Situation 1: 2 lanes merging into 1: Simple: zipper merge as late as possible. People will refuse to do this and merge early making you feel guilty and penalizing the people in the through lane to the benefit of the late mergers in the merging lane.
Situation 2: Lane 2 and Lane 3 merge into Lane 1. A zipper at the 2/3 merge. Then a 2 for 1 zipper at the 2/1 merge. Never going to happen. Everyone piles into lane 2 and lane 1 early making them both slow…stay in lane 3 as long as possible and then lane 2 as long as possible.
Situation 3: A zipper merge to the left shortly after a red light (my daily drive home). Everyone should go 2 lanes through the red and then merge. But this holds up traffic turning right at the light (turn on red allowed). Most everyone cues up in the left lane, which can sometimes extend several light cycles. The one rare case I know of where drivers are being overly nice to strangers at their own expense.
yes, fair game to jump out and in. if everyone zippered, the lanes would be equal length and no one would be butt hurt that someone was jumping ahead.
The zipper mergers are correct, and also assholes.
The early mergers are keeping their place in line and not speeding ahead of as many as they can safely fit behind them. The people who pass those early mergers piss off the early mergers (and most everyone else) because they’re more important than everyone else who is patiently waiting their turn and getting pushed further back in traffic for waiting their turn.
It really doesn’t matter which way is ultimately faster; it’s about not being a carcissist and putting yourself above everyone else just because you can.
To those who would argue the late mergers are correct, how do you feel about people who are already merged but who jump out of line, speed to the front, and merge late? Fair game?
I’ll just say this: all those people who zipper merged before you arrived at the jam and “got in line,†saved you time because they didn’t just get in line too. So you should thank those people.
Also, if you then pull out of the line and zipper merge further up, you’re helping reduce delays of people who are going to get in line after you, so they should thank you!
The idiots are the ones who don’t zipper merge at all, and get all steamed up about the zipper mergers. They’re wasting their own time and getting angry in the process. Losers!
It really doesn’t matter which way is ultimately faster; it’s about not being a carcissist and putting yourself above everyone else just because you can.
Nope, the later that cars merge, the better it is, on average, for everyone. So, ideally, everyone should merge late. But, if they don’t, by merging as late as possible and getting others to do the same thing, you’re saving everyone fuel and time. And reducing air pollution.
It may seem weird, but you would actually be doing a public service.
Zipper merging should work best, in theory. In practice, no one seems to know how to practice it effectively. What typically happens is that the later mergers feel the need to go significantly faster than those who already merged. Then, the line sees this happening and, since they are traveling at slower speeds, purposely don’t leave sufficient gaps for someone to merge in. Now the speeders are stuck trying to force their way into the line causing someone in the line to slam on their brakes to avoid collision. Repeat ad infinitum. This creates a ripple effect, stupidly slow traffic, and a lot of negative emotions.
yes, fair game to jump out and in. if everyone zippered, the lanes would be equal length and no one would be butt hurt that someone was jumping ahead.
I think of it like the amusement park lines that split. No one ever thinks, “Hey, we all decided that we’re just going to get into one line. WTF are you doing using the open line?!”
I think the problem stems from a routine that people have gotten into since children of getting into a single line. I even found myself, several years ago in an international restaurant in Germany, blocking off two people from a culture that doesn’t do lines, who were trying to just push past everyone.
BUT, that was a situation where there wasn’t a clearly designated second line.
This seems to be a hotly debated topic, though from my observation seems to show that the large majority believe that you merge at the merge, with an angry minority who believe that you get over into the far lane as soon as possible and form a single line, and that anyone that doesn’t do that is an ass hole who deserves the highest level of scorn. Some take it so far as playing vigilante traffic cop and block both lanes.
To be clear, I’m not talking about waiting to the last minute to make a lane change. I’m talking about a lane that is about to end in stop and go traffic.
It seems to be about the attitude of the merger. What bugs people is the guy in the BMW who zips up the right lane at high rate of speed and then aggressively tries to merge in rather than waiting their turn. If I am in the left lane I let one car in to merge and if somebody else tries to take advantage I close the gap.
It really doesn’t matter which way is ultimately faster; it’s about not being a carcissist and putting yourself above everyone else just because you can.
Nope, the later that cars merge, the better it is, on average, for everyone. So, ideally, everyone should merge late. But, if they don’t, by merging as late as possible and getting others to do the same thing, you’re saving everyone fuel and time. And reducing air pollution.
It may seem weird, but you would actually be doing a public service.
This.
This seems to be a hotly debated topic, though from my observation seems to show that the large majority believe that you merge at the merge, with an angry minority who believe that you get over into the far lane as soon as possible and form a single line, and that anyone that doesn’t do that is an ass hole who deserves the highest level of scorn. Some take it so far as playing vigilante traffic cop and block both lanes.
To be clear, I’m not talking about waiting to the last minute to make a lane change. I’m talking about a lane that is about to end in stop and go traffic.
It seems to be about the attitude of the merger. What bugs people is the guy in the BMW who zips up the right lane at high rate of speed and then aggressively tries to merge in rather than waiting their turn. If I am in the left lane I let one car in to merge and if somebody else tries to take advantage I close the gap.
Same reply I gave to Slowguy. I think everyone agrees that those guys are douchebags.
Some people, however, believe that anyone, no matter how polite, who uses the full 2nd lane and merge at the merge instead of getting in line are in the wrong, deserving of scorn, and occasionally should be blocked by vigilante “get into 1 line” heros.
This seems to be a hotly debated topic, though from my observation seems to show that the large majority believe that you merge at the merge, with an angry minority who believe that you get over into the far lane as soon as possible and form a single line, and that anyone that doesn’t do that is an ass hole who deserves the highest level of scorn. Some take it so far as playing vigilante traffic cop and block both lanes.
To be clear, I’m not talking about waiting to the last minute to make a lane change. I’m talking about a lane that is about to end in stop and go traffic.
It seems to be about the attitude of the merger. What bugs people is the guy in the BMW who zips up the right lane at high rate of speed and then aggressively tries to merge in rather than waiting their turn. If I am in the left lane I let one car in to merge and if somebody else tries to take advantage I close the gap.
Same reply I gave to Slowguy. I think everyone agrees that those guys are douchebags.
Some people, however, believe that anyone, no matter how polite, who uses the full 2nd lane and merge at the merge instead of getting in line are in the wrong, deserving of scorn, and occasionally should be blocked by vigilante “get into 1 line” heros.
Ageed