Merging at the last minute is the correct way to do it.
Zipper merge, you fucks!
Depends. If there’s lots of traffic, yes. If it’s sparse enough that you can merge without slowing people down too much, just do it early.
If it’s that sparse then the situation in the meme is a non-issue
…until people make it an issue by speeding up and cutting people off, causing it to bottleneck
Correct
thank you. the math agrees, too. zipper merges are the way to go!
I would agree with this if literally anyone else knew how to zipper merge
The solution is educating people about zipper merging, not getting angry at those who actually do it.
Here in Poland it works quite well, at least when the merge is expected.
But we have signs reminding people of that and they also display this kind of driving tips on info boards on motorways when there is nothing more important.
We only started seeing signs in my city telling people to zipper merge, but I was never taught it in driver’s ed, and we really should be.
I wish we had better signage here like you have in Poland.
At a respectable speed though, merge lane is not a passing lane. My rule is whatever speed can be maintained stay with the car speed in the lane to be merged into, jamming the front punishes everyone cueing properly.
The the merging lane is empty for a half km, then it’s proper to drive to the front and merge. If you just drive slow, then you’re a problem for the sake of being a problem.
Drive to the front, match speed, zipper merge. It isn’t hard.
Depends on what you mean by “the front”. Too many people do not know how to look thousands of feet down the road. Probably why so many merge too early.
The assholes that also do not know how to look thousands of feet down the road fly to the end and cram in, which does nothing but further reduce throughput because it slows the lane people need to merge into.
That is literally what a zipper merge is, and what you are supposed to do. Go to the end and merge. If they are “cramming” in, then the people in the lane are not doing their part either, because you are supposed to let people merge.
When people properly zipper merge, traffic will keep flowing. Your complaint about reducing throughput is a “well of fucking course it will” because you’re putting more cars through the same space regardless of where they merge. People who slow down with hundreds of meters of space, then stop and wait for someone to let them in makes the problem worse, not better.
Literally, no it is not. Nowhere does it say you have to get to the end before merging. THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT is to MATCH TRAFFIC SPEEDS AND MAKE ROOM to reduce interruptions. NOT to fill up all available space where ever you find it.
If you fly to the front past a bunch of stopped cars, you ARE NOT MATCHING SPEEDS. Those assholes are not zipper merging. Period.
The people who merge early are not utilizing all space, but THROUGHPUT IS ABOUT LANES AND SPEED. When one lane is disappearing, you CANNOT MAGICALLY ADD THROUGHPUT by cramming in before the bottleneck. Period. Ever.
If you fly to the front past a bunch of stopped cars, you ARE NOT MATCHING SPEEDS. Those assholes are not zipper merging. Period.
You realize if they were to match speed that would mean they must stop in an open lane, and that would just make everything much much worse, yeah? Thats also pretty much illegal everywhere lol.
Pretty confidently incorrect there with your capitals and italics.
That was the respectable speed part. I agree too slow is also an issue.
Fair.
Gave a ride to someone who for one hour kept bitching about drivers who use zipper merge properly. didn’t want to tell him he was wrong.
he was so convinced and fuel by hatred of better drivers.
Nothing about the zipper merge says, “last minute”. It is wholly and entirely about matching speeds and making room.
Guess what dictates the speed of the lane that gets to travel forward? The amount of traffic that gets to travel… in that reduced number of lanes.
The people racing to the end of the closing lane are doing nothing but increasing traffic density, which directly hurts the effort of zipper merging. If it’s going from two lanes to one, the density MUST halve somewhere if traffic is full. That’s never going to happen at full speed if there are assholes wedging in at the last second and pushing traffic density past what people comfortably go full speed at.
Hint: it is not bumper to bumper on the highway.
Again: Merging at the last second does nothing but push traffic density up. Often past comfortable densities, which will slow traffic. It’s the exact same reason rolling stops happen even without traffic accidents or lane closures in dense traffic.
Last minute is absolutely part of it. Use the available queueing space to keep congestion from spreading. I don’t know where you drive where bumper to bumper didn’t happen, though.
No it is not. Ever. You cannot magically add throughput by cramming in ahead of the bottleneck. That ONLY increases density, which DEMONSTRABLY reduces speeds.
Guess what happens when speed goes down? Throughput also goes down! You cannot magically add throughput by filling space beyond what is reasonable for the speeds you want to go. That’s not how humans work.
