I am a believer and practicer in zipper merge use in heavy traffic (we’ve had a number of discussion here on SDMB regarding this, for example).
I have discussed this concept with my husband, in particular, the use of the zipper merge at a particular point on my drive home from work. A link to the point on my commute is here.
Here is the situation:
I am heading north on Crowchild Trail. This is a three lane major artery that mostly runs N - S through the city, passing by downtown. Approaching the point shown in the map, the third right lane becomes an exit ramp on to Bow Trail East, and Crowchild turns in to a two lane road.
If I stay in the furthest right lane, the one that exits, until I get close to the point of the exit, I can bypass a LOT of stop and go traffic (it saves me almost 20+ minutes on my commute), primarily because few people use this lane. I merge in about 150 meters from the point where the third lane exits (we’re going about 5 to 10 km/hr here).
My husband says that since I know this lane ends (as a resident of the city and frequent driver of this road), I’m being an asshole by not moving in to the middle or left hand lane far in advance of the exit lane (1km +). I say I’m taking advantage of all available lanes until I need to merge in. Who’s right?
It depends. I see many people who use exit lanes to bypass a line of traffic, and then ‘force’ their way into the lane they need to be in – and also block people who really do want to exit. That’s being a jerk. If you can bypass the traffic and then merge without being a jerk, I don’t see anything wrong with it.
If you do it smoothly no problem. I have a similar situation going to work. Lanes are reversed as I am an Australian. I need to be in the left lane to turn off, but merging traffic fucks it up. I recently discovered that driving down the second lane past the merge allowed me to slot in without inconveniencing anyone. Once in a while I have to dawdle along to let the gap appear, but I’m sure I never make anyone more than 1 second late.
In this situation I don’t think you’re being a jerk.
When it’s a two lane highway and an exit lane is added and people pull into the exit lane to bypass traffic and pull back in - that’s the jerkish move.
If traffic is flowing, and you just use the lane until it comes to a merge, then that’s okay. If traffic in the left two lanes are stopped, and you use it to pass on the right, then you’re possibly breaking traffic laws and you’re being a jerk.
What if I had been in the right lane since the start of the road (about 7 or 8 km’s)? You’re saying that if I see traffic backed up in front of me in the left and middle lane, I should move over and get in the back of the line?
You are treating the right lane as a passing lane and will merge left at the last minute, or so, to save time. One of these days you are going to run into someone who is staying in the middle or left lane until the last minute and then crossing traffic to make the exit. There are likely to be more people doing this than what you are doing and their expectation is that all those people in the lane that will become the exit lane, will exit.
Safe driving involves quite a bit of unspoken communication between drivers. I think you are giving other drivers the wrong indication of what you mean to do, by not doing what could reasonably be expected for a car in the soon to exit lane. Which is to exit.
Something doesn’t sound right. Knowing people, and if it did save 20 minutes by driving in the right lane, then a lot of people would be driving in the right lane. There are a lot of impatient drivers out there who would easily start to clue in on the big time saver.
I’m guessing it only saves you a few minutes and that’s the reason no one else is doing it. In other words they realize that it’s better to spend a couple of minutes in line than be a jerk. If it saved 20 minutes most people would start taking the jerk path.
Well, If you are not crossing a solid white line when you merge in, it’s not against the law. But this is a very contentious move at least in the opinions of the people on the SDMB. Without actually driving this, I have to side with your husband.
When you merge late, it will slow down the traffic in the through lanes. Sucks for them, better for you. And, you may very well be slowing down people in the turn lane that would otherwise have smooth sailing. Again, sucks for them, but better for you.
Do you block any traffic? Do you depend on someone letting you in? If you have to do either of these things, then you need to get in line and wait your turn in congested traffic like everyone else. I run into congested lanes of people waiting their turn on my commute, too (McKnight and Deerfoot Trail/Centre Street) - I could drive past the line and cut in at the last minute, depending on someone less aggressive than I am to let me in, but I don’t do that, because it’s not cool.
This would never happen in this situation. Those that are planning on exiting would be in that lane already, rather then waiting in the middle lane until the last minute. I should also add, that in addition to people like me, there is one other lane of traffic entering this exit lane about 350 meters back from where the exit is, so it’s a combination of people like me, and other vehicles that have just entered the roadway (and usually trying to merge in just like me).
And it does save me time. I’ve experimented with all lanes. The middle is the worst, with my commute home being upwards of an hour. The left lane is a bit better, and is closer to 40 - 45 (though if I travel in the left lane, I later have to move over one lane right to take my exit further down the road). In the right lane, where I merge in, I take around 30 minutes, sometimes less.
I think this road is actually an example of really poor infrastructure in the city. The main road (Crowchild) goes from three to two lanes for about 250 meters (this is the point on the map I’m talking about). Then back to three lanes (two lanes from downtown merging in to one lane on the left-most side of the road) for another 200 meters or so. Then the right lane again turns in to an exit lane (the one I take) and it’s back down to two lanes for 200 meters until a new lane merges in from the right and it turns back in to three lanes. It’s nuts.
No, I never block traffic. It’s those that are merging in farther back that are blocking traffic. Where I merge in, people are getting back up to speed a bit (around 15 km/hr) and there are gaps between the vehicles that I can get in to.
I guess…but what about the other traffic that has just come in to that lane. One could argue the same for them. Should they immediately merge in as soon as they enter the roadway or keep moving forward until they find a spot to keep traffic moving?
Backtracking up the road a bit, there is a sign over the freeway which reads “Bow Trail East Exit Only”. This is about 1000 feet South of the point the OP marked.
About 150 feet past (i.e. North of) this sign, the dashes between the right and middle lanes change to become more numerous. I think it is perfectly acceptable to use the right lane until here, it’s a three lane freeway until there. Then you need to get over, not continue passing people in that lane.
Crowchild is dreadful in rush hour. I avoid it like the plague.
Would it work ok if everyone, or enough people to equally fill the lane did it? Would traffic still function well or better? I do the same thing at that spot and I think it is not only appropriate but proper use of the resources at hand - as long as you are not interfering with people exiting - get out before you are.
I get annoyed when I have lined up with the plebes for an exit or lane that nearly everyone needs to get into and someone skirts around in an empty lane to butt-in in the last minute. The best example I can think of is Southbound Sarcee Trail exiting on to southbound Crowchild in morning rush hour. The right hand lane of Sarcee backs up all the way up to John Laurie. It can take ten minutes to go a kilometer. There are always some jokers that stay in the left lane and then change to the right as people start moving into the exit lane, then wait for someone to let them in. They are selfish bastards.
Where appropriate though it makes sense to use all of the lanes, and merging to make the best use of a road’s traffic carrying capabilities. Assuming people are courteous and let each other in, and alternate where appropriate this is the way to do things.
Where two lanes can be safely used to feed a choke point it makes sense to use both of them; it uses the capacity of the road to its fullest.
Here is your problem. You have to remember one thing, only so many people can go through a point on that 2 lane road over a given period of time (say 100 cars/ minute).
That road is at a chokepoint because it can only handles 100 cars/ minute and it is at 100% capacity. By you scooting in, you don’t temporarily make the road handle 101%. The car you directly scooted in front of was comfortable with the distance between himself and the car in front of him, and now he must apply his brakes to reinstate that distance between himself and you. This makes all the cars behind him have to slow down.
By you scooting ahead you actively make everyone else wait longer.
