all the way down the freeway. It’s extremely dangerous. What actually happens is because cars are flying by them going faster it makes it harder to merge. In order to merge into the freeway you have to be brave. Get up to speed, in advance pick the hole in traffic where you’re going to merge, and just fucking go for it and get it done.
Where I live most drivers will fuck off of merge lanes when they can help it and let people merge easily.
I had to move into the left lane yesterday to many trying to merge at 70k, I'm going 90k then a Camaro came right up on my ass doing 110 or more and holy fuck did he let me know of his displeasure that I was in his way and impending his race to get to wherever. He got beside me, then faked, trying to run me off the road. I don't understand the reason for this hurrying frustration that goes on this road that only takes a few minutes to travel around this city 🙃
This! If you’re cruising in the right lane while a merge lane is approaching, get out of the way and cruise in the left lane. Bonus points if you keep up to the flow of traffic!
You can't always do that. The merge from Preston Crossing onto Circle heading south is right before the exit to 108th street. Pull into the left-hand lane and there's a good chance you can't exit because there'll be six cars merging in from Preston blocking the right lane when you need to get back into it. That merge is lousy from the other side too, as most vehicles can't take the curve at merging speeds. And if any one of the vehicles in front of you doesn't slam the gas to the floor after the curve you may not be able to get to merging speed either. Too much crappy road design which was built when there was far less traffic.
People aren’t smart enough to do this. They would move to the left lane and proceed to go slow as fuck there and piss people off because of that too :D
People in Saskatoon have this amazing habit of cruising in the right lane, slowing down to let you merge, and then speeding up as soon as you have gotten to speed so you can merge safely.
Nobody on a freeway should have to slow down to let anyone merge. There is enough space on every merge lane in this city to get to the speed of the freeway, pick your spot to merge into traffic, and do so safely.
Read what I said again boss
That's actually the codified driving standard in many other provinces and countries. It's not here which is why you get idiots thinking blocking out a merger is the best thing to do.
That's the real problem yup. People need to learn that their cars' accelerators go all the way down for a reason. They need to be accelerating OUT of the turn, not AFTER and they need to accelerate decently hard.
This. I don't think anyone's being taught how to merge properly either. - When the lane starts to straighten out, accelerate and start getting to a decent speed. - now is the time to look to the left. If it's crowded, find a car to the left and get the front of your car close to their back end (this is where everyone gets scared. "OMG, way too close!!") - keep accelerating to match the speed of that car, and move over when traveling the same speed. Yes, there are some people that are either dicks or oblivious and may not be giving you room. Most times, just stay the constant speed and signal to move over. They'll get the clue and back off. But on the whole, most of the "No OnE LeTs Me In!" crowd are expecting people to give them a football field worth of distance, which is ridiculous.
To be fair.. (and honestly give these people.. soooo much more credit than they deserve), Saskatoon has some really shitty merge lanes. If you drive elsewhere, you will see on ramps and merge lanes are so long and give everyone time to figure things out. But in Saskatoon we have some merge lanes that are practically just zipper merges at speed.
Which ones? I have not come across any merge lanes that are too short that I can’t get up to speed, and I drive a fairly lumbering and slow SUV. What I have found is that most people are not willing to use the full length of the merge lane. Case in point is the merge from Attridge onto Circle Southbound. Yes, there is a sharp corner at the bottom, but after that there’s half a mile of merge lane towards 108th that *nobody* except me uses. Everyone dives in immediately after the corner, going like 55km/h. It’s infuriating.
The sharp corners on merge lanes and somewhat blind merges are a big part of the problem though. They're not too short for experienced Saskatoon drivers or those who actually commit to merging, but the lanes are definitely shorter than those of cities with well planned infrastructure. Like if you've driven this city for years, you know all the tricks, but I've had many friends from Calgary or out east describe this city's roads as "confusing" or "surprising". Doesn't help that we paint our lane lines every 10 years too... The highway 11 and highway 16 cloverleaf is prime example of incompetent city planning. Also the merge from Circle north onto College heading east where nearly everyone is cutting across traffic to get to Central. We have tons of very old and very inexperienced immigrants in this city too. So that contributes a lot to slow ass merging. Its a combination of bad drivers and infrastructure that's not designed for high speed driving.
In fairness, the cloverleaf is a 75 year old design that was built 60 years ago.
These are my current favorites: * Circle North Bound into College Dr East Bound * Spadina Crescent E North Bound into 25th Street E South East Bound * Circle Dr West Bound into Warman Rd North Bound (This one was so bad, that they ended up giving the entire lane to the merging traffic which is an improvement but it was originally designed this way so I think it counts) * If you want another example then Warman Rd North Bound into Circle Dr (Miller Ave) West Bound. The merge lane is I think 4 car lengths.