It’s not about throughout. You want previous intersections and ramps to be free. The extra lane is car storage space. If one lane is stopped and the other is free you absolutely move up to the merge point. Safely, mind you. The speed limit is way too fast, 30-40 kph is enough. Merging early causes shockwaves that turn into full blown stops upstream. Plus you block the whole lane until you’ve merged.
I’ve done traffic control systems for almost a decade so I actually know a little about the subject.In some situations, it’s not all about throughput.
Though traffic congestion is ALWAYS about throughput. You want less congestion? Then don’t rush to the end of a closed lane and cram in. That ALWAYS hurts throughput, which ALWAYS increases congestion. Period.
Sure, if traffic IS backed up to other roads, then absolutely, fill up the closing lane and get off those other roads, though understand that filling up that lane will, always, always hurt congestion if throughput is already struggling.
Zooming to the front to try to merge at the last minute and creating a choke point that stops traffic for half a mile is NOT the correct way to do a zipper merge…
You shouldn’t be able to, because both lanes are full and moving at half speed.
But they’re not. Zipper merges might be the efficient thing to do, but here everyone is taught to merge early so the guy doing 70 km/h in the empty lane when the speed limit is 50 and then demanding to merge is generally seen as an asshole by everyone else, especially because those people usually don’t wait for you to make room either, they often just start merging into other cars knowing someone will hit the brakes.
Except people do it anyway, I’m surprised so many people are trying to pretend they’ve never seen this.
Traffic isn’t some collective consciousness thing that moves like a well-oiled machine. People are selfish and do what they think is to their best advantage, even if it causes the overall traffic conditions to be worse.
Yes before the lane is closed. They are not doing that.
No. You are explicitly supposed to go to the very end of the closing lane, and then merge, not before it closes.
Well a closing lane would be marked with an arrow pointing to the lane next to it, and if it’s closed it’s a red X. You merge before the red X. I don’t see a closing lane the same as a closed lane. Maybe it’s a translation thing. And every country is different.
Learn what zipper merging is you fuckin potato.
Or do you want backups to take up twice as much space as they need to? It’s about efficiency. If everybody zipper merges, you still get your fucking turn.
Yeah people like this are fucking idiots. Just let the dude over it’s not going to slow you down it’s not going to stop you shit if it cost you 15 seconds oh my god what the fuck ever. People are fucking retarded when they think that they have the right to own a lane.
The thing is that selfish people trying to skip to the front of the line and cut in front of the people in the through-lane right behind another merging vehicle instead of taking their turn alternating with through-lane vehicles absolutely do create congestion which can back up a long way.
Zipper merges only work when people in the merging lane aren’t being selfish assholes and trying to do that.
Thing is that’s exactly how zipper merge works. The people in the lane that’s closing should go and continue to the end of the lane if there are more people behind them they’re more people behind them. You are not entitled to your place in line there is no your place in line. There is simply traffic and you are part of that traffic. If you’re not participating nicely in that traffic you are the asshole. Plain and simple that’s how it works.
Let me put this visually for you, because you don’t seem to be getting it.
This is what zipper merges are supposed to be:
(Leading up to the merge; ignore the period):
. - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -As you can see, each one alternates at a regular interval.
This is what happens in reality:
… - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -The cars in the merging lane all push to the front, and try to merge in twos and threes instead of alternating like they’re suppose to.
You are not entitled to your place in line there is no your place in line.
In a zipper merge, there literally is a “your place in line.” It’s right after the guy who merges behind the car in front of you. A second or third car shouldn’t be forcing their way in there, because it’s supposed to alternate. That’s how the whole thing is supposed to work.
Zipper merging also always seems to assume that there are no trucks/buses/trailers and that everyone isn’t tailgating so closely that they can read the Vin# of the car in front of them…
Right! People get so crazy impatient and entitled when they enter a vehicle.
Having to come to a complete stop to let them in is why the lane gets backed up for a mile plus.
I always leave 2 car spaces (unless a semi needs to merge, then it’s 6) and it’s rare for the person up front to merge in without me fully stopping, flashing my lights, and emphatically waving them in.
The problem is that most people don’t know what zipper merging is, including those who need to take advantage of it.
If everyone zipper merges correctly. More often, half the drivers try to use the lane that’s ending to skip to the front of the line and create a bottleneck that brings traffic to a stop for half a mile…
That’s faster for everyone though. While they’re using the low-traffic lane, they aren’t taking up more space in the backed-up lane. It’s the people switching early that are the assholes.
