Yhea, I was unclear/ambiguous. If traffic is moving, as you mention you should merge at your convenience. Stomping on it to get ahead in the lane that's going away is bad form (that MNDOT page does mention the "merge early" exception if traffic is moving at speed).
I know according to Bloomberg we don't have any paved roads down here, but I see the lack of brain use every day here in Colorado Springs when I get on the I25 southbound on-ramp at Woodmen. It narrows to one lane a concrete wall and a guard rail just before the freeway. About 50% of the time when it's at 1.5 lanes wide someone will shoot past me, get their nose a half an inch in front of me and expect me to yield. Which I typically do. It may be encouraging bad behavior, but it's better than a trip to the body shop and finger pointing when the police arrive.
O2