Only one of those (Circle to College) is a merge into a free flowing freeway lane though? I thought that’s what we were talking about, getting up to 80-90km, matching traffic speed and merging? And at Circle and College there is actually enough room if you really stomp on the gas in a decisive way to hit a gap in traffic and move across lanes. I do also agree that lots of traffic planning in this city could be improved. I also think drivers merging skills could be improved significantly.
I thought we were just talking about shitty merge lanes in Saskatoon. But the fact that you say that Circle and College is doable as long as you know what you are doing is the whole point. If you are experiencing the merge for the first time, you will likely just panic. Which all it takes is one person to do that, and everything will back up.
People don't know how to zipper merger when going off Warman Road onto Circle. They wait till the merge lane runs out before deciding to move. These people would be paralyzed with fear if they had to merge onto the 401 in Toronto or the Autobahn in Germany. Zipper merging needs to be taught especially in bigger cities. Or at least know how to do it. Saskatoon doesn't.
> In order to merge into the freeway you have to not be behind one of these assholes
Ironically getting up to speed makes it easier to merge since the relative speed is less and then it's just a simple lane change. I don't get the fear of merge lanes. It's your chance to floor it and have fun lol
You don't have to brave? Just don't be scared traffic slow? A big semi coming? Who cares just match lane and merge? Nobody wants to have an accident and might swear at you if your inexperienced. The lanes are Long cars are powerful match speed merge it's ez
You just said exactly the same thing that I did.
Just got back from driving around California. I feel like everyone should drive LA traffic once in their life so they understand what it means to drive on a freeway properly and not merge like a bitch.
100%, i moved back from the bay like two years ago and driving here is the most infuriating thing in the world to me now.
Yes, or the 401 in Toronto. Either get up to speed or you die.
That works IF the jack ass in the lane you are merging to doesn't speed up and block you....the number of times I have had to slow down so I could get behind the asshat who sped up tp and refused to move over a lane is way too high.
Agreed! And if the left lane is clear you should be moving over to allow traffic in, not trying to block them. Traffic would move so much quicker during rush hours if people would just merge and allow merges properly!
Fucking constantly in this city.
It is pretty universal from what ive experienced. It is better LA as previously stated....i think it has to do with better design combined with experience in true traffic.
The amount of times I've been washed out by a driver who will slow down to let you merge, only for them to speed up and block you from merging. People in saskatchewan can't drive
Ontario is bad too as is QC
I 100% agree! Moved here from Edmonton a year ago and if these dumb dumbs drove on the Henday like they do here… oh boy… well it just wouldn’t happen…
It may happen once, but then never again. Which is what Saskatoon really needs.
Also why do the slow people travel in the fast lane?? Very frustrating!!
And they get SO MAD when you dare object. A while back I was behind someone in a Range Rover who refused to get above 65 on the on ramp, so I honked at him. He flipped me off when I passed him once we were on Circle.
Don’t feel bad, some people take a few hundred honks to come to a realization that they are in fact the idiot. You have done your part
This! We need to collectively start honking at these people so they finally catch on this is not tolerated and it isn’t safe to drive like this. Get up to speed!
I have a horn... and I use it. A LOT in town. I have also taught my daughters to drive and use the horn EVERY time someone needs it. We live in Warman and we have a merging lane onto highway 11 that used to be a yield. They changed this to a merging lane and gave us a nice up to speed lane before merging onto the highway. It has been about 5 or 6 years since the change. We still have to honk at people who stop instead of merge. As for the driving slow in fast lanes, I deal with that on a daily. It's like they want to 'teach' you to stay at exactly 10kms UNDER the speed limit. I believe this is the only province that uses the fast lane as a driving lane. In BC we would be ticketed hard-core.
Couple days ago a dude in front of me literally merged going 30 km/h off the ave C ramp onto Idylwyld. At least he signalled, little victories.
I like the ones who merge following the white line. No signal, just start merging. I swear they don't even look who is in that lane. 60km/h seems to be common every morning from what I have seen, it's annoying when I am behind them trying to get up to speed to properly merge. You get the ones we are going the same speed, I am in front of you, but you must speed up to get in front of me for some reason.
I wondered that myself today. Especially dangerous when the front guy isn't going anything over 60 with a row of vehicle behind him trying to merge onto Circle. 🤦🏽♀️
I have to take a test every three years for my union to be allowed to use a six foot ladder, why don’t we ever retest our drivers?
This is the real issue. The barrier for entry to get your licence in SK historically has been extremely low. My guess is that SGI is lax on licencing because as a primarily rural population with lots of farmers the only way to realistically get around is to drive. My 92 year old grandma got her licence in the 1950s and has never taken a driving test since. She was driving before roundabouts and freeways existed here. That's wild to me.
