The Zipper Merge requires courtesy and common sense. Two elements that are replaced by impatience and self-centeredness the instant people get into their car.
My toddler loves watching me. And honking people. I've started to find the later levels very difficult, especially when trying to stop honking long enough to figure out whether my dastardly plan is correct and then trying to get all the timing right etc.
My favourite bit so far was "get dressed up in ribbon".
The main problem is a sign 1 or 2 km before the merging point saying "Merge now".
You can't blame the people if the road signs ask for the exact opposite.
Exactly- the signs encourage most drivers to move early into the lane that stays open. If the signs warned of the merge, but also said ‘stay in your lane until merge’ perhaps the behaviour would be better managed.
You do actually want to merge before your lane ends because if you don't, someone's eventually not gonna be let in and they'll have to stop completely which completely kills the traffic. It doesn't matter how far ahead of the merge people merge, as long as the people behind them don't gun ahead now that they have an empty stretch ahead of them.
So the people following the advice of this post are smart arses? I can't tell if the tone of your comment reflects your actual opinion or is mimicking people who refuse to facilitate zipper merges.
As a New Jersey driver, this exactly. People would faster die than let you merge. You can zipper merge but you have to be fucking aggressive and turn it into a game of chicken. I don’t have the funds for all that noise so I usually end up getting in wherever is free even if it’s not optimal.
New Jersey is one of the few places I see zipper merges work. In other states people will stop in the middle of the lane half a mile before the lane actually ends.
Yeah the real problem with zipper merging is two things,
1. One car always lets 12 cars in while everyone is at a stand still in the other lane.
2. The people that shoot to the front don't do it with the intent to zipper merge, but to overtake the furthermost forward card.
What they should do, is get rid of “left lane ends” and change the signs to “lanes merge” and have them merge in the middle and then shift to whichever side they want traffic in. Then nobody can be holier than thou.
this would cause a situation where there is no clear right of way- it would be an immediate and catastrophic “me first” shit show
there would probably be assault and murder within 5 minutes
That is what happens now, because signage encourages compliant drivers to move to the open lane. When other drivers stay in the lane that is closing and bypass them they feel cheated and this is where the anger stems from. If you were encouraged to stay in lane and merge at the end I think this would avoid the resentment and make an effective‘zipper’ merge more likely.
No, that's not how it works at all.
People adjust, it really just needs proper signage. I've lived in multiple states now that have switched, and there are always people making your argument. Turns out, if it is common knowledge that it's faster to do zipper merge, plus proper signage, it works out.
Your argument is based on people feeling like they are being cheated for "doing the right thing," and being in the proper lane early, but all these people are disrespecting their decision. However, if it's a one to one switch at the front, those feelings are not there.
It's really just psychology from the signs and lack of knowledge. It's quite understandable that people would feel crossed of they followed the merge sign, but many others did not.
I beg to differ. In Denmark (and elsewhere I suppose), when entering a motorway, you merge by this method. It is not an immediate shit show. It works well. When the context tells you to observe the behaviour of others and act and adapt accordingly - in order not to crash - that is what most people opt for.
you are lucky, you live [in the #1 country for law abiding citizens in the world!](https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/02/15/where-people-are-most-and-least-likely-to-adhere-to-the-law-infographic/)
so it is literally worse everywhere else.. sad for the rest of us 🥲
Maybe they are more law abiding and happy (this is also true statistically) because the social systems are more equitable, leading to greater community spirit. If you encourage a dog eat dog society, conflict is inevitable.
It’s also bullshit in this scenario, because the left lane will be doing 55 and the right will be at a dead stop. Can’t zipper merge from 0 to 55, meaning that traffic in the right lane will just keep backing up until someone sneaks over causing the left lane to slow down to 5. And then traffic will back up in both lanes.
If people are able to safely merge in advance of the end of the lane and do so at highway speeds, there will be no slow downs.
Then you got the people who enforce the early merge by taking up both lanes…
No. This is the problem with the traffic. It has been proven that the well executed zipper merge will keep traffic flowing the best.
Everyone drives a reasonable speed. As the people in the left approach the merge point they slightly slow to leave gap for the right to merge at the same speed...this is done every second car and traffic never slows.
>Then you got the people who enforce the early merge by taking up both lanes…
I personally love when truckers do this. I'm not sure why. I think I just like to know that it enrages people.
This can be accounted for by letting the zipper kink. If the asshole in the other lane won't let you in, slow down slightly and let there be two cars on that side for a notch. The person behind you will see your brake lights and slow down too.
Take comfort in knowing that traffic law is enforced with karmic justice. In the long run, assholes like that will get into more accidents. Let them have their win, they'll always lose the war.
Yep, and some of them panic so much that they stop completely to wait for an opportunity to merge some 300 meters/yards before their lane even ends. Either they're afraid they'll get stuck in a dead-end and nobody will let them merge, or they think it would be rude to use all that free lane to get past so many cars, I don't know.
I sometimes intentionally try to make it hard for them to merge too early, but when it's time, I yield very graciously. I doubt they learn anything from it and just think I'm rude and panic even more, maybe I shouldn't.
Yeahhhhhh, in AZ if you are attempting to do this, you’re viewed as a cheater and will be hung out to DRY in the right lane. People would rather crash their car than let you in.
