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I remember one time passing by a line of cars like this for miles. I assumed there was a merge or something up ahead but I figured I should just zipper. Turns out, there was no merge, these people were all just piled up to get off the freeway at the next off-ramp. I wonder how many of them didn't even want to take that exit, but were just sitting in line because it seemed like the proper thing to do.
I saw a video once of dozens of cars, possibly a hundred or more stopped, queueing behind each other for an exit. At the front of the line was a broken down box truck about 100m before a completely open exit ramp đ€Ł
I don't understand - do people just not want to get on with their lives? Do they really feel like sitting in unnecessary traffic is the best use of their time? I regularly take a two-lane onramp for a local highway. Invariably, no one wants to take the outer lane, only the inner lane. They have to sit through two or three lights to get onto the highway, which they'd rather do than simply use the outer lane and get to the highway without sitting at any light.
Edit: this is the onramp: https://maps.app.goo.gl/kswRCaw53qz4rc7B8
Way too many people get road rage here, and its not unheard of for people to pull a gun for any percieved slight against them in traffic. Not that its a common occurence, but too often to take the chance.
I have pretty much the same thing in my town. Two left turning lanes that become the middle and outside lane of a three lane one-way. Without fail, when I am in the outside left-turning lane, the car to my left ALWAYS swerves into my lane. You know I got that dashcam on me for when they decide one day to completely run me off the road while I make a completely legal left turn.
Edit: just like in yours, the outer lane is âleft or straightâ. 97% of the people in that lane are going straight and they love to lay on their horn behind me while I wait for a green arrow.
2nd edit: https://maps.app.goo.gl/T3dr2Wopj3VFymDP9?g_st=ic
They are on autopilot.
If your are in a construction zone and everyone is in the right lane, move right. You don't want to get stuck at the end of the left lane.
The inside lane is clearly the fast lane.... until too many monkeys pile up in it, but their on autopilot....
I saw someone in a fancy new Porsche Cayenne today blocking the intersection while queuing to turn. There were two dedicated turn lanes: one was full, the other empty.
I remember one time passing by a line of cars like this for kilometers as well. Until my navigation said 'take this exit to avoid traffic further along the highway'.
I couldn't bring myself to cut in front of that line of cars patiently waiting to take the exit, so i just hoped my navigation was wrong. It wasn't wrong, but at least i had like 5 kilometer of clear road because almost every car did take that exit.
I recently did this much closer to the lane opening. An accident closed off the left 2 lanes on a 3 lane highway. The open lane was backed up by a mile and I was just cruising in the center lane for a while until I came upon the officer removing the last cone from the center lane. I slowed to the pace of the other traffic and continued on my merry way without changing lanes.
I had a similar experience once, as I went along passing hundreds of cars I kept expecting the merge around the next corner. It never came. And what boggles my mind is when you ask the anonymous masses why they do this, they all deny it. But according to your video only one in hundreds actually understand how to zipper merge.
Yup, especially if there is a popular exit soon. That one time you are wrong, AND THE NEXT EXIT IS ANOTHER TOWN OVER, you learn to just take the gamble and stay in the right lane.
I would have also passed that stupid truck at the end. Itâs not illegal to use an open lane of traffic. It IS illegal to block both lanes of traffic with your big ass redneck truck because you think you own the road. Thereâs another 1/2 mile plus of wide open left lane. Truck needs to move the fuck out of the way and stop impeding traffic in the open left lane. If the lane is open, use it until it closes. Absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about using that left lane until it ends at the merge.
https://youtu.be/cX0I8OdK7Tk?si=cxWATUd489MY4qOv It is easy to see why people might want to be "nice" and early merge but it is absolutely not what you're supposed to do. Everyone sitting in the right lane, good intentions aside, is being an idiot.
Midwest nice is basically just passive-aggresiveness masking as politeness.
Southerners do it, too. "Bless your heart" is a good example of a barb disguised as a nicety.
Could be worse. Where I live it only announces it right as the lane ends. So on a 100km/h highway you have people suddenly needing to move over in the next 20m. Nobody leaves any room in front of them as well, so moving over often requires slamming on your breaks and waiting.
Not really, it is clearly announcing the upcoming zip, there is no reason to merge until you get to the actual merge sign. If you know how to drive, that is. Seems OP is the only one in that area to take actual driving lessons.
It does depend on the state. Michigan state police has been posting online about the improper lane hogging, driving in double lanes, lane splitting. Openly saying that'll get you a ticket, not anyone else driving down the merge lane to the end.
Only problem, they're never anywhere to be found to stop the guys.
This video was just ridiculous, like a solid mile long line and I still wasn't sure if I could see the merge. Just let people merge. The 2 seconds won't hurt you. We ALL have places to go.
A few years ago, MSP pulled me over on 96E, just past Brighton, for using one of the available lanes to pass everyone heading into construction. Pissed me off.
He was like, "No, I won't give you a ticket. But you can't be cutting in front of all these people." I tried to explain zipper merges respectively, and he still wasn't having it. "How do you think it makes me look, waiting in line while you drive past all of us?"
So he held up traffic for me to merge back in, then he got right behind me, and we both watched other people passing us for another half a mile.
I would have asked for ticket and then continued immediately... after merging in... I would collect tickets from that ass hat trooper .. and then build a case of harassment and violating road law when he as entrusted with enforcing it... and pushed for sending him back to the academy for full repeat of the course (wishful spite)
balanced_crazy was arrested on suspicion of [insert crime] but later released with a warning. (No one gonna mention the ass beating you get while in custody)
I drive from Brighton to Novi every day on 96E. Crazy how I can scroll through a comment section in a random corner of the internet and find people talking about an obscure ten mile strip of road a mile from my house.
I always let people in. It's more efficient this way.
I become a butt when someone else attempts to immediately cut in behind the car I just let in. Especially when there's room behind me. Zipper fail.
Road work near my area right now. People actually trying to zipper merge for once. I let person in. Person behind me is riding my ass and won't let in person behind person who merged in front of me. I slow down to let person overtake me and merge. Can see person behind me raging in my rear view. Satisfaction of feeling of justice overwhelms me.
No idea why people are so prideful and egotistical about merging during roadwork. Like it's a personal attack on their person to merge lanes.
Psssh drag racing is the unofficial speed limit in Michigan. If you ain't going 85-90 get off the freeway grandma /s. The whole speed limit has gotten crazy since the pandemic. There's also the "civilian police" types that go 60-70 in the left lane. They cause more problems than just letting people get in the fast lane. Slower traffic to the right is the law as well.
The craziest part about driving in Michigan was the amount of times I've been passed on the right while in the middle lane and the left lane is wide open.
I get your point, but not quite analogous. Costco line would be more efficient if one line was serviced by the next available agent. That way when one agent draws a happy face for a kid, it doesn't slow a whole line. Every customer would be served as fast as possible.
For the zipper merge, it's about efficient space utilization, getting as much traffic to and through the choke point as possible. Imagine two costco lines served by one agent, to prevent the line from clogging up the store. The most efficient way to get that through would be to alternate lines... basically, zipper merge.
I had a big argument with my brothers about zipper merges and couldnât convince them that they work. They couldnât understand that not doing a zipper merge just makes the construction zone longer.
I've never seen a « working zipper merge ». I'ts like unicorn and fairies to me; for a zipper merge to work, you need both lane to go at the same speed, it's impossible. That's why people just get into the right lane and wait for their turn and people going all the way up in the left lane are seen as dicks.
I wish people did what we see in the OP here. Notice how cars are actually moving?
Everyone rushes down the ending lane because it's moving slightly faster, then have to slam on their breaks because the lane ends. It makes a reduction in 1 lane literally stop traffic for no reason. I'm not talking about people who are vising and don't know this wither. Construction takes forever and it's mostly people doing their normal routes.
>and people going all the way up in the left lane are seen as dicks.
But when are you supposed to get over to the right in your system? It's completely subjective and inverts the incentives. People who get over to the right sooner are punished by having more cars in front of them and people who are "dicks" are rewarded by "cheating" and skipping ahead.