This does not apply if it’s an exit. Then they’re just driving in the wrong lane.
What do you mean
That only works when people behave like civilized human beings who take their turn instead of trying to skip to the front of the line.
That’s the thing innit? The line should be spread across both lanes all the way up to the point where one closes.
The person who gets out into the closing lane to skip ahead probably isn’t thinking about it this much. They’re probably just an entitled asshole. But, in this case, they happen to be doing it right.
Everyone getting into the open lane early effectively closes the other lane early and pushes the congestion further back, disrupting other intersections.
If everyone merges into the through-lane as soon as they can, then there’s no bottleneck. It’s only an issue if there was another intersection recently before the lane closure, but typically these are on highways with few if any intersections.
If you have two lanes of traffic moving at a given speed, and try moving both those lanes through one lane of traffic, mathematically it has to slow down, because you’re trying to fit the same amount of traffic through half as much space.
It’s like when you pour water in a funnel, the bottom is narrower so it drains slower than you can fill it.
Or it’s like doubling the resistance on an electrical circuit. It cuts the current in half.
So, “there are circumstances in which merging in advance is acceptable.” Sure.
I think we’d be hard pressed to invent one where it’s superior without implying a failure in how the lane was closed.
In the US (where I am), zipper merging is mandatory in two states, recommend ten more, and allowed in all of them.
You’re still ignoring my main point which is how many people abuse the merging lane to try to get ahead and skip to the front of the line.
Systems that depend on everyone cooperating fairly and being patient and taking their turns kinda break down when a bunch of selfish people try to take advantage of the good faith and fairplay of others…
Doesn’t make sense
Not beating the potato allegations.
Hee hee
What does that mean
Which part?
The word, idk what it means.
Oh, well the teeth are the cars and the zipper is the merge point (lane closure)
Both lanes use all available space and take turns joining into a single lane at the merge point, minimizing congestion
But how does my car fit
I guess it depends on where you are.
Let’s take the scenario where there are no other cars on the road, you’re in the lane that stays open driving next to a car in the closing lane, and you arrive at the merge point. In this case, you should keep going as normal, and the other guy should fall in behind you. (Ideally he slows down to fall out of sync before getting there. Less ideally he speeds up. Least ideally you both speed up and make chaos.)
If both lanes are fully used and there’s a line in both, same situation. First car in the open lane goes, then first car in the closed lane, then second car in the open lane, etc.
Now the controversial case where a bunch of well meaning souls have lined up preemptively (causing the congestion to press back further) and some asshole just takes the closing lane all the way to the end and winds up next to another car. That car should proceed and the car behind it should wait to let the asshole in before proceeding.
It feels wrong, but it’s the least problematic flow. Effectively closing the lane prematurely pushes the congestion back further and starts disrupting other intersections
But if i have too many passengers I wont have enough seat belts
1 car from the left lane, 1 car from the right lane. merging together in an alternating pattern. like the teeth in a zipper. a ‘zipper merge’ if you will.
you acting like the meme is the problem. the car wasn’t ignoring the signs, they were using all of the available space to move forward down the road before merging into the lane.
That doesn’t explain why my air bags wouldn’t work.
This! Also, let the motorcycle in front of you if you are at the head of the line at the light! We will be long gone before you pull your thumb out of your ass and take you foot off the brake when the light turns green
Lane filtering should be legal everywhere. Like you said, motorcycles accelerate quicker but also it removes the chance of them getting rear ended.
Completely agree! I always try to be extra wary of motorcycles because they take up way less space and are far faster accelerating, while also being far more vulnerable.
Zipper merge is best merge you dingus.
Yep. Science says OP is wrong: https://www.acg.aaa.com/connect/blogs/4c/auto/zipper-merge-keeps-traffic-moving
ISTR there being some indication that as speeds increase, merging further away from the “final merge point” can help, but that’s for designing roads with permanent lane reductions, not for temporary lane closures due to construction, accident, etc. But, I also couldn’t find that science when I looked for it.
Zipper merge works best as long as the people involved understand it and actually want to do it.
another failure of human nature. the tragedy of the commons fails us yet again!
Who?
Sorry, wrong thread mate. The owl mating convention is over yonder. Two flaps, hang a left and Bob’s your uncle.