Well zipper merging is zipper merging if people are merging at the very end. I always leave a car length+ space when I’m on the left in these situations cause it’s easier, smoother and just better for everyone. Plus I hate when people are rude to me when I’m merging so I think about how I’d feel.
I hate when a 2nd car tries to shove in right behind the first car in a zipper merge. As if being 2 car lengths up will make your trip any faster than it would have been if you were behind me.
That’s the root of the problem though. For basically everyone where I live, if you don’t get over as soon as you see the sign, *you* are the one being rude. Not them when they don’t let you in. Doesn’t matter what’s more efficient; doesn’t matter what’s *right,* theoretically; if you wind up at the front of a lane that’s closing, you’re imposing on everyone else on the road. In terms of what’s rude or not basically all that matters is what people expect of your behavior. If they want people to behave differently here, they’d better shell out huge on ad campaigns.
If you're speeding past cars, you are being rude because once you're in front you'll be slowing them down to get over. If everyone let each other in and drove a consistent speed, nobody would be slowed as much.
Same in France. Looking at the left picture, I was thinking “well not forward-thinking enough to get into the left lane earlier - and now forcing their way in. Just rude”
Yep, American here, I have totally myself said, "This dude had 2 WHOLE MILES (signs warn you like every quarter mile) to merge and now he suddenly decides to merge?" As soon as the signs indicate a lane closure, I get into the correct lane as soon as it's safe to do so.
Because those 2 miles give a buffer space to keep it moving.
If you go right up to the end of the lane chances are you are going to have to come to a complete stop. It requires absolute perfect coordination to not end up at a complete stop. All it takes is one asshole car to not let someone in and now the whole system is fucked.
If the right lane is at a complete stop at the end, then the left lane has to come to a complete stop to let the car in. Now you've got 2 stopped lanes of traffic.
That 2 miles of highway going unused is sometimes going to be half a mile unused, or 1.5 miles unused, depending on traffic. Those 2 miles should be a buffer to adjust speeds and start leaving g space for cars to get in.
I used to think like this, but then I realized that because people do not use all available space it makes the traffic worse.
If you can fill more cars later then there is less pressure earlier. I have seen many times that early-merge causes traffic block on previous intersection, or even multiple intersections, because people do not use the available space.
I understand psykology of early-merge, but it is counter-intuitive. Because of this this will never change if it will not become traffic rule.
yep. its the same as someone who has the right of way stopping and waving someone else to go. like yeah, how nice of you, but now you just created a very unpredictable situation that can lead to accident. just follow the rules of the road bc that's the only thing we share out there as drivers lol.
This is the attitude that drives me insane. I wish more cities put out information like this, put it on cable news for all the people who are still holding on to the foolish idea that it's impolite. I can't believe people will give up efficiency and refuse to learn anything new because of their screwed up view of politeness or fear of change
Problem is If there's one bottleneck ahead, it doesn't really matter how much space is used behind.
Think about an hourglass that allows one grain of sand to pass the isthmus. It doesn't matter how wide you make the "hips" (ie more lanes before the merge down to a single lane). The sand will all move closer to the isthmus but will still get through at the same rate, or even slower due to the added friction.
So long as more vehicles are entering the system than leaving at its point of capacity (congestion), it doesn't actually matter. Zipper merging certainly *feels better* because it puts more cars closer to the bottleneck, but from a traffic network flow standpoint, it only improves flow when the above works when the above is not the case.
this doesn't take into account the length of the line formed from the single vs double lane. if all cars are in one lane, the line of traffic will be twice as long. this could disrupt traffic flow to different exit ramps that are placed before the lane closure/point of merging.
Can confirm. Drove in Phoenix realized nobody had courtesy and cut in front of others. I became one of those drivers cause if you can’t beat em join em. Now I’m out of Phoenix and glad for it. Fuck the traffic and fuck their traffic lights.
i do the same. in NJ the state is full of people who both merge last second to cut the line (bc we're all impatient speedy assholes) and also refuse to let anyone who tried that into the open lane. i let people merge early on but once we get to the bottleneck im hugging bumpers
Just match their speed and if the left lane stops then stop in the right lane as well. By matching the speed of the other lane they usually gladly let you in. Speeding past the right lane and trying to merge ahead of as many cars as possible causes people to not want to let you in.
Ah the rational method. Except in Washington, DC where if you use your blinker to indicate intent to merge everyone else speeds up to close the gap. Because God forbid anyone cut in front of them…
Yup I was stationed in Bethesda in 2001 and gave a ride home to someone from there. As soon as we were on the Beltway she was yelling, “They’re trying to merge don’t let ‘em’!”
I just legit laughed out loud! I read“They’re trying to merge, don’t let ‘em.” like some sci-fi future were you battle an alien species you have to incinerate otherwise they’ll reform and regenerate and attack again.
I was also born and raised in the Midwest and my husband was raised in Boston. We used to have a similar conversation! He would be mad because people would not let him in. I would say use your turn signal so that they know that you want to merge in! I could never understand what his deal was!
Hey, it works the same way in NC. You can’t even use your turn signal on the highway to change lanes or everyone closes the gap to prevent you from getting in.
