If there's one thing all New Yorkers can agree on, it's that everyone else doesn't know how to drive. Where do you stand on the "official" way to merge after a lane is ending?

This recent public service announcement hit a little too close to home for me. While I understand how to merge when two lanes become one, I was never sure what to do when one lane simply ended, and I blame tractor trailers.

Do you know the correct way to merge after a lane closure? (Canva)
Do you know the correct way to merge after a lane closure? (Canva)
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How to Correctly Merge Lanes in New York

Whenever a lane merge on a busy highway causes bumper-to-bumper traffic, you can always count on large 18-wheel trucks to merge early. Truck drivers will often straddle two lanes in an effort to block other motorists from driving to the "end" of the lane before they merged. Since I always considered truckers to be the shepherds of the highway, I thought they were helping. Turns out I was wrong.

It turns out "early merging" doesn't help anybody (Canva)
It turns out "early merging" doesn't help anybody (Canva)
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The Zipper Method is ALWAYS the Right Way

"Guys…. Hear us out... Your “polite” early merge is slowing you and everyone down", began a recent post from a small-town transportation department. "When drivers come up to a lane closure, they tend to get over early — which makes one long slow line, and one mostly empty lane. When traffic is really backed up, the best thing to do is not merge early" (below). Consider my world officially rocked.

Canva/The City of Minot via Facebook
Canva/The City of Minot via Facebook
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Merging Etiquette in New York

The post went on to validate many burning feelings I have been keeping inside. "For many, merging late doesn't feel fair, since so few people are doing it", they noted. Exactly! In fact, not only did I feel like a lane cheater, I also loved my (apparently unearned) sense of superiority when I merged early. I would judge every late-merging car that drove past me, knowing only one of us was getting into heaven.

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So consider this your official "merge late without a guilty conscience" notice, and if you see anyone giving you the stink eye (don't worry, it won't be from me anymore), just revel in the fact that you are, in fact, better, smarter, nicer, and probably way better looking than them.

15 "Must See" Places On Your Next Upstate New York Road Trip. Very Cool!

Everybody loves a piece of trivia. A bit of unusual history. A fun factoid. Well, there are volumes of these in Upstate New York and we will visit many of them in the near future.

This is a list of 15 historic sites, roadside oddities, and amazing places that you will not want to miss on your next Upstate New York road trip. I mean, the only place you can actually drive under the Erie Canal? Really?

Take New York's Most Scenic Spring Road Trip In 5 Days

Spring time is in full swing all across New York State. Take time to get out this season and explore. Maybe take an epic scenic road trip over the course of 5 days.

We decided to ask ChatGPT to get the most epic, most iconic, and most scenic Spring Road Trip across New York State. Here's what it suggested:

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