Local motor coach operator says Calgary drivers need to merge better
Posted Jun 6, 2015 3:39 pm.
Last Updated Jun 6, 2015 4:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
With summer driving season stretching ahead of us, drivers of all types of transportation need to share the road.
Motor coach operator Ron Lamb said the biggest problem he has is when drivers going over the speed limit and pull directly in front of him.
“A lot of people, when they’re passing, they’ll put right in front of the bus and take away my space,” Lamb said. “For instance, if they had to hit the brakes I’d pile into them immediately and normally when we’re driving, we’ll drive at a four second rule as opposed to a two second rule so that we have time to stop.”
And one of the biggest problems he sees, which unfortunately happens to be exclusive to Calgary drivers, is ”bad” merging.
“When people come flying down a freeway such as the Deerfoot, they’re travelling at a high rate of speed and then suddenly they veer across all the lanes and take the next exit; that’s something that is really confusing to me,” he said. “That definitely makes it dangerous for everybody and I’ve always known the rule that if you’re going to be merging off that you get in behind a vehicle, you don’t cut it off.”
Lamb added that when he’s driving a coach in the Calgary-area, the majority of drivers do allow him to merge – which doesn’t happen when he’s travelling in his personal vehicle.
He said he knows people are in a hurry, but if drivers pre-planned their trips and took a little more time, everyone would be a lot safer.
Slowing down, allowing at least four seconds of distance between vehicles and merging properly, will help all drivers get to their destinations intact.