The issue is this:
A) Your lane is ending. Drive to the end of the lane and then merge. Simplest reason: why the fuck would they build that much lane if you’re not supposed to drive on it? Alternate reason: you’re just stretching the traffic jam farther back where it could be blocking people from exiting or getting on.
B) Your lane is exit only. Get the fuck out of that lane, you’re blocking people legitimately trying to exit. You’re a cheating cheater and you’re clogging the exit lane.
C) Your lane is not an exit and you want to get into an exit lane. Get into the exit lane as soon as possible. Late merge is just going to clog up a lane and you’re a cheating cheater.
These situations are not the same but people think they are.
But this post’s context is only A, right?
yes.
no
The problem is these people won’t zipper merge most of the time. I always leave 2 car spaces, and the asshats want me to come to a complete stop before they do.
Boomers, they’re called boomers
Like most things, a zipper merge works only if EVERYONE is abiding by it. Much like they tested and found out that a plane can have all passengers boarded and seated with luggage in about 15 minutes…if everyone followed the rules. But know, every damn over-entitled Karen, Jaxson, MacKhenzie and the rest of their ilk feel the rules don’t apply to them.
Yeah…no, I’ve been waiting in line for 15 min and the guy that went on the other lane to skip the line can suck on my zipper merge
You could have waited less time if you also zipper merged ❤️
And saying fuck you to all the people who are lining up because I’m somehow superior to them? Try to do zipper merge in front of people in any other context and see how quickly you get a nice shove and some colorful words.
THAT’S THE CORRECT WAY.
Merge at the lane end for fuck’s sake.
Everyone that merges early creates a spot for the closing lane traffic to move up and slows down the through lane, then the next person does it, slows the thru lane, repeat ad nauseam. So if you think you’re being smart merging early you are actually fucking up the flow. There are always people going to be running up the closed lane to try to take “cuts”, so how do you prevent that? By everyone zipper merging at the end! No open lane for them to “cheat.”
Zipper merge at the end is the only way.
Source: I see this every single day I drive to work in an area with shit road design, heavy traffic, and bad drivers.
We need NHTSA to put out TV spots to get the message out, and little signs to say USE FULL LANES -ZIP MERGE IN XXX FEET
When I was growing up in the UK, Department for Transport or whomever always had TV and radio ads reminding people how to drive: take longer to look for bikes, don’t hang out next to a big lorry (truck) blind spot, don’t drink and drive, it’s hard to focus on two things at once so put your phone away while driving, etc. And they still do this. We need more of that elsewhere too.
Take all that “Driving Drunk is Bad, guys” advertising space and use it for something that people don’t already know…
In the NL, there are signs literally spelling it out for you. There is a sign saying “start merging here” at the right spot.
Everyone talks how the NL has so good bike infra, but the car infra is top notch as well.
Some places where I live also have signs that state some version of “merge at the end”.
People ignore it and still merge early.
What do you mean though
I don’t think the main benefit is cutting off cheaters - it is about using the road more effectively. If you have 2 miles of a single lane full of cars next to an empty lane (that is blocked at the constriction), the congestion is more likely to block intersections, ramps, etc. Studies show that having 2 lanes full of cars with a zipper merge at the point constriction is the most efficient:
Stopping overly aggressive drivers is a side benefit.
Don’t feed the troll.
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Shhhhhh
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Why is it always boomers that fail to comprehend the zipper merge?
… Is it the lead poisoning??
It was in fact, lead poisoning. That’s where all the angry husband stuff comes from too. That whole generation was literally metally challenge due to the poisoning.
That whole generation was literally metally challenge
Ozzy would like a word.
Who
Boomer humor. Your post. It’s humor for dimwitted old “baby boomers” who don’t understand that it’s better to use both lanes for as long as possible and then zipper merge.
I call it prep and merge…prepare to merge at speed, then merge when it’s needed
What do you mean
Because it’s counterintuitive. You would think that getting people over early means traffic can just flow easier.
Yeah, but into a road that is more narrow. You can’t fit twice the volume into a pipe half the size and expect the same throughput.
You could reduce the gap between the cars by ~half.
Are you referring to stopping distances?
You said it couldn’t be done, you didn’t specify a need for it being safely done.
Ah, this is where mechanical engineering and civil engineering butt heads.
Nah, I’m just being a butt head.
