Imagine driving down the highway, and one lane is closed, forcing the cars from two lanes to merge into one lane. Would you be upset if some cars tried to go as far as possible in the lane that is closed in order to cut in front of other drivers?

In this story, one driver is in this situation, and he is pretty annoyed at these drivers. However, when he tries to stop them from cutting in line, he’s not sure that’s the best idea either.

Let’s read all about it.

AITA for blocking a lane that’s closed up ahead for construction?

My commute to work involves a stretch of highway that is initially 3 lanes, but currently goes down to one lane because the left is closed for construction and the right becomes an entrance/exit ramp.

Today, half a mile or less from the bottleneck, traffic in the middle lane (the only lane that continues) slowed down almost to a full stop.

As I sat in this lane, I noticed a few cars driving full speed down the left lane that closes up ahead, and I could see that most of such vehicles would only merge when physically blocked by construction barrels; they refused to merge into the open lane any earlier than the last possible moment, causing even more slow down.

He thought this was a smart idea.

After a moment, I saw someone ~20-30 vehicles ahead block the left lane to stop some of these people from going any further down the lane that closed a short distance further.

I thought it was a good choice, as the two or three cars that approach him all merged in behind him instead of waiting for the construction barrels.

So, when the left lane was clear for a moment, I merged there and stayed behind the car in front of me in the other lane.

That made some drivers angry.

When I did, most of left-lane drivers yielded and merged in behind me, but a couple tried to use the shoulder to squeeze between my car and the center barrier, almost hitting side mirrors with me.

One of these drivers slowed down and proceeded to rage from behind his window.

Fortunately, he didn’t try to get out of his vehicle to confront me.

AITA for blocking this lane? Am I correct in thinking that people need to merge earlier to not screw over everyone waiting in the correct lane (not to mention those trying to merge in from the other side from the entrance ramp), or is it too dangerous to test people’s patience and try to force them to wait?

The cars really shouldn’t be trying to squeeze ahead in front of the other cars, but the road can be a dangerous place when road rage is involved. Preventing them from cutting in line isn’t worth putting your life on the line.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Yes, it’s zippering.

Another person thinks he’s wrong.

Literally, he should stay in his lane!

Everyone thinks he’s wrong.

The signs dictate when the cars merge, not the drivers.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.