How to Merge on the Highway Safely and Smoothly - example in 2006 Lexus LS430

A short video to illustrate how to safely and smoothly merge onto the highway. Please always try to avoid stopping on the on-ramp, never back up, if you missed your exist, simply drive to the next exist and loop around. Much safer for you and everyone else involve. Stay safe out there!

[@imrulkayes4623]

Thanks for the advice. It's really important not to rush while driving.

[@thecarchak]

Absolutely!

[@bekuta7223]

Drove on highway for the first time since getting my license 5 years ago. Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be

[@thecarchak]

Nice!!! Make sure you keep the rubber side down.

[@SL-pg4dh]

The curve is the only difficult part, and night driving

[@dmvrell301]

Thanks I tried it today for the first time. I was freaking out before but it’s not bad at all being on the highway.

[@thecarchak]

That's awesome to hear! My grandfather used to tell me that it's like the game of Tetris (love that game!) - we're all moving pieces and we're just trying to find the best possible place to fit into the scenery without impeding the flow of traffic. Be safe my friend.

[@EdPMur]

No mention of checking the blind spot before merging? It’s super important

[@thecarchak]

I didn't?!?! Should be automatic by now since I've been saying to kids for the past 10 years. Mirror, shoulder(this is me saying to check blindspot), and just follow the white line.

[@Zephyrdaze1819]

Yea. Saw no mention of checking blind spot. You can still have someone come from the left / middle lane (into the right lane) as you are merging. Seen it hundreds of times. SO you must turn your HEAD and look. Do not rely on blind spot monitoring to do your job. And for heavens sake don't say ANYTHING is intuitive with a driving student. They need to be told everything.

[@greatjuankenobi217]

Great explanation

[@thecarchak]

Thank you for watching!

[@juicybouche]

Boston accent heavy lol love it

[@Haquize]

He needs to voice act. I’m from Boston too and instantly felt like I knew him lol

[@dominantproductions8973]

"You don't really want or need to pass anyone here. We're all trying to get up to speed, here."
Lmao. But in the real world, especially here in the South, everyone is NOT trying to get up to speed. They're dawdling down the on ramps at half of the speed of traffic, and they consistently merge into 70+ mph traffic, at 43mph, in front of 18 wheelers that have to jack their brakes to avoid killing these idiots, and the poor people stuck behind them lol.
I pass these people almost daily on the ramps, with or without that second lane, because they've almost killed me like that more times than I can count.

[@Zell8158]

Thank u but this won’t prepare a city girl lol shit is HECTIC

[@mssn3166]

Can you do like multiple merging videos if you merging? So we see different situations Thanks

[@thecarchak]

What do you mean by multiple merging? Merging multiple lanes (illegal in Massachusetts) or do you mean take a bunch of videos of various merging situation a driver might encounter and put it all in one video???

[@mssn3166]

@@thecarchak a bunch of merging situations in a video is what I meant, thank you!

[@thecarchak]

Will do. I'll make a compilation video 😎

[@donaldzuramp4404]

@@thecarchak like this particular highway is easy to merge since the line is not ending. Make or go to highway where the line will disappear after 300m or so where you will be forced to change lane. Changing lanes, how to use/check mirrors

[@hungkiet7535]

No lane end for merging?

[@M4rs_mason]

What about blind spots

[@thecarchak]

Definitely! That always look over the correct shoulder so that way you don’t miss anything in your blind spots. We have convex mirrors on all of our driving school cars and we still tell the kids to Make sure and look over their shoulders

[@JoseFernandez-wu8pj]

How many miles and what year is your LS430?

[@thecarchak]

124k at the moment. Rides like a dream still.

[@JoseFernandez-wu8pj]

@@thecarchak Daim man you are one lucky dude

[@thecarchak]

Thanks.

[@holycow3355]

Yeah nah, didn't really show exactly "How to Merge on the Highway Safely and Smoothly", a lot of talking though ???!!!

[@rosehinds8853]

🙏 😨 praying hi will get my 🚙 drivers L , does anyone no if NC test is hard? 😔 😃 🙏 thanks

[@thecarchak]

In Ma, they don't even take the kids on the highway. Practice, be confident, and take your time while performing the maneuvers (3 point turn, parallel parking, and such).

[@Mikey_The_Gearhead]

Your giving people bad advice. You don’t follow the white line until it makes you merge into the other lane because you’re out of space. You are obligated to merge when you have a safe opportunity giving the right of way to the people already on the highway. If you have people riding the white line to the right all the way until the lane ends they’ve lost that opportunity and now are forced to merge whether or not there is a car there or not

[@thecarchak]

Thanks for the comment but nowhere in the driver's manual does it state that you're obligated. I'm going to get esoteric on you but you're only obligated to die in this physical plane of existence but let's get back to your comment.
You don't follow the white line until it MAKES you merge, you simply utilize it to your advantage while merging into oncoming traffic where you do not have the right of way. Most interstate on-ramps are designed specifically, to provide a conducive environment to assist motorist to safely and efficiently merge onto the highway system. Most on-ramps are now constructed to be approximately a quarter of a mile long for that reason (~1250 feet).
There's absolutely no benefit to you or motorist already on the highway to immediately merge. Keep in mind, we're talking about teenage drivers with minimal experience so what we strive to do is create an environment for them to thrive while remaining safe in a what seems to be a daunting task.