This article falsely assumes the only options are halting traffic to wait for an opening or dash faster than speed of traffic until the end of the lane closure then just expect someone to allow room so kinda a bad explanation of zipper merge and proper driving etiquette
Not sure if you took drivers ed but zipper merging is not zooming past stopped cars to last second dart over in the shoulder, it’s speed matching the lane you are merging into to weave in like a zipper. Crazy how even the name isn’t informative enough for people to understand the concept
So if the traffic is slowed down you want everyone to just move over early making it even worse…?
No, you populate both lanes than alternate right of way.
If both lanes are stopped, sure.
If you’re zipping past stopped cars in a lane about to close, you’re the asshole, period.
No, those cars merged incorrectly too early, they’re the assholes since they created the traffic first and are now mad other drivers are doing it correctly.
The amount of traffic makes no difference, if the lane is open, fill it up, that’s the most efficient for everyone.
Just because you made a poor choice doesn’t mean everyone else who didn’t is an asshole lmfao.
I’ve been reading this for years, and the hypothesis always seems to be that zipper merging is good because it maximizes road usage. You know what else maximizes road usage? Bumper to bumper gridlock.
Gridlock doesn’t maximize it. Bumper-to-bumper at 80mph does, though
Good luck getting humans to do that, though. Bumper to bumper only makes people slow down due to discomfort, so cramming to the front and increasing density to bumper to bumper will only slow traffic further.
It’s the same reason rolling stops happen on highways even without traffic accidents or lane closures. When density gets too high, people will slow down, and the assholes thinking bumper to bumper at the last second is zipper merging are indeed assholes slowing traffic down.
Zipper merging, when done properly by enough people, prevents (selfish) others from racing past
People cramming in at he last moment on a jammed highway exit is a different story
Z I P P E R
M E R G E
Louder please
Can you explain how that works, ideally with a diagram
Uses all lane space at a tenth the speed most people want to be going
Still confused, do you have a video?
Oh so you’re just here to waste other people’s time
In the literal shitpost community? No, who would have thought.
Ah you’re right. My bad. Guess I should block this place
Love that the demo displays the other lane as greyed out instead of a fucking concrete wall if you fail to merge. Which is what is bringing traffic to a halt
Zipper merge you fucking savages
When
I don’t understand people like this. There are two lanes. Use them. If everyone merges into one lane over two miles it’s going to create a HUUGE backup. Use both lanes, zipper merge at the end. Stop being stupid and use your brain instead of your emotions.
The problem is pure selfishness. Can’t allow a single car to get ahead or your day is ruined. They seem to think their being earlier is a confirmed reservation and rightfully their spot.
Then there’s those absolute fuckheads who drive in the middle of the road blocking both lanes.
If I was a cop I would ticket one of those people every time I saw one. Blocking traffic? Ticket.
just let them merge for fucks sake
I swear either this is some US crap or rage bait.
feels like a bit of both tbh
If it’s a lane closure, yes, you zipper merge at the end-- imo, because you need visual confirmation of what’s happening but also because it’s predictable and usually both lanes are already matching speeds and zipper merging ahead of you. There’s no need to complicate things with an early swap. Granted, I rarely see a lane closure warning more than 100 meters, if at all… in my tiny car, the best indicator that we’re merging is sudden lane changes of everyone in front of me.
Where I draw the line is when there’s an exit only lane on a freeway and people are zooming along and suddenly want in. Did they jump into that lane just to get ahead? Or are they a helpless victim of circumstance from the latest onramp and unable to merge until now? I let them in, but I’m usually bitter about it.
Oh no, they definitely read it. They just don’t care and expect you to let them merge.
Because that’s the correct procedure
No its not. If all the cars are in one lane and you drive past all of those cars in the empty lane and then expect all those cars you passed to let you merge, you’re a piece of shit.
Yeah you dumbass. So use both lanes and then zipper merge where they merge
In sorry, but if all the cars are in the open lane and you zoom passed in the closing lane, I’m not going to let you merge. Deal with it.
Why is the other lane open, that’s the problem.
Lane shouldn’t be clear. That’s the issue, here.
OK, that’s not my fault. I just obey traffic. Again, if everyone is in the open lane and you cruise by in the closing lane by yourself, I’m not letting you merge. Obey traffic.
Bonus point for the fuckers that speed up in order to pass as many people as possible before forcing their way into the exit
Few things bring me joy like showing just a wee bit of room to bait those fools to try to cut a dozen people off just to slowly close the gap as they approach my blind spot and force them behind me
I watch people get out of line then dash down the single file all to get 4 cars ahead so they get to work 4sec faster. No sympathy for antisocial scum
Which they can’t do if everybody stays in lane and waits till the last moment.
