TW, is this the best we can do?

If so it made the lane change ridiculously late, possibly because the camera vehicle either made it difficult or just didn’t get out of the way. In any case, the taco had other options. You always have those even if they aren’t the most desirable, including missing the turnoff and having to drive extra miles to avoid an accident.

 

The issue is almost always money. 70-80% of highway construction costs are in materials (the purchasing and transporting of aggregate, asphalt, concrete and steel, for the most part), and roadways take an absurd amount of materials to build and reconstruct, they are basically horizontal skyscrapers. Most of our major highways and interstates were built in the 50's and 60's when the Federal Highway Act was signed (1956). Not a lot of new highways are built, they are almost always rehabilitated (~every 10 years or so) or reconstructed (every ~20-30 years) and can see frequent maintenance (sometimes yearly) and patchwork repairs in the meantime. Small county road bridges can cost at least $300k, and there's thousands of those in every state. Bigger bridges are easily in the millions. Border bridges can be in the billions. 1 mile of new pavement for minor local roads can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and major highways can easily cost over $1 million per mile, depending on the scope of the work. There's typically new applicable standards for safety that are taken into account on every rehabilitation project. The list goes on and on.

It's all expensive, and that's just to sustain what we have. New construction (entirely new design, new alignments, real estate acquisition, working through environmental issues, surveying, grading, drainage, and a hundred other considerations) is exponentially more expensive and resource intensive than rehabilitation or reconstruction. Closing major roadways incurs a time cost for thousands of people and businesses (which is taken into consideration when determining detour routes in order to minimize the impacts) and most people are easily frustrated when dealing with construction and any inconvenience in their daily routine.

At this point, it seems like we are mostly treading water (financially), and I don't see that changing anytime soon, unless we standardize hovercars/flying vehicles in my lifetime, which would require an entirely different infrastructure.

 

No doubt those two idiots were going at it for awhile before this happened. Thank god no DOT workers were clipped due to the assholes playing . The Taco driver probably is a member on this forum.

 

You forget about these contractors bid and usually the ones that are connected politically are awarded the job. Im sure we (as citizens) arnt getting fair market value for this work.

 

Yeah…. Been there too.. I guy here in Miami decided to pull a gun on me.. didn’t have dash cam at the moment…

I was minding my own business, guy cut me off, I yelled at him and he pulled the gun on me… worst thing was my reaction, I got so mad that I continued to yell the guy. (Always from inside my car)

after that incident, decided to buy a dash cam, and chill on the road… if someone gets crazy on me I would have proof and I will go to police…

 

It would seem that camera vehicle was not letting the Tacoma merge over, until the very last minute (leading to the very late merge). The Tacoma very obviously then excelerated to get in front of the camera vehicle to cut them off and brake check them. D-bag vs d-bag.

 

Not enough info here. Both drivers were looking for trouble until there's proof otherwise.

 

Definitely not debating that, just throwing out what I think is the most likely explanation; doesn't mean it was the right thing to do by either driver, I think both made dumb mistakes. But again, I think most likely scenarios are:
1. both were being D-bags, or
2. Tacoma driver distracted, frantically trying to catch his exit, had no idea the car was there (bc distracted- probably staring at phone maps/texting/being stupid), never really checked mirrors, and realized a little too late into that 2nd lane change that he was running someone out of their lane, freaking out, and ultimately leading to the camera car overcorrection into the workers.

Both scenarios end badly either way. Hard to say what truly happened without both sides of the story, and we can only guess. But we can still conclude they were both making some dumb decisions.

 

People forget that “driving “ is a privilege, not a right. We have 50 states that need to get these asshole drivers off the streets. Bring on the cameras, monitors, microchips, ticketing by mail.

 

Not really. Public work follows a procurement process. It's actually the opposite problem. Jobs are awarded to the lowest bidder, which doesn't mean the most competent.

I work in construction and I wish I could use connections to get work. Low $$$ talks.

 

Based on what's shown in this video, it looks to me like the Taco assumed the cam car would move over and make room, and when they didn't the Taco driver got mad. Whether the cam car did something before the video, or was altering their speed to block the Taco is not shown, shouldn't be assumed, and IMO is irrelevant. The video shows the Taco in the wrong. The cam car definitely could have reacted better, but the Taco is totally at fault based on the video IMHO.

One of the most frustrating things I see on a near daily basis is that people who are merging onto the highway seem to think that they have the right of way and that traffic already on the highway needs to yield to them to let them in. If someone is merging onto the highway and I have room to move over to let them in, I do because it's the decent thing to do. That doesn't mean I HAVE to, and it shouldn't be assumed that I will. Generally, if I can't get over because the left lane is occupied, then I maintain my speed, following distance, and lane position. It is the responsibility of the vehicle merging onto the highway to adjust their speed to safely merge, not the traffic already on the highway. So many drivers don't seem to understand that, and then get mad at other people when they don't yield to them.

 

Yeah, we always go low bid, which isn't always ideal, but it's certainly not a selection process that picks and chooses based on politics, especially when there are federal funds involved. The only "fix" that is in is when one contractor has a monopoly in a region (because they are the largest, and over time bought out all of the competition, and therefore can afford to be the low bidder consistently) to the point where they might be the only bidder for numerous jobs. However, those contractors are usually great to work with, because they understand a positive working relationship will continue to get them work. And like I said, material cost is 70-80% of the total project costs, and those are fairly stable over time, barring any material shortages.

 

I work for an architecture firm but we dont do state or gov work. My father did and he personally saw kick backs to certain people and hiring based on the "good ole boys club" so it does exist , its no myth. He actually became very unpopular with a few architects and contractors when he implemented merit based project selection to the State.

 

Oh I'm sure it does exist, but it's against procurement rules. And when it does happen, it often gets rooted out by unhappy contractors and vendors. That's how the former director of AUS airport lost her job:
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/aus...-interest-with-previous-employer-report-says/

 

This.

 

That mentality is something I don't understand, just because you use your turn light doesn't mean you have the right to swerve into someone else lane. The one in the lane you want to get into has the right off way and just because you use the turn light doesnt give you the right to cut someone else off. The same is true on onramps...again just because you are using the blinker on the on ramp doesnt mean i have to get in the passing lane or break for you, I just do it out of courtesy when i safely can do so, otherwise you have to accelerate to synchronize your speed with the going traffic or break to get into the open spot. Another name for onramps is also acceleration lane for a reason.

In regards of the video I think what happened is that the guy in the Tacoma realized too late that he was in the wrong lane and was using his blinker to merge and expect everyone else to go out of his way.
The guy with the camera then maybe didnt see the blinker or just didnt want to brake for someone elses wrong doing, when the guy in the wrong lane could have just braked to get in.
The Tacoma guy then wrongfully just merged and cutting the other one off, while thinking he is absolutely in the right.
The guy with the camera probably honked and then get brake checked from the guy with the small ego.

 

Na, we’re just near the end

 

Taco driver crossed solid lines so he missed the merge. It’s the merging driver’s responsibility to slow to merge in most states (can’t confirm Cali law). In Missouri driver who has the lane bears no responsibility in this situation.

 

It’s the same here in Ca. While it’s both courteous and a good idea to make room for merging traffic it’s not required. The video had the look of an ongoing hissy fit that demonstrated why driving defensively is a good idea. Right of way isn’t something you can force the issue on without consequences. Paying attention and driving to avoid possible situations can prevent a lot of last second drama.