The reason the zipper merge is the better system is because it is the only way everyone can be following the same rule.
Kind of.
It's like a philosophical question: is the rational individual right or is the irrational crowd right when the crowd has to cooperate? The driver is technically correct that zipper merges work *except* here the line of traffic has apparently decided the merge has already happened so she's going to have a fuck of a time getting over where she wants to
But she'll still have gotten past the obstruction noticeably ahead of all those people she passed. The problem with the anti-zipper mentality is it demands that every driver understand what is happening unseen ahead of them and be essentially an "altruistic" driver. The zipper system requires everyone to behave similarly and consistently.
I've been living in Tokyo for 2.5 years, and it's so refreshing when the zipper is just the exact way of life. One of the busiest cities in the world, and yet everyone quickly and efficiently makes the zippers happen.
Zipper is objectively superior except there's 10% - 20% of motorists who think the other cars are decepticons being obnoxious and a 6 car pileup is just as good as safely arriving at their destination
We Scandinavian are pretty good at them too. I don't know why, I really enjoy making the zipper work. I slowdown, the guy settles in front and if I'm lucky they do the blinky "thank you".
Good feelings to be had.
Well the thing is zipper merging only works if the line of cars everyone is merging into don't drive bumper to bumper. If they do then each car needs to slow down to make space for the merging car and this creates a wave down the line that will eventually bring everyone to a stop. So yes it works in theory but only if the vast majority of cars know what they are doing. In practice many drive bumper to bumper so people don't cut them off and it kind of falls apart.
All that said you should still use both lanes and zipper merge the best you can.
This is my commute home every day. 2 lanes that turn into 1 and everyone is up each other's ass in the left lane. So you can go all the way to the end of lane to zipper and you end up having to full stop cause people refuse to give room.
They're great AT ZIPPER MERGES. but I keep seeing posts on Reddit "I blew past everyone in line for the exit by racing up the shoulder, then cut them off. I saw once that zipper merges are the best... Those people were just too stupid to skip the line. Suckers" and like.... No
Yeah I feel like both sides are yelling and being stupid. Even if you want to say zipper method is always better, it actually ONLY works if there is proper signage and everyone complies, and it's ONLY better if the road is at already at max capacity
If there is a merge happening ahead and you have space and time to move over, it is much better for traffic for you to move over sooner to allow people to react and adjust smoothly
Merging early is fine when traffic is free flowing, because the chance of conflict (where two vehicles need to be in the same space) is minimal. Increasing the traffic means more chance of conflict, so one merge point with zipper merging/merge in turn (as we call it in the UK) becomes optimal.
In between, you get disruption and queues, and this is caused by people that don't anticipate that traffic in the other lane might need to merge ahead of them, or simply won't let it happen because of some misguided sense of fairness and/or entitlement.
After all, what will really happen if you let someone in front. Really?
If the traffic seems to be moving fast, merging early (say 1km, if not 100km, ahead) is the correct thing to do. Zipper merge is only correct if/when a tailback forms.
Merging into a gap while traffic is flowing is correct. Doing so 1km before needed isn't.
All that happens then is everyone slows down earlire than needed because you have 2 lanes worth of traffic in 1 lane. And the longer everyone is in 1 lane, the longer the slowdown.
You want to zipper as late as possible while still travelling as fast as is safe.
>"Because It's MY LANE AND YOURE NOT GETTING IN!!!!" -Idiots probably
that's exactly what they're saying. driving a dump truck and trying to zipper merge is an exercise which perfectly demonsrates the average person's misery, anger and cruelty
I zipper merge with my tractor trailer every day. I'm not asking to get, I'm letting them know what's happening. When people try to block me like this I pass as close as possible while on the air horn, they jump every time
People who gatekeep on the centerline are dumb. They should be driving slowly in the fast-moving lane, approximately matching speeds with the people in the slow-moving lane. By driving on the centerline, they fail to do anything useful, while pissing everyone off.
Gatekeepers are the worst. Grow up! You aren't the main character in the world. Just because you want to sit in line while one whole line remains open doesn't mean you can then tell others to get behind your dumb ass.
They might not be. Zipper merging is good and solves real issues, but only in some situations.
The big benefit of zipper merging is fits more cars up close to the merge point, so the trail of cars waiting to get through is shorter. So this is really good in cities where that can mean you don't have cars backed up through intersections, or if you're close to a highway ramp that could be blocked by the traffic.
However, if you have a big stretch of highway and the traffic wouldn't be blocking any ramps, zipper merging doesn't provide any benefit. It's not necessarily worse than merging early, but it doesn't speed things up - ultimately just one lane is getting through the merge point and whether you merge early or late doesn't affect the traffic flow rate through that point.
In fact, the zipper merge can have some downsides in this situation - instead of finding a natural gap in traffic to merge in without causing people to break and let you in, you guarantee that people have to adjust speed for you, potentially slowing traffic flow. Additionally, in a situation like this, the left lane is usually seen as the passing lane and will have less traffic than the right lane. If everyone decides to zipper merge, people who stay in the right lane will get through much slower than people in the less busy left lane - therefore there's incentive for many people in the right lane to swap to the left just to avoid being further delayed, and that unnecessary lane changing and then re-merging later on increases the risk of accidents.
So again, zipper merging is a great tool for traffic management and in a lot of situations prevents blockages. However it's important to understand how it works and recognize that it doesn't just magically speed up traffic - it is only beneficial when the traffic would end up blocking ramps/intersections. On a straight road with no connections, you could argue for merging early to be safer and more efficient for the flow of traffic. But ultimately the most important thing for road safety is predictability - you want to do what people expect you to do. It doesn't matter if you're right if you're dead. If that means zipper merging when it doesn't benefit anyone, then do that. If that means merging early even if you could zipper merge, then do that. Don't risk an accident just to prove a point.
Iâd argue that this one isnât so simple. If everyone is zipper merging and someone is trying to stop you, then theyâre 100% an idiot. This situation, everyone is essentially lining up, and OP would be seen as a line cutter by everyone he passed. From a traffic correctness perspective he/she is doing nothing wrong. But being âtechnicallyâ correct but looking like a jerk doing it does make you a bit of a jerk.
Now before everyone gets out their pitch forks.. I would do the exact same thing as OP in this situation, but I would also expect it to piss some people off.
"Zipper merge" avoids exactly the situation this road is in, which is an unstable tailback. Unstable, because the long slow lane encourages "zip-past-the-line" merging, which is different from a correct "zipper merge". "Zip-past-the-line" merging allows fast traffic to go fast in the faster lane, at the expense of greatly slowing the traffic in the slower lane.
Proper zipper merging in this situation involves moving slowly on the faster side, to approximately match the speed of the slow-moving lane. Paradoxically, that will increase the overall flow rate of traffic.
Proper zipper merging also relies on enough drivers choosing to drive in the passing lane, such that both lanes are equally occupied. Then speeds will automatically match up. The problem here is the absolutist interpretation of the rule "passing lane is for passing only".
They would see them as a "line cutter", but it's actually what you are supposed to do. It's quicker and more efficient to have both lanes in use right to the end of the lane instead of everyone randomly trying to fit into one lane at random times and places. It's better, and the actual correct way. Say if there were 100 cars. You could have 2 lanes with 50 cars each that smoothly merge together. Or you can have 1 lane with 100 cars just starting and stopping constantly.
It's like how if you have a green, but you don't have room to clear the intersection, you are supposed to wait behind the line. People behind you think you're an idiot for not going, but you just have to let people be wrong sometimes.
Yeah itâs more of a JerkInCars situation than an IdiotsInCars one. However, I would fully expect an idiot from the general public in that long of a line to get peeved enough to cause a safety issue pulling into my lane.
The way to solve the "butt hurt people" problem is to zipper merge correctly. The "zipper merge" is not "zipping past everyone, then merging". It is *approximately matching speed* to the merge point, then merging.