I think people forget that nobody is racing you. If someone merges into traffic in front of you, theyre not winning and youre not losing. It’s all OK. You dont have to be upset.
Do you like grid locked traffic? Because merging 2 miles early causes grid lock traffic.
Not really. The traffic has to squeeze through the same number of lanes at some point. That’s the whole damn point everyone is missing who’s defending these assholes.
You’re not helping by increasing traffic density beyond comfortable levels. Period. Ever.
That’s why rolling stops happen on freeways even without traffic accidents or lane closures. Density determines the speed people feel safe going. That is never bumper to bumper at highway speeds.
Not even the psychos in San Jose and LA go highway speeds when it’s as dense as these last-second merging assholes make it.
Fair enough point about traffic difference, but to call them “last minute assholes” is a bit pretentious. I travel a lot as I do for work, there are many work zones that have signs stating “use whole lane, zipper merge” when there’s a lane closure. Why merge early leaving an entire lane empty for 2 miles? Then you’ve got some asshat sitting or coasting halfway blocking said lane, guarding people from using the whole lane. I guess this is another one of those unsolved debates no one can seem to come to an agreement on.
It is pretentious, because this is not a discussion about zipper merging in a vacuum. There’s a comic about someone leering at someone trying to push in.
Do you think there’s time to make faces at someone in properly flowing traffic where people aren’t trying to get right next to each other?
People that glaze zipper merging are ignoring that the real issue is the bottleneck caused by the lane reduction.
Yep. Not only is stuffing yourself into denser traffic bad for throughput, it’s not a part of zipper merging.
It’s just something they’re taught because it can reduce the tail of congestion and can sometimes keep it from spreading to other roads. Bad teachers and idiots conflate it with zipper merging so that idiots like these commenters think it’s part of zipper merging and defend it.
Whereas actual zipper merging doesn’t give a shit where it happens. All it requires is that through-traffic gives roughly 1-1 room for merging traffic, and that merging traffic look for and take an opening.
If they were ACTUALLY practicing zipper merging, neither lane would let themselves condense past two vehicle lengths per vehicle, which obviously doesn’t happen when lane closures cause congestion.
Not really. The traffic has to squeeze through the same number of lanes at some point.
Yeah, and the most efficient way to do that is for everyone to zipper merge at the same point. You can’t just have everyone decide over the course of two miles when they think it’s appropriate to start a zipper merge; that’s not a zipper merge, that’s just changing lanes, and it creates unpredictable traffic patterns that lead to congestion. The end of the lane is obviously the best fixed point for everyone to merge because A) you utilize both lanes as long as possible for optimal efficiency and B) even the most oblivious dumb-ass knows they need to change lanes when they run out of lane.
Yes, that’s most efficient, but you know what hurts efficiency?
Assholes running up an empty lane just to expect to be let into a lane that’s ALREADY full.
That’s not zipper merging. That’s being an asshole cutting in line. It ONLY slows down the queue that, sure, should have formed at the end of the closed lane in an ideal world.
Though that fact doesn’t make them a zipper merger. They’re still an asshole further slowing traffic.
If you’re talking about someone exiting their lane to enter a lane that’s about to close in order to get ahead, sure,.that’s kinda a dick move, but if you’re saying that someone should leave their lane early because the lane that’s ending isn’t very busy, no, that’s wrong. Even if the closing lane is going much faster, when that lane ends, the driver will have to slow down to match the speed of the other lane and wait to be let in. The driver behind him will catch up, and a zipper merge will develop. They’re not doing anything wrong, you just mad that they’re passing you.
Also, a lane can never be, “full,” just busy. You think they’re at fault because they’re trying to get into a lane that’ doesn’t have room for them, but actually you’re at fault because you’re not making room for them.
lol Good job imagining smoothly flowing traffic. You must not live near a major city, because lane closures on highways always devolve into the exact scenario you’re attempting to ignore.
I’ve been stop-and-go traffic probably literally hundreds of times and that’s EXACTLY how people merge: by blazing past the already stopped traffic and cram in right at the last second.
I’ve only been in smoothly flowing yet dense traffic caused by lane closures maybe a handful of times. It worked out ONLY because traffic wasn’t yet dense enough to induce a rolling stop that’d bottleneck at the closure point.
