How To Drive On Kings Highway, New Bedford 101

Alright, class... pencils out, eyes forward, the focus is at full attention.

Welcome to the Lesson 1 of the New Bedford rules of the road. Now, I don't normally speak my mind about this kind of stuff and usually keep to myself. However, an incident occurred on the afternoon of March 12th, 2018 that really ground my Chourico (and it wasn't the first time this has happened either).

If you are traveling north in New Bedford on Rt. 140 from Buttonwood Park to King's Highway, you would normally take exit 4. If you go right off the ramp, you're heading south on King's highway towards D' Angelos, but if you go left, you're heading towards the main King's Plaza entrance/intersection (McDonald's, Mad Rags, etc.), eventually heading onto Tarkiln Hill Rd. That's the direction that I encountered a simple yet complicated problem.

If you are at these lights seen below, you'll notice that there are two lanes:

The right lane pictured above allows you to either travel straight through the lights (once it turns green and is safe to continue forward) or you can take a right into King's Plaza. That's not the lane I have a problem with... it's the left lane.

If you are in that left lane (pictured above), you may also either continue to travel straight through the lights (again, once it is safe) or you can take a left into the Stop & Shop parking lot ONCE the green arrow is illuminated on the traffic light. Now, here's where the panic, confusion and traffic clustering begins.

Both the left and right lanes pictured above continue straight and eventually merge together.... yes, MERGE. No lane has the right away or a yield, it's a simple common sense/etiquette rule of the road. Yes, there's always going to be that one person who claims they were in front first, but for the love of the DOT people... BOTH lanes are acceptable to travel northbound until King's Highway turns into Tarkiln hill road.

So to the person who told me to get the *Insert Expletive Here* out of his way, because I apparently never got the memo that he was, in fact, the "king of the road", I hope you're reading this and realizing that no matter which lane you're in, both are acceptable for travel  until merging.

Alright, pencils down, that's all the time we have for today on the rules of road engagement when traveling in and throughout the Beautiful city of New Bedford. Afterall, no one's perfect when it comes to driving... but knowledge is power.

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