SR Letter — On Merging Traffic

I noticed Paul Turner’s article in the Sunday paper about “Ms. X,” portrayed as a ditzy blonde with a “better than thou” attitude who shows “no remorse” when it comes to lane merging (“There’s no cure for Ms. X,” Aug. 21).

Here is the issue as I see it:

A: Drivers who immediately start to move into the “merge-to” lane as soon as they see any indication of a merge; sometimes leaving as much as a half mile or more of unused traffic lane wide open.

B: Drivers who continue using the unused or open lane and go to the actual merge point to make their lane change, like Ms. X.

In other, more populated cities, the actual merge happens at the point of merge and not a half mile before and seems to happen in a very orderly manner. That is, one car allows the other to merge in equal succession, truly “sharing” the roadway. This method seems more mature, more efficient, and less time consuming for all.

Shouldn’t someone like Ms. X who is helping traffic move faster by making use of unused lane and truly sharing the road be considered helpful instead of selfish and anti-social?

Len Volpe
Spokane