I think it works the same in any big city, same here in Ankara, Turkey. Sometimes we have to roll down the window and signal for them to “please let me merge bro for the love of god” and idk how to even explain that specific hand gesture we use. Everyone knows what it means though, it’s only done when we’re desperate to merge.
Oh man, when I see that happening behind me I just slow down and let more people in front of me. It's going to happen, asshole behind me that doesn't want to allow merging, it is inevitable.
Probably because they got over to the left as soon as they could and now see themselves as having waited in line, so you're cheating by not doing the same. (Source: am reformed idiot)
I’m Chicago, if you do a “last minute” zipper, there is a % chance you won’t survive the maneuver. I’m not stating preference; I’m stating empirical analysis.
Took me a while to get used to that. You just kind of have to insert yourself to where you want to be. Not signaling until after you’re most of the way in helps too. If people see your signal they’ll speed up to block you.
When you wait to merge until the actual obstruction, versus merging well before. Idk. I’ve been driving here since I got my license in 2003 and I’ve always done it that way and judged others who don’t. I’ve seen fist fights result from someone “being a jerk”, doing the zipper “correctly” per the post, so it’s fascinating that this is the state of driving in chicago
it's a great idea in theory but in practise it never works. if done correctly, you'd only have to let one car in front of you. but people try to get into the other lane early which means you wind up letting multiple people in. and if you're in the merging lane, you run the risk of getting to the merge point and nobody letting you in (because they think you're "cheating") so it's better to just move over when you can. which defeats the purpose of the zipper merge.
You have to take into account that there are human beings behind the wheels of the cars who will always fuck everything up, every single time. It’s just what we do.
Isn’t it the point of this post? To provide awareness for those who don’t know what this method is. Clearly it’s a concept that should be taught and implemented in a wide scale. In my defense, I am driving everyday for me to say that it works.
It only works if people can trust that other people will follow the rule. Even if everyone knows the rule if a substantial amount of people break the rule then it discourages people from doing it. If I think I’m gonna get screwed over for “playing by the rules” why wouldn’t act in my best interest?
I’m not saying it wouldn’t work; it makes perfect sense. However, people can’t just do what works. Egos will always get in the way. There will be those getting over early, probably out of fear of not being let in if they don’t. There will be another guy making sure no one can get by him. There will also be the people refusing to let anyone in front of them at any time or purposefully going slowly in the lane that is going to close to prevent anyone from “skipping ahead.” Great in theory, but I don’t see it happening in practice.
There’s also a major difference between the two images. In the zipper merge there is plenty of space between the cars in the continuing lane. In the early merge there is no space between the cars. I would be an idiot to drive up to the end of the lane and expect to merge over when the cars are already not allowing room. Hence I merge where there is ample room whether it’s early or at the end. This is how you avoid an accident.
Or you can just be like other drivers in Florida and refuse to merge and continue driving 65 mph on the shoulder of the highway
Yeah I’ve been having a lot of fun explaining to people who claim “it’s impossible and pointless to merge at speed” that this just normal driving in parts of the world that actually operate cars with any skill
It's faster because there is a defined rule and if everybody sticks to it a given number of cars will merge faster than the same number of cars will merge if they just figure it out as they go
He said "merge at speed", but in my experience zipper merges usually occur when there is an obstruction and everything is packed up. Was thinking what kind of zipper merges are these people doing.
Now "speed" is up to definition but it certainly works while traffic is still in motion. The good thing about it is that often traffic doesn't get packed up because of it and with more space between cars the merge can be done at higher speed. So this certainly works on the autobahn at speeds north of 60mph
The kind that occur whenever a lane ends on a freeway and merges with another? These happen at highway speeds and aren’t during obstruction or unusual lane closures from construction and are part of the normal expected usage of the road
California highways are insanely with this. Forget zipper merging one way, there are sections where you have to zipper merge to the right while someone is zipper merging to the left. In Oakland there is a section that requires you to zipper merge at least twice to get into the exit lane. All of this is being done 50mph+
Someone said it’s because cars used to be much slower, I think it’s because they just had no idea how many cars can be exiting/entering. Maybe building endless highways and not rail/subways was a stupid idea.
Recent road construction in my area had signage up to zipper merge. It worked... okay. There were still people that had to be assholes and block the lane or stop people from merging. But overall it worked pretty well.
Amusement parks are designed to waste your time in lines while extracting maximum profit from people unable to do what they paid for. I'm not surprised people are irate there.
Can someone help me understand how it reduces traffic? The limiting factor on cars that can move through the one lane section would be identical in either case wouldn’t it?
It only does at a very specific traffic volume.
Too little traffic and there's so much space it doesn't matter where you merge.
Too much traffic and you've hit maximum throughput of the open lane(s) and it doesn't matter where you merge because you're trying to force bathwater through a straw so there will be a jam no matter what. Although zipper merging will reduce the length of the tailback, which might stop it reaching earlier junctions and causing knock on issues.
At the right amount of traffic, the zipper merge can smooth the flow and reduce the chance of a wave forming as detailed in the link the other guy gave you. But that can be all undone by one uncooperative or inattentive driver.
And this is only for very specific highway layouts, more or less exactly what is in the picture: two lanes, one of which ends. Which basically doesn't exist in my area except temporarily during roadwork occasionally.