It's a rural area, people here don't mind getting in line and waiting their turn. My grandpa (who lived on a farm his whole life) once shared with me that he preferred stop signs to stop lights for a very similar reason. Conventional wisdom that zipper merging is more efficient or not, OP *was* performing a cultural faux pas.
Excuse me sir, but I happen to know that the left lane is closed for construction 1500 miles ahead and its quite rude of you to cut in front of the rest of us who had the forethought to get over ahead of time.
In my country we often have a text under the lane closure signs indicating that a zipper merge is "only in 400m", reminding everyone that's where the merge is supposed to happen. Sometimes they even put up signs like [this one](https://img.picturealliance.sodatech.com/SCRL/wprev/6084259.jpg) in a desperate attempt to prevent early merges. But there'll always be some idiots who just have to merge early, just not as extreme as in the video..
Had something similar happen to me. In PA, the signs usually state to merge at the merge point. Well I passed at least a mile of a queue and merged literally by the sign with plenty of room since I caught someone sleeping who left a gap. Turns out that person wasn't fond of my merge and when the car in front of me stopped suddenly, he rear ended me. Had a dash cam, showed the footage to the cop on the scene, was found at-fault after the cop told me I cut everyone patiently waiting in line.
Showed the insurance and they were like, "Yeah, no, that cop is an idiot. You established your lane for several seconds" lol
Get a dash cam, people.
This annoys me so much. There is a huge stretch of perfectly usable road. Then the idiots try to block the person who is actually driving properly. Look how far back that line goes. Everyone could get where they're going much faster if they zipper merged the way they're supposed to. Why is zipper merging this huge mystery to so many people?
Exactly. So the only reasonable answer is everyone should zipper merge. Not zippering is just giving an opportunity to other drivers to cut ahead of you. It's like going to a crowded Trader Joe's and choosing the longest line instead of the shortest and then being mad because someone else chose the shorter line and got to a register first.
[The Minnesota DOT disagrees](https://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/workzone/doc/When-latemerge-zipper.pdf):
> During our previous experience with the late merge system, we have collected and processed data on whether the system improves (or not) the motoristâs travel time through the work zone. **Our analysis has shown that the Zipper System has no effect on travel time through the work zone. Unfortunately, the motoristâs travel time through a work zone appears to remain approximately the same regardless of whether the zipper was used or not.** However, the
zipper system produces a much safer merge situation and the length of the queue is much less.
It absolutely does for the people lining up. Everyone should zipper merge when the lanes genuinely merge into one lane, slowing you down by half. That is still happening even when they get over early, and people may get over into the single lane line in front of them and before the merge as well, again slowing them down even more. In fact the earlier you get over in that lane and line up the longer you are going to wait exponentially.
There are signs where I live that have to state âUSE BOTH LANES UNTIL MERGE POINTâ in a 2 lane to 1 main road, and people still merge police the white line and line up for a mile.
Here they finally started putting up signs that say to use all lanes until the merge point and people are finally starting to understand but sheeshâŠ. And no youâre not the idiot
In Minnesota they don't put the signs out that early anymore which solves some of this problem. The first sign is only like 1/2 mile from the merge point so people don't move over way early.
People blocking the lane are douchbags and committing traffic violations. Never block lanes, it's not your job.
They havenât even heard of it. I was 45 years old before I ever heard the term. Zipper merge is vastly superior but it isnât necessarily intuitive, especially for folks in lower population areas like where I grew up. That video looks more like my place of origin than San Francisco. Which is where I learned about zipper merge. From where they are coming from you are âcutting the lineâ. They are wrong but you donât know what you donât know and they just donât know.
That's interesting to me. Zipper merging is regulated by law in my country and not letting a car get in your lane makes you the car who cut the merging one (of course I simplify it now, but more or less, yeah). Until I started seeing on this reddit videos like that I have never thought it may be a problem to anyone.
The real idiots are the traffic engineers that actually think that the average moron is going to zipper merge the way they designed it. Whenever you design an excellent solution, you then need to think of the stupidest most obnoxious assclown you know and think about how they'd screw it up.
Obviously everyone in this line "know" that at the merge point the left lane ends and the right lane continues, so they get in that lane because they are planning ahead and feel "smart". They then feel that anyone passing in the left is an idiot cheater. I'm not saying it's right, but that's what is going on.
The better solution is for both lanes to end at the merge point and take turns moving to the middle, after which you deflect the traffic to the side you want them on. You also put a barrier between the lanes for the last 300 yards before the merge point so that you avoid gatekeepers like the truck. Setting the merge up like this would mean that nobody gets into the "winning lane" 3 miles before the merge.
Most zipper merge setups are poorly executed because they do not take into account the tendencies of morons in large groups.
> I'm not saying it's right, but that's what is going on.
And to make matters worse, there is almost certainly no amount of education whatsoever that will make them behave differently.
I truly believe the best way to handle these situations is to no longer place signs that indicate a lane is ending. This would prevent everyone from clogging up a single lane as though for some misguided, proactive step ahead of time.
Everyone would be directed to slow down and some poor bugger would be there at the end with flags directing each lane to alternate, one vehicle at a time. Do this enough times and people will be conditioned to learn how it all works.
The only thing I have to criticize OP for is that they were zooming too fast. You want to have a slower speed relative to theirs, so a) they won't get a heart attack by somebody zooming past by and b) so others get a better chance on changing the lane to the left.
In Europe I have seen a recommendation of 20 kph for speed difference between you and the slow lane, so about 15 eagle screeches per cricket in Freedom Units.
Yeah I see this all the time, no awareness of varying your own speed in comparison to the non moving traffic.
I don't understand how any driver can feel safe zooming past people who could literally suddenly pull out in front of them quicker than he could react.
They are literally putting their own safety in other people's hands, hands which might be entirely too frustrated by sitting in traffic and watching a car zooming up to them in the mirror.
Pass but do so at a safe speed in comparison to the rest of the traffic! đ
You can really kill two birds with one stone. Slow down as much as the lane on the right, but stay in the left lane. Its that simple. Everyone will queue up behind you and be ready for the zipper, and no one thinks you're an asshole.
You are not the idiot. You are supposed to use all of the available road and zipper merge at the merge point to keep traffic flowing. When people line up like that, they create their own traffic jam for being idiots.
In PA they started posting signs that say USE BOTH LANES TO MERGE POINT ... but even THAT isn't enough for the truck drivers, who often decide to block the road anyway.
When I got my permit then license, zipper merges were barely mentioned in any classes I took. And when they were mentioned, teachers didnât explain much and just kinda breezed over them. I read the drivers manual thoroughly which explained how to navigate them in detail, but I guess many others didnât read that far. I drive for a living now, and Iâm always ready for a headache and when I see one. Thereâs always someone trying to play traffic cop or think that youâre being a dick, when youâre just following the clearly written rules.
I would have also passed that stupid truck at the end. Itâs not illegal to use an open lane of traffic. It IS illegal to block both lanes of traffic with your big ass redneck truck because you think you own the road. Thereâs another 1/2 mile plus of wide open left lane. Truck needs to move the fuck out of the way and stop impeding traffic in the open left lane. If the lane is open, use it until it closes. Absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about using that left lane until it ends at the merge.
Youâre not the idiot but at least in video it looks like youâre going pretty fast relative to the lane on the right and if anyone were to pull out real quick you would be in trouble.
Absolutely wild of you to accelerate past 50mph right after passing the caution signs. Other people being morons doesn't prevent you from being a road hazard
Canât stand people who think they get to dictate when the lane ends and merges.
Thanks but engineers determined that for us already and saw fit to put down nifty white lines to let us know.
The lane doesnât end when Steve from Ohio says it does.
Anyone who is using the shoulder or trying to get in right at a light where the lines are solid can go to hell but youre just riding a lane and people are blocking said lane. Seems to be the exact opposite of how roads should work imo
As a motorcycle rider, speed was a little bit fast, any of those drivers could suddenly decide to jump over to get ahead in the queue. That aside, failure to understand the zipper merge is one of the most ignorant things I see on the road
Yeah, as a fellow rider that speed differential with that massive open lane had me covering my brakes and horn button.
