While Minnesota has a lot going for it, when it comes to drivers, no other states has more idiots. I’ve driven through a lot of states in this country. I’ve driven in a couple places in Europe, including on the Autobahn. Nowhere are drivers as stupid as in this state.
Take those pesky double white lines. Drivers in Minnesota seem to believe that they need to merge onto the highway within 100 feet of the entrance ramp. Stopping, slowing down, disrupting traffic, it’s all okay to make sure you move over immediately, despite that half-mile long merge lane. Unsurprisingly, this is bad for traffic flow. So MnDOT decided to put double white stripes at a particularly bad location for this idiocy, the merge from 35W north onto westbound 94 before the Hennepin/Lyndale exit.
Seeing as how there is almost a mile between the entrance ramp and the exit, there is no need to either immediately move from ramp over to the left, or move from the left over to the lane that will soon exit. But do drivers obey the lane markings and multiple signs telling them not to? Of course not. They still try to make that merge within 10 yards, slowing down traffic for everybody. All my honking at these idiots does nothing.
Budget deficit? Please. New Vikings stadium? Piece of cake. All the state needs to do to raise as much money as it needs is put a state trooper at that ramp and ticket every moron who breaks the law by crossing over that double white line. You’d get one ever few second during rush hour. It’s a no-brainer, much like most Minnesota drivers.