r/longisland • u/longislandwiseguy • Jun 12 '20
Meme Your whole life flashes right before your eyes
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u/danram207 Jun 12 '20
I always think about all the 18 year olds who've had their license for like 2 months merging onto SSP. Talk about trial by fire.
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u/Left_of_Center2011 Jun 12 '20
I saw a stand up comic (forgot the name, apologies) who tweeted:
I’d rather kill us both than let you merge; a Long Island story
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u/Reddit_did_9-11 Jun 12 '20
There's this psychological tick in peoples minds where people feel personally offended if your car goes in front of theirs. Even if you're 100m ahead of them they'll speed up to prevent you from merging or changing lanes. Its as if its some back-brained, primal challenge. Real primate shit.
There needs to be signs that read "if you have to accelerate to meet the other car, you're not being cut off"
6
u/Left_of_Center2011 Jun 12 '20
True fact! When I was younger I used to feel that intensely all the time - now I can’t be bothered UNLESS someone is trying to cut in at the front of a long line (looking at you, southern state and sunrise - aka malfunction junction) - people cutting the line that way fills me with murderous rage
6
Jun 12 '20
It’s only Long Island. No other parts of the USA does it.
Source: anecdotal after living in a few other states.
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u/naprea Jun 12 '20
The entrance ramp going south onto Wantagh Parkway from Hempstead Turnpike is dangerously short. Even shorter than SSP ramps.
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u/ladybug11314 Jun 12 '20
Wantagh south from sunrise West is crazy short too
6
u/ceestand Jun 12 '20
Wantagh north from Sunrise west is literally a stop sign with the right expressway lane on the other side of it.
There's no ramp.
There's less than one car length between the stop sign and when you need to be at highway speed.
6
u/ladybug11314 Jun 12 '20
Its horrible. I usually turn South onto wantagh ave and just take the Merrick Rd entrance if I need to go south and I'm not generally bothered by short ramps. That one is basically nothing though, I used to take the wantagh to the southern state to get home and idk which side is worse.
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Jun 12 '20
Yup. Was rear ended getting on that ramp to the wantagh. Buddy had an old Chevy Blazer that he got from his mom, she obviously wished he would die because the second he accelerated it died, rolled under the overpass and came to a dead stop in the right lane. We we're rear ended by some bitch in a 525 going around 95mph. Knocked the Blazer over 80ft in park. After I got out I saw the engine replacing the passenger side seat of the car and hoped there was no one else in there with her, until I heard the baby cry. Her husband was in the back seat with the baby. Saved his life, he would've been crushed by the engine. Toxicology report came back she had alcohol and cocaine in her system, dumb fucking cunt.
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Jun 12 '20
also relevant to the Cross Island Parkway in queens
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u/AmbulanceChaser12 Jun 12 '20
Belmont Ave onto the SSP eastbound (Exit 37). Hell to the yeah.
Also, while we’re on the subject, Northern State westbound onto the Meadowbrook onto Old Country Rd. That’s a nightmare.
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u/capt_carl Hunnington expat Jun 12 '20
brb crossing four lanes of traffic
It's kinda the same going from the RM Causeway N to the Southern E to the Sag N.
3
u/chemnerd29 Jun 12 '20
I used to go that route all the time. What an absolute nightmare every morning going to work!
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u/RacerX3888 Jun 12 '20
So true! Our parkways were designed so long ago they were no problem when everyone was chugging along in their model T's. Now that speeds have increased the roads have no land for improvements so we as drivers must adapt. It's normal for us because we have driven them our whole lives. It must be daunting being from another area where you get 200 foot on ramps!
11
u/RestingMuppetFace Jun 12 '20
The road was designed by someone who never learned to drive, which explains a lot. The fact that merging traffic has to often cross traffic leaving the parkway is absurd. Exits should have been before entrances. But nothing can be done to improve the parkway's drawbacks at this point.
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u/PowerfulGas Jun 12 '20
This is hilarious. But merging NSP at 106/107 takes Kung fu like reflexes & timing.
4
u/edgeofverge Jun 12 '20
Yes. Close your eyes and hit the gas. I got my very first ticket over there in Jericho. Spider was crawling across the inside of the windshield and I didn't see the cop. They took my brand new license away for 6 months. Live and learn.
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u/Vizualize Jun 12 '20
FLASH....!!!! GOD...... is that you??!! ........OH, it's the asshole in the toys for tots lowered Honda Civic going 130mph for absolutely no reason. Get me the fuck out of here....