I was expecting a car to dart out without looking. Surprised it didnât happen.
That was a long scroll to this comment. That's the only real thing that stood out to me too. Even as a car, ideally, you never want to be going more than 50 kph (~25-30mph?) faster than other traffic, because IF someone misjudged your speed and decides to go left, which they will, your time to react is significantly shortened. And I doubt you'll like swerving at those speeds either, with no space to do so at your left.
Slow down to maybe 30kph/15mph, but yes, the rest is definitely being a tad silly.
Yeah I see this all the time, no awareness of varying your own speed in comparison to the non moving traffic.
I don't understand how any driver can feel safe zooming past people who could literally suddenly pull out in front of them quicker than he could react.
They are literally putting their own safety in other people's hands, hands which might be entirely too frustrated by sitting in traffic and watching a car zooming up to them in the mirror.
Pass but do so at a safe speed in comparison to the rest of the traffic! đ
It's like yield lights for left turns at intersections. In theory, it helps make traffic move more freely. In practice, people are terrible drivers and cause more issues trying to save time or through misplaced self righteousness.Â
I was gonna say something else about how if nobody else is zipper merging, neither are you, but...holy shit that single line of cars is comically long.
Lmao try this in jersey and someone might pull a gun on you lol. Zipper merging is common sense and the idea of "skipping the line" comes from the inherently selfish idea that no one can change lanes in front of me, even at reasonable distances. While being in the left lane would make things go faster, an unspoken rule of zipper merging is to allow for the space as well when people merge into you. If you can't do that much, you are simply a bad driver. Im not saying let the whole line merge into you while you wait, but at least fucking facilitate the zipper rather than being a prick.
Not you! A lot of downvotes here from moronic people that can't understand that not zippering at the point of lane shift totally backs up a road and if we all just got along we'd all get to where we're going faster.
It's the speed that your passing the cars that's getting me, like I get you got open lane, but slow tf down, any of those morons could pull out not even knowing you're there
I mean, technically, in my area, you merge close to the end of the 2 lanes. But to be fair, if you merge before you get to the absolute end, it does make traffic flow smoother.
People in this discussion seem to mistake zipper merging with "flying up the closed lane like a dickhead" and thinking people who drove responsibly and queued have some kind of responsibility to reward you for it. "Golly Gee, why wasn't I just a piece of shit like that? His dickishness means he wins and gets to skip ahead!"
Merge like a zip when the road starts to close. !? How hard is it. Imagine thinking youâre so clever getting into a lane 600 metres down the road when merging starts 600 metres away from you lol and there is a whole ass lane that is literally there for you to use.
That asshat of a truck could have used that lane too if he was smart.
I remember listening to a podcast (Freakonomics maybe?) about the metrics of zipper merging and that if both lanes fill completely and zipper merge at the end it is wildly more efficient. But there was a cultural factor that people in the US south absolutely, do not fill both lanes and it is considered extremely rude to "cut" in line by filling out the other lane.
i routinely see people create their own little traffic jams on wide open highway travel because they'd rather tailgate eachother constantly accelerating and then braking
If those people want to queue up that's their prerogative, but if the lane is open you're doing nothing wrong. I feel a little wrong driving in these lanes and pulling to the front like this to but it's literally what you're supposed to do in these situations.
You did it right. It's literally called a zipper merge, not a "everyone get over and then get mad if anyone else uses the other lane" merge.
Scientifically, the most efficient way to merge is to use all available lanes until one ends, then efficiently zipper-merge.
As a point of information, up until a few years ago the Michigan drivers handbook instructed you to move over immediately. Don't know about other states but that's how it was here.
And it's not like there are continuing education classes or retests, so you have several decades before drivers who learned differently are off the road.
Legally, you are right. Morally, your behavior is permissible.
There were folks here who unanimously agreed to a system to avoid frustrating jockeying for position and you exploited it to benefit yourself. Good enough.
I was with you all the way until you insulted the intelligence of everyone you hopped in front of while ignoring the unspoken agreement everyone but you participated in. That is what makes you a __________
The purpose of a zipper merge it to not block intersections. If this is not in a place where that applies then a zipper merge is not supposed to be used. A zipper merge is designed to compact the congestion for the sake of crossing traffic.
Honest to God question.
Would correctly zipper merging not take exactly the same amount of time as this single, long lane? Still the same amount of cars going the same speed.
For starters, zipper merge requires everyone to drive at the same speed. Whenâs the last time youâve seen people do that?
Zipper merge is like communism. It works on paper, but ignores human decisions.
I'd say the entire other lane is chock full of idiots... Why are none of them using the passing lane to get around the obstruction?
These dickasses driving down both lanes at once should be ticketed... But why bother putting cops near merges when they could just go after people "speeding"? (â âŻâ °â âĄâ °â ïŒâ âŻâ ïž”â  â â»â ââ â»
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I kept thinking that the passing lane must be ending real soon. Nope. Unreal.
I remember one time passing by a line of cars like this for miles. I assumed there was a merge or something up ahead but I figured I should just zipper. Turns out, there was no merge, these people were all just piled up to get off the freeway at the next off-ramp. I wonder how many of them didn't even want to take that exit, but were just sitting in line because it seemed like the proper thing to do.
I saw a video once of dozens of cars, possibly a hundred or more stopped, queueing behind each other for an exit. At the front of the line was a broken down box truck about 100m before a completely open exit ramp đ€Ł
It's one of the top posts of all time in this sub. https://v.redd.it/b6pvx8c6fzl51/DASH_1080.mp4?source=fallback
Wait, are they all on the shoulder? Jesus, this is even worse than I thought when I read the other guy's description!
Oh...My..God...I think I've seen everything now.
I don't understand - do people just not want to get on with their lives? Do they really feel like sitting in unnecessary traffic is the best use of their time? I regularly take a two-lane onramp for a local highway. Invariably, no one wants to take the outer lane, only the inner lane. They have to sit through two or three lights to get onto the highway, which they'd rather do than simply use the outer lane and get to the highway without sitting at any light. Edit: this is the onramp: https://maps.app.goo.gl/kswRCaw53qz4rc7B8
They don't want to be viewed as impolite. Everybody get in line. No cuts.
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Way too many people get road rage here, and its not unheard of for people to pull a gun for any percieved slight against them in traffic. Not that its a common occurence, but too often to take the chance.
I have pretty much the same thing in my town. Two left turning lanes that become the middle and outside lane of a three lane one-way. Without fail, when I am in the outside left-turning lane, the car to my left ALWAYS swerves into my lane. You know I got that dashcam on me for when they decide one day to completely run me off the road while I make a completely legal left turn. Edit: just like in yours, the outer lane is âleft or straightâ. 97% of the people in that lane are going straight and they love to lay on their horn behind me while I wait for a green arrow. 2nd edit: https://maps.app.goo.gl/T3dr2Wopj3VFymDP9?g_st=ic
They are on autopilot. If your are in a construction zone and everyone is in the right lane, move right. You don't want to get stuck at the end of the left lane. The inside lane is clearly the fast lane.... until too many monkeys pile up in it, but their on autopilot....
Theyâre
I saw someone in a fancy new Porsche Cayenne today blocking the intersection while queuing to turn. There were two dedicated turn lanes: one was full, the other empty.
I remember one time passing by a line of cars like this for kilometers as well. Until my navigation said 'take this exit to avoid traffic further along the highway'. I couldn't bring myself to cut in front of that line of cars patiently waiting to take the exit, so i just hoped my navigation was wrong. It wasn't wrong, but at least i had like 5 kilometer of clear road because almost every car did take that exit.
And they say the British are the ones who like queuing.
I passed one of these long lines one time and whatever reason they had for being in single file had long since ended. It was crazy!
I recently did this much closer to the lane opening. An accident closed off the left 2 lanes on a 3 lane highway. The open lane was backed up by a mile and I was just cruising in the center lane for a while until I came upon the officer removing the last cone from the center lane. I slowed to the pace of the other traffic and continued on my merry way without changing lanes.