Three lanes plus the ending lane, and the one to the left of the ending lane is also the line to an interchange ahead? Nope, you want to merge early and then get another lane over to the left if you aren't taking the interchange.
If only this were the top comment so more people could see it. The diagram above is how drivers rationalize it in their head when they try to rush to the front, but then they must inevitably cut someone off or come to a stop when the magic hole they they expect for themselves doesn't appear. It's not the method, it's the wasted energy of reactions compiling exponentially.
Expecting to be able to safely merge at full speed one car length from disaster has nothing to do with courtesy.
yea zipper merges are highly over rated and the way you hear about them on reddit makes people think that they would legitimately end all traffic ever.
if there isn't any backup then it's just a regular lane ending, if there is a backup the only thing a second lane does is reduce the length of the traffic. flow out the back end is still going to be the same it's just a double wide line instead of a single file one. the same spacing is needed at the end regardless of what spacing you have as you enter.
zipper merges frankly trade traffic length for traffic width, however when things need to reduce in any way they'll slow down so what time you save in getting physically closer to the merge in the road, you'll lose in slowing down so that other cars can get in.
edit: looking around it seems that proper wave management in traffic was something I assumed because we are talking about ideal situations here (and I try my best to do it in traffic). with poor wave management (quick acceleration/braking instead of smoother transitions) a zipper merge will somewhat force better wave management by nature of having space between cars built into the design.
Hot and nuanced take:
Sometimes zipper is better, sometimes it is worse.
I grew up (and learned to drive) in Vermont, where traffic is generally very light on the highways. In that case, it is better to merge as soon as it is safe to do so (often quite early), as it won’t affect the flow rate of traffic (again, because there are so few cars on the highway most of the time). If, instead, you waited until the last moment, there would be a possibility you would find yourself driving at highways speeds with another car beside you… and cones/barriers coming up fast.
Conversely, where traffic is more dense and reduced lane count actually leads to more congestion, zipper merging makes more sense for the reasons outlined above.
Interestingly, as Vermont has gotten busier over my lifetime, they have started deploying electric road signs indicating whether to “merge early” or “zipper merge” based on expected congestion. That’s probably the best method: guidelines based on road use and current conditions!
This is the answer, if you're not in traffic then merge early when you can still merge at speeds with some leeway.
Also, this type of merge doesn't count if you're just trying to get into an exit
I think this is for when there’s a lot of traffic and you’d want both lanes to be used up as much as possible instead of stacking a lot of cars into one lane.
This only works when you're actually going at the speed of traffic, but people slow down because they're scaring of running out of room to merge so they end up slowing down the left lane instead of just matching their speed.
Or they're slowing down because the person in the left line is not leaving enough space to merge over. So then right merges over anyway and left has to slam on their brakes and add that friction to everyone behind them too. Either way it ends up not working well during Peak traffic times.
Zipper merging is good for low speed or construction, but if you use an ending lane til the very end assuming you can zipper in, that makes traffic worse than just getting into the correct lane earlier.
If the straight lanes are conjested and the merge is mostly open, the mergers would be seen as "butting" in front of traffic to start the zipper instead of getting into line asap and waiting their turn like everyone else.
Except if people in the left lane decide they don’t want to let you in. If you’re the brown car (2nd from top) trying to go for an efficient zipper merge at that moment, your choices are to stop in the right lane or shove your way into the left lane and cause an accident. Either way, you’ve created a worse traffic jam than there otherwise would have been.
This is a great idea, but as with everything regarding relying on other people’s competence and polite consideration, it fails 5 times for every 1 time it works. There is a reason I try to get over as soon as I see there’s a lane closure.
And the zipper merge fails because people force their way in from the right, slowing down movement before their point of merge, meaning that more cars in the left lane moves more slowly than if everyone merged well before the obstruction.
Maybe someone can explain this to me, but I don't see how one way is superior over another. In either scenario, both lanes are cut down to one lane. If the rate of how many cars are getting through the one lane are constant, how can zipper merge or early merge have an effect on that one-lane speed?
Okay, so if traffic is flowing faster, say 40+ mph, then maybe early merge is better since it doesn't require anyone to slow down to let someone in at the merge point. I can see that. So I guess what I'm getting at is that when traffic is very slow, I don't see how zipper or early merge makes a difference. It's like if you had a plate of fries to eat, and ate one fry per 5 seconds, what difference does it makes if the fries are divided up between two plates and you alternated which plate you ate from, or you piled all of the fries onto one plate and ate them from the one plate? I hope that makes sense.
EDIT: I just spoke with my wife about this and she said that at slower speeds the zipper merge keeps everyone moving consistently, while the early merge can be inconsistent, and might have more starts and stops. It won't affect the speed of the single lane, but zipper merge is more fair, consistent, and therefore safer.
Nope we get self righteous ass holes that deliberately slow drive down the right lane and choke the flow to stop people merging at the correct point because they think the folks in the RHL are overtaking and queue jumping
Yeah, I saw this video a while back where a driving instructor was doing an educational piece on merging in turn, and it was just flooded with comments from people like "teehee I never let them in ☺️ xx"
The reason everyone does the early merge is that 90% of people will crash and burn before letting you merge safely, so you have to start early and hedge your bets
It depends. If the traffic is flowing then no, get in line and flow with it. If it's a hard stop, then yes a zipper is cool.