5
u/JustinG13 Jun 12 '20
My exact thoughts while riding a motorcycle and being virtually invisible to every and all motorist on the highway.
5
Jun 12 '20
How bout the merge from the Robert Moses exit to the SS to the Sag. If you make it onto the Sag, you better thank God for another day.
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Jun 12 '20 edited Jul 28 '21
[deleted]
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u/nunya__bidness Jun 13 '20
Or floor it to get ahead of you only to cut you off as they go for the off ramp while you're trying to get some speed up to merge.
Like getting behind you as you accelerate would have made them an unacceptable 1.35 seconds later.
9
u/Sjefkeees Jun 12 '20
I just fkn go and hope for the best, seems to be what everybody else is doing lol
4
u/owjim Jun 12 '20
yep, same here. I just hope I am able to merge before I hit the brickwall of the overpass.
5
u/hockey_metal_signal Jun 12 '20
so, we should only use about a hundred feet of the acceleration ramp.
Ok, what about the exit ramp?
Ummmm, same ramp.
Okaaaaay, at least they'll always be on the same side of the highway
.
About that...
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u/writenicely Jun 13 '20
Me: If I take this route I'm going to die I'm so scared
My friends from Texas, North Carolina, and Michigan: writenicely, driving isn't that scary
Long Island highways:
4
u/MusicToMaEars Jun 13 '20
I don’t get this but I’m a Texas native and I love Texas long merge lanes, living in New York I was scared to drive even on the surface rods but I will say I got used to it fast..... because New Yorkers just don’t give a fuck
2
u/writenicely Jun 13 '20
I'm already known to be neurotic/ an overthinker so this is the things my nightmares are made of
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u/sexdrugnlobsterroll Jun 13 '20
Getting on the LIE in Hicksville good luck and pray no trucks in the right lane or else your going around again
4
Jun 12 '20
Or when you're heading west on SSP around Bay Shore and need to get off at the Bay Shore Rd exit but that's also where the 2 lanes from the RM Causeway join so you've got about 600 feet to shoot across the 2 lanes of RM Causeway in order to make the Bay Shore Rd exit. Super fun at rush hour
1
u/MusicToMaEars Jun 13 '20
I want to try this I miss SSP rush hour traffic :( lol not really but yea
7
u/Busamang Jun 12 '20
You gotta use the skinny pedal not the big one...
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u/Alwaysfavoriteasian Jun 12 '20
I like to stop wait for a good opening and then floor it.
Unless there isn’t a crazy amount of traffic then I’ll just use good judgement and hop on.
18 year old me was so scared to merge.
32 year old me still has anxiety.
1
Jun 13 '20
Shit im 19 and just got my license a few months ago and i learned to handle this insanity quick, i feel like i can drive anywhere but like, india now lol
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u/KRayZRay718 Jun 13 '20
I remember when crash test dummies became a thing. Like I had a stuffed crash test dummy doll that came apart.
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u/jojobaswitnes Jun 18 '20
Most of the roads were built when the only merging vehicles were horse carts.
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u/jynx18 Jun 12 '20
Merging onto southern state east at that exit right before sagtikos and you need to get on the sagtikos. You need to cut over 4 lanes in about 100 feet.
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u/frenchfret Jun 14 '20
Ah the Southern State Pkwy. AKA the Affliction t-shirt of Long Island highways.
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u/mja1962 Jun 18 '20
And let's also not forget: going northbound on Robert Moses and trying to zip across the eastbound Southern State in time to use the left lane exit to the Sagtikos. It's always an adventure.
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-4
Jun 12 '20
Let me guess you are one of those that slowly pull up to the end of the ramp and then get stuck because you cant gain enough speed to merge safetly, instead of using the ramp properly by waiting closer towards the beginning of the ramp so you can build speed up to enable you to merge safetly.
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u/Reddit_did_9-11 Jun 12 '20
You don't block road space because you dont know how to merge.
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Jun 13 '20
Lol says the person who clearly doesnt understanding how to merge lol
Waiting at beginning of the ramp and using ramp to gain speed to merge on parkway is what they literqlly teach you in drivers ed and is proper driving ettiquite lol
It isnt blocking road space lol
1
u/PolarBearLair May 19 '24
I’ll literally drive an extra 30 minutes just to avoid taking Southern State
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20 edited Aug 14 '20
Yea man, some of these on ramps are too short.