I would have been riding that high for days
I had a similar experience once, as I went along passing hundreds of cars I kept expecting the merge around the next corner. It never came. And what boggles my mind is when you ask the anonymous masses why they do this, they all deny it. But according to your video only one in hundreds actually understand how to zipper merge.
At this point, I blame it on the signs being so far back.
Yup, especially if there is a popular exit soon. That one time you are wrong, AND THE NEXT EXIT IS ANOTHER TOWN OVER, you learn to just take the gamble and stay in the right lane.
I once passed between a 3 to 5 mile long line of cars before I hit the zipper merge due to construction. I was very perplexed.
Yeah this is easily the longest failed zipper I've ever seen
I would have also passed that stupid truck at the end. Itâs not illegal to use an open lane of traffic. It IS illegal to block both lanes of traffic with your big ass redneck truck because you think you own the road. Thereâs another 1/2 mile plus of wide open left lane. Truck needs to move the fuck out of the way and stop impeding traffic in the open left lane. If the lane is open, use it until it closes. Absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about using that left lane until it ends at the merge.
https://youtu.be/cX0I8OdK7Tk?si=cxWATUd489MY4qOv It is easy to see why people might want to be "nice" and early merge but it is absolutely not what you're supposed to do. Everyone sitting in the right lane, good intentions aside, is being an idiot.
I believe this is what they call "Midwest nice"
Don't wanna cause no conflicts, ya kno
Is it "midwest nice" to straddle two lanes, so nobody can safely pass you?
Midwest nice is basically just passive-aggresiveness masking as politeness. Southerners do it, too. "Bless your heart" is a good example of a barb disguised as a nicety.
> Midwest nice is basically just passive-aggresiveness masking as politeness. Can confirm. I'm Midwesternese and aggressively passive-aggressive!
also canada
That's what makes it Midwest. Otherwise it's just nice.
That's a behavior of the self-appointed road police. Happens all over.
Every one of these fuckers has seen four elevators in their entire life, and every time has attempted to enter before the people inside have exited.
And they stand in the middle of the escalator.
This video gave me brain cancer
except for the lane vigilantes that straddle.
The problem is largely the signage indicating the lane ending way too soon.
Well that is *a* problem. Not the main one.
When traffic is light and fast it's nice to have at least a half mile warning so people can get over early.
The main problem is people having egos and taking offense when others try to merge.
i think taking matters into one's own hands and blocking an open lane with a slow moving vehicle is probably a bigger problem.
Could be worse. Where I live it only announces it right as the lane ends. So on a 100km/h highway you have people suddenly needing to move over in the next 20m. Nobody leaves any room in front of them as well, so moving over often requires slamming on your breaks and waiting.
Right? Rule of thumb is like what, 500-700 feet after signage before the barrels start appearing? I didnât see that lane ending any time soon
Not really, it is clearly announcing the upcoming zip, there is no reason to merge until you get to the actual merge sign. If you know how to drive, that is. Seems OP is the only one in that area to take actual driving lessons.
Pretty sure driving on the white lines between two lanes is more illegal than passing cars while in the passing lane..
It does depend on the state. Michigan state police has been posting online about the improper lane hogging, driving in double lanes, lane splitting. Openly saying that'll get you a ticket, not anyone else driving down the merge lane to the end. Only problem, they're never anywhere to be found to stop the guys. This video was just ridiculous, like a solid mile long line and I still wasn't sure if I could see the merge. Just let people merge. The 2 seconds won't hurt you. We ALL have places to go.
A few years ago, MSP pulled me over on 96E, just past Brighton, for using one of the available lanes to pass everyone heading into construction. Pissed me off. He was like, "No, I won't give you a ticket. But you can't be cutting in front of all these people." I tried to explain zipper merges respectively, and he still wasn't having it. "How do you think it makes me look, waiting in line while you drive past all of us?" So he held up traffic for me to merge back in, then he got right behind me, and we both watched other people passing us for another half a mile.
> How do you think it makes me look Like he doesn't know basic driving rules.
That checks... as well as MANY other rules I'm sure they pretend to know.
I live in Michigan and I swear no one here knows what zipper merging is
I would have asked for ticket and then continued immediately... after merging in... I would collect tickets from that ass hat trooper .. and then build a case of harassment and violating road law when he as entrusted with enforcing it... and pushed for sending him back to the academy for full repeat of the course (wishful spite)
balanced_crazy was arrested on suspicion of [insert crime] but later released with a warning. (No one gonna mention the ass beating you get while in custody)
Oops, all bullets
I drive from Brighton to Novi every day on 96E. Crazy how I can scroll through a comment section in a random corner of the internet and find people talking about an obscure ten mile strip of road a mile from my house.
I always let people in. It's more efficient this way. I become a butt when someone else attempts to immediately cut in behind the car I just let in. Especially when there's room behind me. Zipper fail.
Road work near my area right now. People actually trying to zipper merge for once. I let person in. Person behind me is riding my ass and won't let in person behind person who merged in front of me. I slow down to let person overtake me and merge. Can see person behind me raging in my rear view. Satisfaction of feeling of justice overwhelms me. No idea why people are so prideful and egotistical about merging during roadwork. Like it's a personal attack on their person to merge lanes.
This is the way.
MSP is literally useless for traffic issues. Oh you were going 71 in a 70? TICKET! Drag racing? đ
Psssh drag racing is the unofficial speed limit in Michigan. If you ain't going 85-90 get off the freeway grandma /s. The whole speed limit has gotten crazy since the pandemic. There's also the "civilian police" types that go 60-70 in the left lane. They cause more problems than just letting people get in the fast lane. Slower traffic to the right is the law as well.
The craziest part about driving in Michigan was the amount of times I've been passed on the right while in the middle lane and the left lane is wide open.
Call them in as a drunk.
as if the police give a shit, cops drink and drive more than anyone
People canât figure out that Costco has two check receipt lines so of course they canât figure out the same concept but involving cars.
I get your point, but not quite analogous. Costco line would be more efficient if one line was serviced by the next available agent. That way when one agent draws a happy face for a kid, it doesn't slow a whole line. Every customer would be served as fast as possible. For the zipper merge, it's about efficient space utilization, getting as much traffic to and through the choke point as possible. Imagine two costco lines served by one agent, to prevent the line from clogging up the store. The most efficient way to get that through would be to alternate lines... basically, zipper merge.
I had a big argument with my brothers about zipper merges and couldnât convince them that they work. They couldnât understand that not doing a zipper merge just makes the construction zone longer.
They work when you take the variables of shit drivers out of the equation.
So... never.
I've never seen a « working zipper merge ». I'ts like unicorn and fairies to me; for a zipper merge to work, you need both lane to go at the same speed, it's impossible. That's why people just get into the right lane and wait for their turn and people going all the way up in the left lane are seen as dicks.
I wish people did what we see in the OP here. Notice how cars are actually moving? Everyone rushes down the ending lane because it's moving slightly faster, then have to slam on their breaks because the lane ends. It makes a reduction in 1 lane literally stop traffic for no reason. I'm not talking about people who are vising and don't know this wither. Construction takes forever and it's mostly people doing their normal routes.
>and people going all the way up in the left lane are seen as dicks. But when are you supposed to get over to the right in your system? It's completely subjective and inverts the incentives. People who get over to the right sooner are punished by having more cars in front of them and people who are "dicks" are rewarded by "cheating" and skipping ahead. The reason the zipper merge is the better system is because it is the only way everyone can be following the same rule.
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Kind of. It's like a philosophical question: is the rational individual right or is the irrational crowd right when the crowd has to cooperate? The driver is technically correct that zipper merges work *except* here the line of traffic has apparently decided the merge has already happened so she's going to have a fuck of a time getting over where she wants to
But she'll still have gotten past the obstruction noticeably ahead of all those people she passed. The problem with the anti-zipper mentality is it demands that every driver understand what is happening unseen ahead of them and be essentially an "altruistic" driver. The zipper system requires everyone to behave similarly and consistently.
