Ah, yes, the Theoretical Last-Minute Zipper Merge. Like unfettered libertarianism, it would be a wonderful solution if it had even the tiniest chance in hell of working in the real world, human nature being what it is.
I see it working every day. Human nature being what it is.
The idea that some people can get so butthurt about someone else using a legally open lane is astonishing.
What do you mean? It works all of the time. Try it yourself, it’ll work for you every time.
Is there a chance you will annoy one, two or even three drivers at the end of the line while they in their righteous anger and pitiful ignorance attempt to block your car out of the way? Yes, there is a chance.
But once you steel your feelings and get past that moment, voila, you are in the queue. And you’re ahead of all the other traffic you would have been stuck behind earlier.
AND… best of all… you actually did your part to make the queue move faster.
That’s the part that’s lost on the “wait in line!” folks-- the late mergers are actually doing you (and us all) a favor. By merging at the end of the line, they are just as likely to merge into a lane as they would earlier on, but they aren’t holding up as much traffic. Which means, again, if everyone does this, your traffic jams start to disappear, and life gets better for everyone.
I agree with the comments up thread about “merging when appropriate,” i.e. if traffic is already moving, you merge when it makes sense, and keep traffic flowing. But if traffic is already stopped, then the only rational decision at that point is to drive until the end of the merge. It’s rational for you-- you get to your destination faster-- and it’s rational for all the other cars in the queue-- you chose the most logical merge point in the queue.
OFF-TOPIC BUT RELATED: A corrolary to the whole merge discussion is the braking discussion. I forgot where I learned it, whether in driver’s ed or from my parents, but among the most valuable lessons in life I have ever received is this: never press your brakes on a highway unless you absolutely need to. Every time you brake, your red lights force the people behind you to brake, until eventually the jam begins.
Next time traffic slows down in front of you, step off the gas, let yourself slow down, BUT DON’T BRAKE. Set a new traffic speed, even if it’s ridiculously slow, because you’ll do your part to prevent the jam.
I too let up on the gas instead of braking, but I do that to save money, not to avoid traffic jams. I wonder if it is effective to avoid congestion, since while sometimes the car behind me also slows down rather than applies their brakes, just as often, the car behind me doesn’t notice me for a second because they didn’t see the brake light come on, and they then slam on their brakes and cause even more congestion than I would have created by applying the brakes.
Works every day where I live. Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, both ways, during rush hour. No joke.
Actually, I saw a great example of this out in Mumbai when travelling for work. A road which is two lanes in each direction, during rush hour, becomes spontaneously (and without any involvement of the authorities) a three lane road in the direction of the traffic pressure. As we returned in the evening, it was three lanes the other way.
The main difficulty with the argument that the zipper merge only works in theory is that the auto-centipede-everyone-gets-his-feelings-hurt one lane strategy doesn’t work for shit in practice or in theory. If I’m in the left lane and try to merge a mile and a half before the zipper, it isn’t like that’s going to be seamless. Some jerkoff is still going to have a momentary anopsia to the extent required to speed up and close the gap I’m trying to enter. If I go anyway, that driver is still going to act like my car just impregnated their car.
Everybody’s a dick, all right? Let’s just assume that and move on to the part where our cars go places. Two lanes, two places to drive. The other car is going to get in front of you. Stop acting surprised. You aren’t fucking surprised. Where else was it going?
As I mentioned above: "I see the theory in action and working on the roads of Chicago whenever I come across merge situations like this. So this isn’t some abstract philosophical concept that only exists in the mind of traffic theorists; it plays out on the roads every day. "
Several posters have reported the same. I don’t understand why people act like the idea of a zipper merge is beyond the ability of human nature. Every time I see traffic lights out, people seem to be able to figure out how to take turns without killing each other. Zheesh. Give people a little credit, here.
I tend to merge early if given enough warning, then use that power for good, by allowing one late merger to “zipper-merge” where other arseholes would be hugging bumpers like it was a sideshow ride. It helps that I don’t give a fuck what other drivers think of me and don’t lose my cool over a little thing like waiting an extra 30 secs for someone to pull in ahead of me, sheeesh.
I’ve made a few of those comments. It really depends on the traffic situation. But, with that said, I have often seen the folks that are oblivious to all the warning signs and end up stopped in front of the BIG ASS FLASHING ARROW, that then have to force there way into moving traffic, and those that try to use this as a way to pass a little traffic, and then force there way in causing the brake lights to go on all the way down the line and generaly screwing up the flow of traffic.
I think it has to do with traffic pressure. If there’s enough traffic to slow everyone below 10 mph, people zipper-merge just fine. It’s the 20-30 mph merge that gets messy.
I have noticed that being in the merging side tends to be the fastest side.
I think the reason the famous Zipper Merge doesn’t work in real life is because one lane ends and must merge into the other - that means that some drivers lose, and the other drivers win. 
(If you don’t think driving is competitive, you haven’t been on a city road lately.)
Zheesh. It DOES work in Real Life and I live in the third-largest city in the US. Why are people continually stating this as a fact, given numerous observations to the contrary?
What we’re seeing here is a big example of how the SDMB is ground zero for fighting ignorance. There have been numerous posts with multiple cites to studies clearly showing the effectiveness of late, “zipper”-style merging (in heavy traffic), and numerous anecdotes from posters describing its effectiveness where they live.
And yet … we still see poster after poster crying about how butt-hurt there are about people doing something perfectly legal, and arguing against citation and fact repeatedly.
And numerous observations to contradict you. I don’t live in a big city. I live in the mountains. Try the zipper merge at 50mph on a curvey mountain road and get back to me.
Early merging works much, much better when traveling at near highway speeds. I will zipper in the city, and feel sorry for folks that have to put up with such traffic on a day to day basis.
Perhaps those ‘city’ folks don’t understand that when you have open lanes, and traffic is moving at near the speed limit, it is much, much better to merge early to keep traffic flowing and not cause traffic surges with a late merge. I don’t know why THAT is so hard to understand.
I do see people that try to zip past a little traffic and end up causing everyone to slow down when they try to merge at the lane end because they have run out of options.
Either because –
- They were simply not paying any attention that their lane was about to end.
- They are assholes and don’t care if they slow everyone else down.
There are MANY different driving conditions (every day really). The ‘zipper’ is not always best. Nor is early merging in the city. Most people/drivers do drive in the city. I believe that those drivers should also understand the advantages of the early merge.
Works both ways.
And you’ve been given enough explanations, including a detailed description in the OP, that this has nothing to do with merging at highway speeds.
The OP describes a situation in which she goes bumper-to-bumper with the car ahead of her in order to block people trying to merge into the lane. There is no way that this could have anything to do with driving at highway speeds.
It can be even worse when the merge point is a moving object-- a slow truck going over a hill. Happens all the time here going over Hwy 17 to Santa Cruz. Lots of slow trucks, and people keep racing up to the truck, then cutting over into the left lane so that those of us already in the left lane can seemingly never get past the truck. Assholes. I don’t let them in. They know exactly what they’re doing.
I think you need to read the whole thread. We’ve already gone over that and most everyone agrees with this point. We’re talking about slow traffic merging / zipper merge, not highway speeds.
This? Again!?
Yeah, they’re making efficient use of all legal lanes. You’re the one acting all douchy. :rolleyes: Why do you feel compelled to back up the highway even further by only using a single lane when there are multiple ones open?
“Most everyone”. So there are still folks that don’t understand it. What can I say? It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
Just like it’s a peeve of the folks that live in more confined areas that get a bit perturbed at people that don’t zipper merge.
We even?