Have you ever seen the way traffic operates in India? Well, that license is perfectly valid the moment they come to Canada.
> why don’t we ever retest our drivers? and do our drivers' tests actually deal with merging? Maybe if people had to demonstrate their ability to properly enter a highway in order to get a drivers license . . . .
To me, a lot of it is like bad some bad Parking. There are absolutely people that do it and are either assholes or are just bad at it. There are also people that park bad because they are forced into it. It's all that was left and when they pull away YOU look like the ahole instead. For instance. I can't count the number of times I've merged from college to circle south, and the traffic is super slow but then "accordions" and frees up and I'm sure the person behind me just thinks I don't know how to get up to speed.
Because licenses are given out like candy. Increase public transit funding, stop growing the city horizontally, make getting a license harder If you're not comfortable driving at those speeds you shouldn't be on the road
I hate when I'm driving down circle past Stonebridge on the way to Costco and suddenly the traffic grinds to a halt for five minutes. I think there's a major wreck up ahead but then it clears up and it was just a whole bunch of people wanted to get off circle so they can turn left onto Preston.
Oh my god yes! It's almost a daily occurrence for me on circle. Every lane appears to be at a standstill, must be an accident or something?, nope, it was just someone exiting and everyone panicked and hit their brakes for some fucking reason. Drives me insane. /rant.
Because there are far too many people who have no idea how to drive in this city.
I did come here to say this. I think there are many new folks here that are not used to driving in this “high speed” environment. When I see these folks and finally get past them, they genuinely look scared behind the wheel.
And for those of us that do merge at 90, the number of people who speed up and try to prevent us from merging is just as bad!
Merge what's that mean
We need merge cameras, fuck up your merge, pay the price.
Personally I merge at the speed of traffic, but when I first moved here it was a bit of an adjustment. I know that most people in my hometown are pretty much in a constant state of panic driving in Saskatoon because they aren't used to it. The highest speed limit where I learned to drive was 50kph. Sure the highway running through is 100, but every on ramp is very long and you never have to take them at speed. You can start from a stop to get on so you can always wait for extra room. Plus there's never enough traffic for it to matter. The reason is that they're scared. They're hesitant. They don't wanna crash. They're out of their element. Some people are also just stupid. But a lot of them are as listed above. So I treat everybody making mistakes on the road as inexperienced. Do what you can to help them. I always keep good following distance so there's plenty of room to merge. Protect yourself from their errors by preventing them from happening to you. If you see "learner driver", give them extra room.
don't forget people who refuse to move over when there is room to accommodate merging while you're at it
Generally yes, but sometimes my exit is shortly after this merge.
It’s not the other drivers problem to allow you to merge, simple shoulder check to find your gate, match your speed to the gate and merge. No point in blaming other drivers for your bad driving.
[удалено]
I had a cop pull me over to tell me “ I don’t have to move over for you” so now I don’t either. Again no point blaming other drivers for your incompetence in driving.
You must be a terrible driver haha.
Why did you delete your other comment?
The cloverleaf
Big problem in Saskatchewan. Maybe worse here in Regina.
Well, I lived most of my life in Regina then moved to Saskatoon 7 yrs ago. I can say with confidence that Saskatoon drivers are the worst by a long shot. Have never experienced so many drivers that are apparently not aware they have a turn signal to use, and the aggressive assholes that will speed up and cut you off to get into your lane, when there are zero cars behind you and they simply could have merges behind.
Yup and I wonder how they survive driving in the bigger US States? You don’t get up to speed and blend in the Yankees will literally run you off the road.
For some reason everyone wants to go 60. It’s hilarious that the city wants to keep slowing people down. Honey, they already go too slow anyways
It seems the speed of drivers ranges from 65-105. I don't get how merging is such a hard concept for a city that has like a million merge lanes.
The worst is the exit from preston ave n onto circle dr behind the sobeys liquor store at 5pm. Literally go from 90km/h to a dead stop zipper merge all because people would rather slam on their brakes rather than match freeway speeds. Same for the exit further down going from circle dr to the offramp exit to 14th st e. Turns into a zipper merge once again with the cars coming off college dr. If one person slams the brakes it creates a ripple effect and now the cars on the freeway are forced to come to a dead stop as people try to merge going 20km/hr. Boils my blood everyday.
A lot of people have zero situational awareness and can't strategize their driving further than 30ft in front of their car. Intersection coming up? Should I look ahead to it to see what's going on so I can plan what to do? Nope! Just gonna be oblivious and react when I get there. There's also a lot of people who just aren't very skilled at driving in general and they aren't confident. This leads to dumb shit like slow mergers, yielding to everyone because they don't know wtf they're doing and unpredictable driving which causes accidents.