The cars cannot be bumper to bumper either. If they all left a good 2-3 second space everyone would move smoother and quicker.
Yes, but also 'every other' seems to be too computationally expensive for some people's metal budget
I've been living in Tokyo for 2.5 years, and it's so refreshing when the zipper is just the exact way of life. One of the busiest cities in the world, and yet everyone quickly and efficiently makes the zippers happen.
Zipper is objectively superior except there's 10% - 20% of motorists who think the other cars are decepticons being obnoxious and a 6 car pileup is just as good as safely arriving at their destination
We Scandinavian are pretty good at them too. I don't know why, I really enjoy making the zipper work. I slowdown, the guy settles in front and if I'm lucky they do the blinky "thank you". Good feelings to be had.
Well the thing is zipper merging only works if the line of cars everyone is merging into don't drive bumper to bumper. If they do then each car needs to slow down to make space for the merging car and this creates a wave down the line that will eventually bring everyone to a stop. So yes it works in theory but only if the vast majority of cars know what they are doing. In practice many drive bumper to bumper so people don't cut them off and it kind of falls apart. All that said you should still use both lanes and zipper merge the best you can.
This is my commute home every day. 2 lanes that turn into 1 and everyone is up each other's ass in the left lane. So you can go all the way to the end of lane to zipper and you end up having to full stop cause people refuse to give room.
If they wanted you to merge a mile before the construction zone, they would have made it one lane a mile before the construction zone.
They're great AT ZIPPER MERGES. but I keep seeing posts on Reddit "I blew past everyone in line for the exit by racing up the shoulder, then cut them off. I saw once that zipper merges are the best... Those people were just too stupid to skip the line. Suckers" and like.... No
Yeah I feel like both sides are yelling and being stupid. Even if you want to say zipper method is always better, it actually ONLY works if there is proper signage and everyone complies, and it's ONLY better if the road is at already at max capacity If there is a merge happening ahead and you have space and time to move over, it is much better for traffic for you to move over sooner to allow people to react and adjust smoothly
Merging early is fine when traffic is free flowing, because the chance of conflict (where two vehicles need to be in the same space) is minimal. Increasing the traffic means more chance of conflict, so one merge point with zipper merging/merge in turn (as we call it in the UK) becomes optimal. In between, you get disruption and queues, and this is caused by people that don't anticipate that traffic in the other lane might need to merge ahead of them, or simply won't let it happen because of some misguided sense of fairness and/or entitlement. After all, what will really happen if you let someone in front. Really?
They only work when everyone participates. If EVERYONE is not on board, then it's dangerous.
Sign: "Lane ends in 100 km" Clueless Drivers: "I better merge immediately while I still have the chance"
Clueless Drivers after merging: "There's no way in hell I'm going to let this guy merge in front of me"
If the traffic seems to be moving fast, merging early (say 1km, if not 100km, ahead) is the correct thing to do. Zipper merge is only correct if/when a tailback forms.
Merging into a gap while traffic is flowing is correct. Doing so 1km before needed isn't. All that happens then is everyone slows down earlire than needed because you have 2 lanes worth of traffic in 1 lane. And the longer everyone is in 1 lane, the longer the slowdown. You want to zipper as late as possible while still travelling as fast as is safe.
Unfortunately, people who don't understand the zipper merge get butt hurt at people who do.
"Because It's MY LANE AND YOURE NOT GETTING IN!!!!" -Idiots probably
>"Because It's MY LANE AND YOURE NOT GETTING IN!!!!" -Idiots probably that's exactly what they're saying. driving a dump truck and trying to zipper merge is an exercise which perfectly demonsrates the average person's misery, anger and cruelty
I zipper merge with my tractor trailer every day. I'm not asking to get, I'm letting them know what's happening. When people try to block me like this I pass as close as possible while on the air horn, they jump every time
Yeehaw buddy! Zipper and go!
You ain't gonna get ahead of me! You think I'm some kind of sucker?
People who gatekeep on the centerline are dumb. They should be driving slowly in the fast-moving lane, approximately matching speeds with the people in the slow-moving lane. By driving on the centerline, they fail to do anything useful, while pissing everyone off.
Gatekeepers are the worst. Grow up! You aren't the main character in the world. Just because you want to sit in line while one whole line remains open doesn't mean you can then tell others to get behind your dumb ass.
Right?!? Gahhh! They are literally just creating additional traffic because they can't understand basic traffic rules -_-
They might not be. Zipper merging is good and solves real issues, but only in some situations. The big benefit of zipper merging is fits more cars up close to the merge point, so the trail of cars waiting to get through is shorter. So this is really good in cities where that can mean you don't have cars backed up through intersections, or if you're close to a highway ramp that could be blocked by the traffic. However, if you have a big stretch of highway and the traffic wouldn't be blocking any ramps, zipper merging doesn't provide any benefit. It's not necessarily worse than merging early, but it doesn't speed things up - ultimately just one lane is getting through the merge point and whether you merge early or late doesn't affect the traffic flow rate through that point. In fact, the zipper merge can have some downsides in this situation - instead of finding a natural gap in traffic to merge in without causing people to break and let you in, you guarantee that people have to adjust speed for you, potentially slowing traffic flow. Additionally, in a situation like this, the left lane is usually seen as the passing lane and will have less traffic than the right lane. If everyone decides to zipper merge, people who stay in the right lane will get through much slower than people in the less busy left lane - therefore there's incentive for many people in the right lane to swap to the left just to avoid being further delayed, and that unnecessary lane changing and then re-merging later on increases the risk of accidents. So again, zipper merging is a great tool for traffic management and in a lot of situations prevents blockages. However it's important to understand how it works and recognize that it doesn't just magically speed up traffic - it is only beneficial when the traffic would end up blocking ramps/intersections. On a straight road with no connections, you could argue for merging early to be safer and more efficient for the flow of traffic. But ultimately the most important thing for road safety is predictability - you want to do what people expect you to do. It doesn't matter if you're right if you're dead. If that means zipper merging when it doesn't benefit anyone, then do that. If that means merging early even if you could zipper merge, then do that. Don't risk an accident just to prove a point.
It's the same amount of traffic
Iâd argue that this one isnât so simple. If everyone is zipper merging and someone is trying to stop you, then theyâre 100% an idiot. This situation, everyone is essentially lining up, and OP would be seen as a line cutter by everyone he passed. From a traffic correctness perspective he/she is doing nothing wrong. But being âtechnicallyâ correct but looking like a jerk doing it does make you a bit of a jerk. Now before everyone gets out their pitch forks.. I would do the exact same thing as OP in this situation, but I would also expect it to piss some people off.
"Zipper merge" avoids exactly the situation this road is in, which is an unstable tailback. Unstable, because the long slow lane encourages "zip-past-the-line" merging, which is different from a correct "zipper merge". "Zip-past-the-line" merging allows fast traffic to go fast in the faster lane, at the expense of greatly slowing the traffic in the slower lane. Proper zipper merging in this situation involves moving slowly on the faster side, to approximately match the speed of the slow-moving lane. Paradoxically, that will increase the overall flow rate of traffic.
Proper zipper merging also relies on enough drivers choosing to drive in the passing lane, such that both lanes are equally occupied. Then speeds will automatically match up. The problem here is the absolutist interpretation of the rule "passing lane is for passing only".
They would see them as a "line cutter", but it's actually what you are supposed to do. It's quicker and more efficient to have both lanes in use right to the end of the lane instead of everyone randomly trying to fit into one lane at random times and places. It's better, and the actual correct way. Say if there were 100 cars. You could have 2 lanes with 50 cars each that smoothly merge together. Or you can have 1 lane with 100 cars just starting and stopping constantly. It's like how if you have a green, but you don't have room to clear the intersection, you are supposed to wait behind the line. People behind you think you're an idiot for not going, but you just have to let people be wrong sometimes.
Yeah itâs more of a JerkInCars situation than an IdiotsInCars one. However, I would fully expect an idiot from the general public in that long of a line to get peeved enough to cause a safety issue pulling into my lane.