The assholes rushing up to the end of a closed lane when traffic is already slow ARE NOT ZIPPER MERGING. They’re cutting in line. They’re further increasing traffic density, which ALWAYS slows even unrestricted traffic after a certain point.
That is why rolling stops happen even without lane closures or traffic accidents: people WILL slow down once density reaches a certain point, and cramming a closed lane full is INCREASING DENSITY.
This isn’t rocket science, yet a lot of you fuckwits are clearly still playing with crayons.
lol Good job imagining smoothly flowing traffic. You must not live near a major city, because lane closures on highways always devolve into the exact scenario you’re attempting to ignore.
Buddy, I live in fucking Boston. They shut down a lane going into the Sumner every morning, and yeah, it’s slow, but it doesn’t get backed up unless some dipshit decides he doesn’t want to let anyone in.
I’ve been stop-and-go traffic probably literally hundreds of times and that’s EXACTLY how people merge: by blazing past the already stopped traffic and cram in right at the last second.
If someone is trying to merge into another lane while traveling 20 mph faster than the lane they’re merging into, sure, that’s unsafe. But doing that a mile before the lane ends is also unsafe. The problem you’re describing is just speeding.
The assholes rushing up to the end of a closed lane when traffic is already slow ARE NOT ZIPPER MERGING. They’re cutting in line.
This is what you fundamentally don’t understand about the situation; you two are not in the same line. You are in line to move forward. They are in line to enter your line. When traffic in the lane that’s closing is light, it might feel unfair they go in front of you, but that’s just how it works. The fastest way to resolve the situation is for everyone in the open lane to let one car from the closing lane go in front of them when the lane ends.
They’re further increasing traffic density,
No they aren’t. Traffic density is increasing because the number of cars is remaining the same while the volume of road is reducing. Density is going to increase no matter what, but if you handle that increased density in an organized manner, like having all the cars merge at the same time (AKA a fucking zipper merge), you can reduce the slowdowns the increased density causes.
That is why rolling stops happen
Traffic waves (I assume thats what you mean, since rolling stops make no sense in this context) happen when someone experiences an unexpected traffic pattern and has to stop short, causing the person behind them to stop short, and so on. If you want to reduce traffic waves, the best thing you can do is behave as predictably as possible. Having everyone merge at a predictable time, (like, for example, at the end of a lane) is one of the best things you can do to prevent traffic waves.
people WILL slow down once density reaches a certain point, and cramming a closed lane full is INCREASING DENSITY.
Literally the opposite is true; the same number of cars spread over two lanes have a lower density than those cars spread over one lane. That’s what density means; a rock has a higher density than air because it has more matter crammed into the same volume. The density of the traffic will eventually increase no matter what when the second lane ends, you’re just advocating for that to happen sooner and in a more chaotic manner because you feel like you’re getting cut in line.
This isn’t rocket science, yet a lot of you fuckwits are clearly still playing with crayons.
Let ye who understands the concept of density cast the first stone.
I think you mean congestion. Gridlock is when cars attempt to cross an intersection during a green light even though there is too much traffic to pass completely, leaving them stranded mid-intersection when the light turns red, thereby blocking the perpendicular traffic from crossing the intersection when their light turns green (literally locking the grid).
That’s blocking the box, gridlock is just bumper to bumper traffic going stop and go in any condition.
Congestion is vehicles still in motion, but slowed down due to volume.
No, that’s definitely gridlock, blocking the box is just another name for it.
The term gridlock is also used to describe high traffic congestion with minimal flow (which is simply a traffic jam), where a blocked grid system is not involved. By extension, the term has been applied to situations in other fields where flow is stalled by excess demand, or in which competing interests prevent progress.
If there is a specific term, why continue to use the dated generic term that also means something else? A specific type of gridlock can also be blocking the box, it’s a generic term now.
I don’t know what to tell you, I’d literally never heard of," blocking the box," until you said it. Meanwhile, Gridlock is so ubiquitous and well understood that, as your quote points out, it’s a universal metaphor for a blockage or impass.
Also, if we just accept this vague use of gridlock, (I’ve never heard anyone is it for anything other than actual gridlock, but whatever) you realize that this quote explicitly states that some people use, “gridlock,” and, “traffic congestion,” interchangeably, meaning your claim thar, “gridlock,” means “stop and go traffic,” not, “contested traffic,” is flat out wrong, right?
How wide is your grid o.O?
Upvoting all of OPs posts because you gotta respect the commitment