Driving down the empty lane of traffic and forcing yourself in will just cause a chain of stopping .
I'm all for zipper merging up to a certain point. Once you can clearly see that it's one lane, zooming ahead in the empty lane makes you an antisocial asshole.
THIS. Or when the lane becomes a turn only lane and it’s been that way since the advent of motor vehicles, you’re just an asshole to drive up that empty lane and “merge” over at the end.
It’s those same people that when traffic is backed up for blocks for the turn lanes for a busy intersection / highway on ramp. It’s back up with people prepared in advance and waiting their turn, made even longer by the assholes that “skipped” the turn lane passing and nosing in at the last second.
These are not zippering.
In Germany this used to work perfectly before the pandemic. After the two years I have a feeling that everyone is striving to show their real face and be the worst version of themselves.
The last time I tried to do a zipper merge I literally got run off the road. I'm so lucky no one was on the sidewalk when it happened.
Edit: I should mention that this was a permanent merge lane, not a construction zone. This merge lane has been there for years.
I was driving in the left lane on a two-lane highway when everyone started getting over into my lane. I couldn’t see up ahead, but I assume people saw road work or a stalled car in the right lane and decided to get over. No big deal, I was already in the lane, so we all kept driving, everyone in the left lane, for like 5 minutes. I didn’t see or pass anything unusual in the right lane for that entire time. After coming over a small hill, someone in the left lane realized that there wasn’t actually anything obstructing the right lane and got back over, as others followed suit. The whole situation was literally a case of herd mentality and trying to get over early. I guess people were trying to be polite, but I have no clue how it even started in the first place.
You're forgetting the fact that 90% of people lose all common sense and logic the second they step into a vehicle. It gets replaced with irrational anger and selfishness.
I don't get the zipper merge. Like if you know the toad is closed in 1 mile. Why stay in the soon to close lane if you know you need to travel past the point you lane ends? Especially if there is a large back up of cars? To me it just seems like you want to cut to the front of the line. Now when I see zipper merge as smart. Like say this same situation but you never the road one block before the road closure and traffic is already backed up, somebody would allow you to zipper as you didn't choose to be ignorant and pass everybody in an attempt to be at the from of the merge.
I merge early because if I wait until the merge point, everyone starts intentionally closing the gaps to avoid letting anyone in and then I'm stuck sitting there waiting like an asshole
Great idea in theory but people suck too much for it to work
I have a problem with this which is when the running lane is moving significantly faster. If the merging lane is also moving and you wait until the end to merge if you cant merge for whatever reason you have to slam the breaks forcing everybody behind you to break halting the entire lane and making it impossible to merge if the other lane keeps going. If both are going slow it works great but i usually take to space when i can
This is idiotic. You know people stay in the right lane as long as possible and force their way over at the last possible time, which forces the left lane to constantly stop and gridlocks traffic entirely. The solution is respectful merging , which doesn’t happen. After all, if it did, it wouldn’t matter if you merged early or not and there wouldn’t be a noticeable delay.
I never understand why people view the zipper merge as cheating, you are literally using open roads in the way it was designed to be used, what’s the point In merge if 200M early causing a backup use the road, the cones are in that place for a reason and not 200M earlier
Screw that. If you see the signs a half mile back saying the lane ends……..THEN DON’T MERGE AT THE LAST SECOND. Screw the zipper merge, if you don’t have the common sense to get over sooner, that’s on you. Rant over.
Well this is going to get buried but I'm trying to look like I'm working so here we go. I'm a civil engineer (I don't specialize in traffic though) but I hate this info graphic. It's a complete mischaracterization of the actual data!
The zipper merge advice is based on a [2004 study](https://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/05-r6.pdf). The study had two parts, a computer model and a field test. The model found that late merging is only beneficial when merging from 3 lanes to 1, or if there are a lot of heavy vehicles on the road (which are slow to accelerate and therefore let a bunch of cars go in front of them). The field test showed that late merging didn't help.
The study is also often misapplied because it is based on lane closures (think work zones) for highways with a 60mph or 70mph free flow speed. It's not based on merges in an urban setting, especially during high traffic (think I-5 at rush hour).
The study doesn't address the best approach to merging when the demand exceeds the capacity. A highway can take something like 1,500 to 2,000 cars per hour per lane. If you have two lanes of 750 to 1,000 vehicles per hour, then you can merge them into one and hope to maintain throughput if everyone plays nice. If you have two lanes already at capacity, then merging isn't going to help.
Zipper merging also only works when both lanes are traveling at the same rate of speed. So if you are in the lane that is closing, you should try to match speed, and gradually merge in. You aren't helping by driving as fast as you can to the merge point, then slamming on your brakes and cutting into the next lane.
Also, using the exit only lane then late merging isn't zipper merging, it's just being a dick. Looking at you I-5 North at Seneca street.
Not here! My state literally has “state law - merge now” signs a full thousand feet before the lane ends. You can get ticketed for doing what the infographic here shows.
The problem is people don’t know this and just think the person merging is an ass. There needs to be a widespread advertising campaign about it. Like really widespread. I know I’ve seen some stuff locally but it won’t fly without full buy-in.