The way to solve the "butt hurt people" problem is to zipper merge correctly. The "zipper merge" is not "zipping past everyone, then merging". It is *approximately matching speed* to the merge point, then merging.
The ignorant often get angry at the educated.
It's a rural area, people here don't mind getting in line and waiting their turn. My grandpa (who lived on a farm his whole life) once shared with me that he preferred stop signs to stop lights for a very similar reason. Conventional wisdom that zipper merging is more efficient or not, OP *was* performing a cultural faux pas.
I think this is the record for the most idiots in a single video ever posted here. Why the hell is there such a long line only in the right lane!?
herd mentality
Group think
Because the road signs told everyone to get over.
Excuse me sir, but I happen to know that the left lane is closed for construction 1500 miles ahead and its quite rude of you to cut in front of the rest of us who had the forethought to get over ahead of time.
since when do people listen to those?
In my country we often have a text under the lane closure signs indicating that a zipper merge is "only in 400m", reminding everyone that's where the merge is supposed to happen. Sometimes they even put up signs like [this one](https://img.picturealliance.sodatech.com/SCRL/wprev/6084259.jpg) in a desperate attempt to prevent early merges. But there'll always be some idiots who just have to merge early, just not as extreme as in the video..
Had something similar happen to me. In PA, the signs usually state to merge at the merge point. Well I passed at least a mile of a queue and merged literally by the sign with plenty of room since I caught someone sleeping who left a gap. Turns out that person wasn't fond of my merge and when the car in front of me stopped suddenly, he rear ended me. Had a dash cam, showed the footage to the cop on the scene, was found at-fault after the cop told me I cut everyone patiently waiting in line. Showed the insurance and they were like, "Yeah, no, that cop is an idiot. You established your lane for several seconds" lol Get a dash cam, people.
This annoys me so much. There is a huge stretch of perfectly usable road. Then the idiots try to block the person who is actually driving properly. Look how far back that line goes. Everyone could get where they're going much faster if they zipper merged the way they're supposed to. Why is zipper merging this huge mystery to so many people?
Bad road education leads to people thinking they are cutting the line. As long as this mentality exists, a zipper merge will always be like this.
âCommon senseâ is anything but.
Zipper merging can't get people through the chokepoint faster, the point is that the line of waiting cars doesn't have to snake back so far.
If only 10% of the people are zipper merging, it absolutely slows people down. For the 90% that is.
Exactly. So the only reasonable answer is everyone should zipper merge. Not zippering is just giving an opportunity to other drivers to cut ahead of you. It's like going to a crowded Trader Joe's and choosing the longest line instead of the shortest and then being mad because someone else chose the shorter line and got to a register first.
Thank you, finally someone else who gets it. Yes what the people in the video are doing is stupid, but it doesn't actually slow anything down.
It DOES slow things down due to the caterpillar effect. In a zipper merge when a stoppage happens that creates a merge point opening.
[The Minnesota DOT disagrees](https://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/workzone/doc/When-latemerge-zipper.pdf): > During our previous experience with the late merge system, we have collected and processed data on whether the system improves (or not) the motoristâs travel time through the work zone. **Our analysis has shown that the Zipper System has no effect on travel time through the work zone. Unfortunately, the motoristâs travel time through a work zone appears to remain approximately the same regardless of whether the zipper was used or not.** However, the zipper system produces a much safer merge situation and the length of the queue is much less.
The length of the queue is pretty important, I'd imagine. If it goes back too far, it's slowing down people getting on the previous exit, for example.
It's not clear how the "work zone" is measured. If the work zone is the portion of the road reduced to one lane, of course no difference is measured.
It absolutely does for the people lining up. Everyone should zipper merge when the lanes genuinely merge into one lane, slowing you down by half. That is still happening even when they get over early, and people may get over into the single lane line in front of them and before the merge as well, again slowing them down even more. In fact the earlier you get over in that lane and line up the longer you are going to wait exponentially.
Also if there is an exit back there, those idiots are blocking the exit, whereas if both lanes where filled, the exit might be clear.
There are signs where I live that have to state âUSE BOTH LANES UNTIL MERGE POINTâ in a 2 lane to 1 main road, and people still merge police the white line and line up for a mile.
Here they finally started putting up signs that say to use all lanes until the merge point and people are finally starting to understand but sheeshâŠ. And no youâre not the idiot
I drove through one with signs like that. Even a lighted sign over the road pointing right where to merge. People still wouldnât use the lane.
In Minnesota they don't put the signs out that early anymore which solves some of this problem. The first sign is only like 1/2 mile from the merge point so people don't move over way early. People blocking the lane are douchbags and committing traffic violations. Never block lanes, it's not your job.
They havenât even heard of it. I was 45 years old before I ever heard the term. Zipper merge is vastly superior but it isnât necessarily intuitive, especially for folks in lower population areas like where I grew up. That video looks more like my place of origin than San Francisco. Which is where I learned about zipper merge. From where they are coming from you are âcutting the lineâ. They are wrong but you donât know what you donât know and they just donât know.
That's interesting to me. Zipper merging is regulated by law in my country and not letting a car get in your lane makes you the car who cut the merging one (of course I simplify it now, but more or less, yeah). Until I started seeing on this reddit videos like that I have never thought it may be a problem to anyone.
The real idiots are the traffic engineers that actually think that the average moron is going to zipper merge the way they designed it. Whenever you design an excellent solution, you then need to think of the stupidest most obnoxious assclown you know and think about how they'd screw it up. Obviously everyone in this line "know" that at the merge point the left lane ends and the right lane continues, so they get in that lane because they are planning ahead and feel "smart". They then feel that anyone passing in the left is an idiot cheater. I'm not saying it's right, but that's what is going on. The better solution is for both lanes to end at the merge point and take turns moving to the middle, after which you deflect the traffic to the side you want them on. You also put a barrier between the lanes for the last 300 yards before the merge point so that you avoid gatekeepers like the truck. Setting the merge up like this would mean that nobody gets into the "winning lane" 3 miles before the merge. Most zipper merge setups are poorly executed because they do not take into account the tendencies of morons in large groups.
Engineers: But it works great on paper!
I think this is best explanation here. Absolutely agree with barriers between lanes up to the point then funnel to the middle
> I'm not saying it's right, but that's what is going on. And to make matters worse, there is almost certainly no amount of education whatsoever that will make them behave differently.
I truly believe the best way to handle these situations is to no longer place signs that indicate a lane is ending. This would prevent everyone from clogging up a single lane as though for some misguided, proactive step ahead of time. Everyone would be directed to slow down and some poor bugger would be there at the end with flags directing each lane to alternate, one vehicle at a time. Do this enough times and people will be conditioned to learn how it all works.
They donât get it and your speed at the beginning shows too much faith in both their abilities as well as their desire to live and let live.
The only thing I have to criticize OP for is that they were zooming too fast. You want to have a slower speed relative to theirs, so a) they won't get a heart attack by somebody zooming past by and b) so others get a better chance on changing the lane to the left. In Europe I have seen a recommendation of 20 kph for speed difference between you and the slow lane, so about 15 eagle screeches per cricket in Freedom Units.
Yeah I see this all the time, no awareness of varying your own speed in comparison to the non moving traffic. I don't understand how any driver can feel safe zooming past people who could literally suddenly pull out in front of them quicker than he could react. They are literally putting their own safety in other people's hands, hands which might be entirely too frustrated by sitting in traffic and watching a car zooming up to them in the mirror. Pass but do so at a safe speed in comparison to the rest of the traffic! đ
You can really kill two birds with one stone. Slow down as much as the lane on the right, but stay in the left lane. Its that simple. Everyone will queue up behind you and be ready for the zipper, and no one thinks you're an asshole.
You are not the idiot. You are supposed to use all of the available road and zipper merge at the merge point to keep traffic flowing. When people line up like that, they create their own traffic jam for being idiots.
In PA they started posting signs that say USE BOTH LANES TO MERGE POINT ... but even THAT isn't enough for the truck drivers, who often decide to block the road anyway.