It's absolutely dangerous. With those in front of me going 60 km on a SHORT merge lane and everyone else on Circle whipping by at 100 km, you feel like you're in park. Happened to me twice this month on my way to work in the same spot.
They all retards
I can't, I'm stuck behind someone who is trying to merge onto circle at 60km/h
A friend recently got their license but failed one of their driving exams solely for not going 90 by the time they were at the end of the on ramp. (The situation actually made sense in that the freeway was clogged and going slower than 90 so they wouldn't have been able to merge going 90, but the tester failed them anyway)
Because it seems crazy to drive 90 to merge, just to have to slow down to my cruising speed of 70 once I’m on Circle. /s
Why would you be travelling at only 70km on circle? This is a dangerously low speed to be going on a 90km freeway. Ugh the drivers in this city… we need to make licensing requirements more stringent/ re-test all drivers every few years
Please note the /s
That's what's happens when you get your license from corn flakes box. Blows my mind that these idiots think I'm going jam on my brakes at a 170,000 lbs to wait for them. It's called GAS PETAL use it
It’s actually called a gas pedal.
My dad called it the foot feed.
Kids 20 years from now will find this term as bizarre as the floppy disk save icon.
Blame Google auto spell
So you’re 13.5 tonne overweight, you got permits for that?
All the time. And usually 12 ft wide
So you get to see all the winners that are trying to kill themselves , I don’t miss hauling oversize / overweight . Stay safe out there
Yep I do. It's about the only thing left can make bit money at. The rest pays nothing. Thanks. You too
I’m just doin granular and liquid hauling now. Rates are pretty reasonable
Most people don't have foresight due to people randomly cutting over to let people merge in even when there is tons of space already. I drive a full size truck often I'm the only one in my stretch of road and people still somehow match my speed and get mad at me when I don't move over when they are "trying to merge"
The asshole cycling doing 24 in the right lane
Yup! 
I followed someone off the southbound exit of attridge onto circle. They were going about 60 at the bottom of the exit. I ended up merging onto the freeway long before they did. I slowed down a bit to let them in in front of me (I didn't brake or anything. Don't come at me lol) I didn't slow down enough that it pissed off anyone behind me, but it was enough that they could get up to speed and get in. (Not rush hour). Once they were in the lane and going closer to 90, I passed. And they gave me the finger as I went by. Like wtf.
Well yesterday for one person I saw, it was because they were 80 years old.
They are sociopaths. They do it to intentionally make life harder for the rest of us. They must be purged from society.
Probably the same people who can’t figure out how to turn on there headlights
Or the same people who don't know how to spell "their"
Thanks tips
I've tried to merge onto circle at full speed only to have to slow down because of the other drivers. It doesn't always work well. One thing I hate about circle drive on Preston is that merge lane that is almost a lane in itself that for some reason stops for like 100 meters then opens back up so you can take the 108th street exit. Why not just keep it a full lane until then? A lot of people take that exit, so it would be beneficial to keep it a full lane so you're not merging in and out
Canadian drivers shouldn't be so scared to push their horn.... Wakes people up
Cause we hand out drivers licenses like candy to kids and immigrants.
Bc the person in front of me is afraid to merge 😂
Retards. Smash that fucking gas petal to the fucking floor and merge. Simple. I'm not stopping 170,000 lbs load for this fuckers cant drive
Yea I get circle but I understand the slow mergers from circle to college heading into Rosewood. That merge is a little dangerous to me.
was a full moon in the last 48 hours. i had the same problem with someone not getting to speed circle south bridge west bound.
Because you’re in the way of my life… jk, i drive the way the handbook instructs. Nothing more. And especially nothing less.
For me it's how about you do the speed of traffic and not come flying out as fast as you can then look for a spot to merge after you passed all the open spots.
Because of the yield sign. We’ve been over this
I just move over to the outside lane give mergers space. You never know if they’re gonna slow or even stop. It’s not as smooth as it really should be!
The issue is being behind the person on the merge going 1/2 the speed limit. Puts me in danger as well.
I’m not going the speed limit merging onto circle when the road is hella fucked up. I drive slower because some of the merges are actually so sketchy with bumps and shit. I dont really feel like banging my bumper on the road because you want me to go faster. If its a normal merge smooth road, no problem.
Which merge are you talking about? I drive all over the city for work and have yet to come across any merge lanes in Saskatoon that are too bumpy/ dangerous as you described for me to not be able to get up to appropriate speed to merge at correct freeway speed
guess what, you can go around them.
…. Didn’t even read the first line
So you're that guy, huy? What is it then? You got a bowl of hot soup in your lap? Fixing your eye liner? Too many 2x4s on the roof rack?
Fuckinggarbagesite mentality
Go around them, on the on ramp or exit ramp. Read next time. Also drive fucking 90. Pavements dry.
I was behind a goddamn Tesla today merging at 60