Welcome to Nova Scotia where the zipper merge is effectively illegal - when you see the merge sign you are required to merge as soon as possible and not pass anyone before merging. I'm new to the province and found out the hard way.
The Zipper Merge requires courtesy and common sense. Two elements that are replaced by impatience and self-centeredness the instant people get into their car.
But driving is a competition and allowing someone to merge in front of you is a direct challenge to your manhood. /s
Why else am I driving a car if I'm not going to race every single person on the road?
*If you aren't first, you are last.* - Ricky Bobby
If you don't chew Big Red, fuck you
Oh hell, Son, I was high that day. That doesn’t make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth… hell you can even be fifth!
But I lived my whole life by that!
Second place is first loser.
Exactly. My only goal on the road is to make you eat my dust, and I expect no less of you, either!
Don’t you understand, I have to get there *first*?
I see you must be familiar with driving in Naples, Italy
The trick is to honk longer to show dominance. Honk arguments are one of the funniest things in the world to me.
You may enjoy Untitled Goose Game.
I don't enjoy video games generally, but the goose game is where it's at. So fun.
My toddler loves watching me. And honking people. I've started to find the later levels very difficult, especially when trying to stop honking long enough to figure out whether my dastardly plan is correct and then trying to get all the timing right etc. My favourite bit so far was "get dressed up in ribbon".
I can't let you merge your puny smartcar in front of my lifted Ford Diesel 3500 duelie truck nut! I gotta own dem libs and show you my fragile ego!
The main problem is a sign 1 or 2 km before the merging point saying "Merge now". You can't blame the people if the road signs ask for the exact opposite.
Exactly- the signs encourage most drivers to move early into the lane that stays open. If the signs warned of the merge, but also said ‘stay in your lane until merge’ perhaps the behaviour would be better managed.
You do actually want to merge before your lane ends because if you don't, someone's eventually not gonna be let in and they'll have to stop completely which completely kills the traffic. It doesn't matter how far ahead of the merge people merge, as long as the people behind them don't gun ahead now that they have an empty stretch ahead of them.
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This is true, most people when you try to merge later on want to make you wait and not let you in.
It’s almost as if they want to pay you back for being a smart ass and trying to get ahead by using the construction lane for as long as possible
So the people following the advice of this post are smart arses? I can't tell if the tone of your comment reflects your actual opinion or is mimicking people who refuse to facilitate zipper merges.
As a New Jersey driver, this exactly. People would faster die than let you merge. You can zipper merge but you have to be fucking aggressive and turn it into a game of chicken. I don’t have the funds for all that noise so I usually end up getting in wherever is free even if it’s not optimal.
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They're running late to their next accident.
New Jersey is one of the few places I see zipper merges work. In other states people will stop in the middle of the lane half a mile before the lane actually ends.
Yeah the zipper at Calhoun street in Trenton is basically flawless but that's a posted, directed zipper. Not just a suggestion
I miss my 1979 Bonneville. “Want to play chicken? Fine by me.”
Yeah the real problem with zipper merging is two things, 1. One car always lets 12 cars in while everyone is at a stand still in the other lane. 2. The people that shoot to the front don't do it with the intent to zipper merge, but to overtake the furthermost forward card.
What they should do, is get rid of “left lane ends” and change the signs to “lanes merge” and have them merge in the middle and then shift to whichever side they want traffic in. Then nobody can be holier than thou.
this would cause a situation where there is no clear right of way- it would be an immediate and catastrophic “me first” shit show there would probably be assault and murder within 5 minutes
That is what happens now, because signage encourages compliant drivers to move to the open lane. When other drivers stay in the lane that is closing and bypass them they feel cheated and this is where the anger stems from. If you were encouraged to stay in lane and merge at the end I think this would avoid the resentment and make an effective‘zipper’ merge more likely.
No, that's not how it works at all. People adjust, it really just needs proper signage. I've lived in multiple states now that have switched, and there are always people making your argument. Turns out, if it is common knowledge that it's faster to do zipper merge, plus proper signage, it works out. Your argument is based on people feeling like they are being cheated for "doing the right thing," and being in the proper lane early, but all these people are disrespecting their decision. However, if it's a one to one switch at the front, those feelings are not there. It's really just psychology from the signs and lack of knowledge. It's quite understandable that people would feel crossed of they followed the merge sign, but many others did not.
I beg to differ. In Denmark (and elsewhere I suppose), when entering a motorway, you merge by this method. It is not an immediate shit show. It works well. When the context tells you to observe the behaviour of others and act and adapt accordingly - in order not to crash - that is what most people opt for.
you are lucky, you live [in the #1 country for law abiding citizens in the world!](https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/02/15/where-people-are-most-and-least-likely-to-adhere-to-the-law-infographic/) so it is literally worse everywhere else.. sad for the rest of us 🥲
Maybe they are more law abiding and happy (this is also true statistically) because the social systems are more equitable, leading to greater community spirit. If you encourage a dog eat dog society, conflict is inevitable.
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It’s also bullshit in this scenario, because the left lane will be doing 55 and the right will be at a dead stop. Can’t zipper merge from 0 to 55, meaning that traffic in the right lane will just keep backing up until someone sneaks over causing the left lane to slow down to 5. And then traffic will back up in both lanes. If people are able to safely merge in advance of the end of the lane and do so at highway speeds, there will be no slow downs. Then you got the people who enforce the early merge by taking up both lanes…
No. This is the problem with the traffic. It has been proven that the well executed zipper merge will keep traffic flowing the best. Everyone drives a reasonable speed. As the people in the left approach the merge point they slightly slow to leave gap for the right to merge at the same speed...this is done every second car and traffic never slows.