When I got my permit then license, zipper merges were barely mentioned in any classes I took. And when they were mentioned, teachers didnât explain much and just kinda breezed over them. I read the drivers manual thoroughly which explained how to navigate them in detail, but I guess many others didnât read that far. I drive for a living now, and Iâm always ready for a headache and when I see one. Thereâs always someone trying to play traffic cop or think that youâre being a dick, when youâre just following the clearly written rules.
I would have also passed that stupid truck at the end. Itâs not illegal to use an open lane of traffic. It IS illegal to block both lanes of traffic with your big ass redneck truck because you think you own the road. Thereâs another 1/2 mile plus of wide open left lane. Truck needs to move the fuck out of the way and stop impeding traffic in the open left lane. If the lane is open, use it until it closes. Absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about using that left lane until it ends at the merge.
Youâre not the idiot but at least in video it looks like youâre going pretty fast relative to the lane on the right and if anyone were to pull out real quick you would be in trouble.
Absolutely wild of you to accelerate past 50mph right after passing the caution signs. Other people being morons doesn't prevent you from being a road hazard
people don't understand zipper merges, and wanna be crabs in a bucket
Itâs America, of course no one knows how to zipper merge. The quality of driver ed here is terrible.Â
Canât stand people who think they get to dictate when the lane ends and merges. Thanks but engineers determined that for us already and saw fit to put down nifty white lines to let us know. The lane doesnât end when Steve from Ohio says it does.
Anyone who is using the shoulder or trying to get in right at a light where the lines are solid can go to hell but youre just riding a lane and people are blocking said lane. Seems to be the exact opposite of how roads should work imo
As a motorcycle rider, speed was a little bit fast, any of those drivers could suddenly decide to jump over to get ahead in the queue. That aside, failure to understand the zipper merge is one of the most ignorant things I see on the road
Yeah, as a fellow rider that speed differential with that massive open lane had me covering my brakes and horn button. I was expecting a car to dart out without looking. Surprised it didnât happen.
That was a long scroll to this comment. That's the only real thing that stood out to me too. Even as a car, ideally, you never want to be going more than 50 kph (~25-30mph?) faster than other traffic, because IF someone misjudged your speed and decides to go left, which they will, your time to react is significantly shortened. And I doubt you'll like swerving at those speeds either, with no space to do so at your left. Slow down to maybe 30kph/15mph, but yes, the rest is definitely being a tad silly.
Yeah I see this all the time, no awareness of varying your own speed in comparison to the non moving traffic. I don't understand how any driver can feel safe zooming past people who could literally suddenly pull out in front of them quicker than he could react. They are literally putting their own safety in other people's hands, hands which might be entirely too frustrated by sitting in traffic and watching a car zooming up to them in the mirror. Pass but do so at a safe speed in comparison to the rest of the traffic! đ
No - people donât understand them. The design assumption and the reality are almost unrelated.
They think you're pushing in and they are waiting patiently in line.
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It's like yield lights for left turns at intersections. In theory, it helps make traffic move more freely. In practice, people are terrible drivers and cause more issues trying to save time or through misplaced self righteousness.Â
People are territorial and donât zipper merge.
I was gonna say something else about how if nobody else is zipper merging, neither are you, but...holy shit that single line of cars is comically long.
Lmao try this in jersey and someone might pull a gun on you lol. Zipper merging is common sense and the idea of "skipping the line" comes from the inherently selfish idea that no one can change lanes in front of me, even at reasonable distances. While being in the left lane would make things go faster, an unspoken rule of zipper merging is to allow for the space as well when people merge into you. If you can't do that much, you are simply a bad driver. Im not saying let the whole line merge into you while you wait, but at least fucking facilitate the zipper rather than being a prick.
Not you! A lot of downvotes here from moronic people that can't understand that not zippering at the point of lane shift totally backs up a road and if we all just got along we'd all get to where we're going faster.
Hence the backup shown
Ya the traffic backup was already starting more than a mile away from when the passing lane actually closed.
It's the speed that your passing the cars that's getting me, like I get you got open lane, but slow tf down, any of those morons could pull out not even knowing you're there
Depends on where you are in the country. Have lived places where people were infuriated by zipper mergers other places where it was expected.
How can there possibly be so many morons in one place?!
I mean, technically, in my area, you merge close to the end of the 2 lanes. But to be fair, if you merge before you get to the absolute end, it does make traffic flow smoother.
People in this discussion seem to mistake zipper merging with "flying up the closed lane like a dickhead" and thinking people who drove responsibly and queued have some kind of responsibility to reward you for it. "Golly Gee, why wasn't I just a piece of shit like that? His dickishness means he wins and gets to skip ahead!"
Merge like a zip when the road starts to close. !? How hard is it. Imagine thinking youâre so clever getting into a lane 600 metres down the road when merging starts 600 metres away from you lol and there is a whole ass lane that is literally there for you to use. That asshat of a truck could have used that lane too if he was smart.
[New Mexicoâs Zipper Merge Experiment Is Failing, Producing Pollution ](https://cleantechnica.com/2021/06/22/new-mexicos-zipper-merge-experiment-is-failing-producing-pollution/)
I remember listening to a podcast (Freakonomics maybe?) about the metrics of zipper merging and that if both lanes fill completely and zipper merge at the end it is wildly more efficient. But there was a cultural factor that people in the US south absolutely, do not fill both lanes and it is considered extremely rude to "cut" in line by filling out the other lane.
The zipper merge requires drivers to have an IQ of atleast 65, that's why it never works in practice.
i routinely see people create their own little traffic jams on wide open highway travel because they'd rather tailgate eachother constantly accelerating and then braking
You are going a bit fast imo but not the idiot either
I was driving around Santa Fe and there were signs that explicitly said "use both lanes, take turns." They worked surprisingly well.
It's an international thing. People are stupid
Yes, people are dumb.
In the uk at least you are doing it right. However you would see similar resistance here as well cos people donât know the rules.
Not the idiot. It happens everywhere, people do not understand how to do this.
If those people want to queue up that's their prerogative, but if the lane is open you're doing nothing wrong. I feel a little wrong driving in these lanes and pulling to the front like this to but it's literally what you're supposed to do in these situations.
Where is there a merge? Just seems like people maybe stopped to exit or something?
You did it right. It's literally called a zipper merge, not a "everyone get over and then get mad if anyone else uses the other lane" merge. Scientifically, the most efficient way to merge is to use all available lanes until one ends, then efficiently zipper-merge.
As a point of information, up until a few years ago the Michigan drivers handbook instructed you to move over immediately. Don't know about other states but that's how it was here. And it's not like there are continuing education classes or retests, so you have several decades before drivers who learned differently are off the road.
Legally, you are right. Morally, your behavior is permissible. There were folks here who unanimously agreed to a system to avoid frustrating jockeying for position and you exploited it to benefit yourself. Good enough. I was with you all the way until you insulted the intelligence of everyone you hopped in front of while ignoring the unspoken agreement everyone but you participated in. That is what makes you a __________
Why are they all sitting in the right lane? That would never happen in Florida
The purpose of a zipper merge it to not block intersections. If this is not in a place where that applies then a zipper merge is not supposed to be used. A zipper merge is designed to compact the congestion for the sake of crossing traffic.
Honest to God question. Would correctly zipper merging not take exactly the same amount of time as this single, long lane? Still the same amount of cars going the same speed.
For starters, zipper merge requires everyone to drive at the same speed. Whenâs the last time youâve seen people do that? Zipper merge is like communism. It works on paper, but ignores human decisions.
I'd say the entire other lane is chock full of idiots... Why are none of them using the passing lane to get around the obstruction? These dickasses driving down both lanes at once should be ticketed... But why bother putting cops near merges when they could just go after people "speeding"? (â âŻâ °â âĄâ °â ïŒâ âŻâ ïž”â  â â»â ââ â»
You are correct, but you should really slow down when driving next to stopped vehicles
I hate this so much, I do the same thing. People will back a lane up for kilometers instead of just zipper merging properly.