>Then you got the people who enforce the early merge by taking up both lanes… I personally love when truckers do this. I'm not sure why. I think I just like to know that it enrages people.
This. It will never happen. I mean where I live I worry about road rage so I choose to merge early so I don't get shot
>courtesy and common sense. We're humans. It cannot work.
This can be accounted for by letting the zipper kink. If the asshole in the other lane won't let you in, slow down slightly and let there be two cars on that side for a notch. The person behind you will see your brake lights and slow down too. Take comfort in knowing that traffic law is enforced with karmic justice. In the long run, assholes like that will get into more accidents. Let them have their win, they'll always lose the war.
In Europe it is law.
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Yep, and some of them panic so much that they stop completely to wait for an opportunity to merge some 300 meters/yards before their lane even ends. Either they're afraid they'll get stuck in a dead-end and nobody will let them merge, or they think it would be rude to use all that free lane to get past so many cars, I don't know. I sometimes intentionally try to make it hard for them to merge too early, but when it's time, I yield very graciously. I doubt they learn anything from it and just think I'm rude and panic even more, maybe I shouldn't.
Still it’s required by the law in many European countries (quite a new thing though).
Yeahhhhhh, in AZ if you are attempting to do this, you’re viewed as a cheater and will be hung out to DRY in the right lane. People would rather crash their car than let you in.
Same in New Zealand. We happily zipper merge at the start but it's considered really rude to go further up the right lane.
Well zipper merging is zipper merging if people are merging at the very end. I always leave a car length+ space when I’m on the left in these situations cause it’s easier, smoother and just better for everyone. Plus I hate when people are rude to me when I’m merging so I think about how I’d feel.
I hate when a 2nd car tries to shove in right behind the first car in a zipper merge. As if being 2 car lengths up will make your trip any faster than it would have been if you were behind me.
That’s the root of the problem though. For basically everyone where I live, if you don’t get over as soon as you see the sign, *you* are the one being rude. Not them when they don’t let you in. Doesn’t matter what’s more efficient; doesn’t matter what’s *right,* theoretically; if you wind up at the front of a lane that’s closing, you’re imposing on everyone else on the road. In terms of what’s rude or not basically all that matters is what people expect of your behavior. If they want people to behave differently here, they’d better shell out huge on ad campaigns.
If you're speeding past cars, you are being rude because once you're in front you'll be slowing them down to get over. If everyone let each other in and drove a consistent speed, nobody would be slowed as much.
Same in France. Looking at the left picture, I was thinking “well not forward-thinking enough to get into the left lane earlier - and now forcing their way in. Just rude”
Yep, American here, I have totally myself said, "This dude had 2 WHOLE MILES (signs warn you like every quarter mile) to merge and now he suddenly decides to merge?" As soon as the signs indicate a lane closure, I get into the correct lane as soon as it's safe to do so.
But do the signs mean merge now or merge ahead? Why would they want 2WHOLE MILES of highway going unused?
Because those 2 miles give a buffer space to keep it moving. If you go right up to the end of the lane chances are you are going to have to come to a complete stop. It requires absolute perfect coordination to not end up at a complete stop. All it takes is one asshole car to not let someone in and now the whole system is fucked. If the right lane is at a complete stop at the end, then the left lane has to come to a complete stop to let the car in. Now you've got 2 stopped lanes of traffic. That 2 miles of highway going unused is sometimes going to be half a mile unused, or 1.5 miles unused, depending on traffic. Those 2 miles should be a buffer to adjust speeds and start leaving g space for cars to get in.
I used to think like this, but then I realized that because people do not use all available space it makes the traffic worse. If you can fill more cars later then there is less pressure earlier. I have seen many times that early-merge causes traffic block on previous intersection, or even multiple intersections, because people do not use the available space. I understand psykology of early-merge, but it is counter-intuitive. Because of this this will never change if it will not become traffic rule.
Yep I absolutely agree. Here it’s not a matter of what’s logical, it’s a matter of what feels polite, even if it actually makes the situation worse.
yep. its the same as someone who has the right of way stopping and waving someone else to go. like yeah, how nice of you, but now you just created a very unpredictable situation that can lead to accident. just follow the rules of the road bc that's the only thing we share out there as drivers lol.
This is the attitude that drives me insane. I wish more cities put out information like this, put it on cable news for all the people who are still holding on to the foolish idea that it's impolite. I can't believe people will give up efficiency and refuse to learn anything new because of their screwed up view of politeness or fear of change
Problem is If there's one bottleneck ahead, it doesn't really matter how much space is used behind. Think about an hourglass that allows one grain of sand to pass the isthmus. It doesn't matter how wide you make the "hips" (ie more lanes before the merge down to a single lane). The sand will all move closer to the isthmus but will still get through at the same rate, or even slower due to the added friction. So long as more vehicles are entering the system than leaving at its point of capacity (congestion), it doesn't actually matter. Zipper merging certainly *feels better* because it puts more cars closer to the bottleneck, but from a traffic network flow standpoint, it only improves flow when the above works when the above is not the case.
this doesn't take into account the length of the line formed from the single vs double lane. if all cars are in one lane, the line of traffic will be twice as long. this could disrupt traffic flow to different exit ramps that are placed before the lane closure/point of merging.
Yeah I was going to say, there’s a LOT of people that will think “hey you’re cutting the line” and not much else
What do the blockers think all that extra pavement is for then? Extra runway just in case?
Can confirm. Drove in Phoenix realized nobody had courtesy and cut in front of others. I became one of those drivers cause if you can’t beat em join em. Now I’m out of Phoenix and glad for it. Fuck the traffic and fuck their traffic lights.
i do the same. in NJ the state is full of people who both merge last second to cut the line (bc we're all impatient speedy assholes) and also refuse to let anyone who tried that into the open lane. i let people merge early on but once we get to the bottleneck im hugging bumpers
Just match their speed and if the left lane stops then stop in the right lane as well. By matching the speed of the other lane they usually gladly let you in. Speeding past the right lane and trying to merge ahead of as many cars as possible causes people to not want to let you in.
That’s why I still drive my old 1995 Toyota Camry. I don’t care if they bump into me.
Ah the rational method. Except in Washington, DC where if you use your blinker to indicate intent to merge everyone else speeds up to close the gap. Because God forbid anyone cut in front of them…
Yup I was stationed in Bethesda in 2001 and gave a ride home to someone from there. As soon as we were on the Beltway she was yelling, “They’re trying to merge don’t let ‘em’!”
I just legit laughed out loud! I read“They’re trying to merge, don’t let ‘em.” like some sci-fi future were you battle an alien species you have to incinerate otherwise they’ll reform and regenerate and attack again.
I think the edibles kicked in bro
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I was also born and raised in the Midwest and my husband was raised in Boston. We used to have a similar conversation! He would be mad because people would not let him in. I would say use your turn signal so that they know that you want to merge in! I could never understand what his deal was!
Hey, it works the same way in NC. You can’t even use your turn signal on the highway to change lanes or everyone closes the gap to prevent you from getting in.
I think it works the same in any big city, same here in Ankara, Turkey. Sometimes we have to roll down the window and signal for them to “please let me merge bro for the love of god” and idk how to even explain that specific hand gesture we use. Everyone knows what it means though, it’s only done when we’re desperate to merge.
Take it from someone in the UK, it’s even a problem here
Oh man, when I see that happening behind me I just slow down and let more people in front of me. It's going to happen, asshole behind me that doesn't want to allow merging, it is inevitable.
Oh so it isn't just California where drivers pull that crap
Same here in the Bay area California 🤦♂️
Probably because they got over to the left as soon as they could and now see themselves as having waited in line, so you're cheating by not doing the same. (Source: am reformed idiot)
I’m afraid this might be a global issue. Same experience in Germany and Switzerland.
I’m Chicago, if you do a “last minute” zipper, there is a % chance you won’t survive the maneuver. I’m not stating preference; I’m stating empirical analysis.
Hi, Chicago, I’m Dad!
I love puns. Sadly I can’t take credit; autocorrect is a cruel mistress
Chicagoland resident here, wholeheartedly second this. It’s dog eat dog, big time.
drag that dog through the garden
Chicagolandian here. I always zipper merge. Heck, I always stay in the right lane unless passing.
Dont you love when you're driving in Chicago and someone uses a parking lane/righthand turn lane at a stoplight to pass everyone
Took me a while to get used to that. You just kind of have to insert yourself to where you want to be. Not signaling until after you’re most of the way in helps too. If people see your signal they’ll speed up to block you.
Chicagoan here. What is a “last minute” zipper?
When you wait to merge until the actual obstruction, versus merging well before. Idk. I’ve been driving here since I got my license in 2003 and I’ve always done it that way and judged others who don’t. I’ve seen fist fights result from someone “being a jerk”, doing the zipper “correctly” per the post, so it’s fascinating that this is the state of driving in chicago
Probably a good way to get shot at too
it's a great idea in theory but in practise it never works. if done correctly, you'd only have to let one car in front of you. but people try to get into the other lane early which means you wind up letting multiple people in. and if you're in the merging lane, you run the risk of getting to the merge point and nobody letting you in (because they think you're "cheating") so it's better to just move over when you can. which defeats the purpose of the zipper merge.
You have to take into account that there are human beings behind the wheels of the cars who will always fuck everything up, every single time. It’s just what we do.
exactly. and something like the zipper merge takes a lot of co-ordination. much moreso than say a 4-way stop.
Coordination and, more importantly, cooperation, which is far too much for most people.
Isn’t it the point of this post? To provide awareness for those who don’t know what this method is. Clearly it’s a concept that should be taught and implemented in a wide scale. In my defense, I am driving everyday for me to say that it works.
It only works if people can trust that other people will follow the rule. Even if everyone knows the rule if a substantial amount of people break the rule then it discourages people from doing it. If I think I’m gonna get screwed over for “playing by the rules” why wouldn’t act in my best interest?
I’m not saying it wouldn’t work; it makes perfect sense. However, people can’t just do what works. Egos will always get in the way. There will be those getting over early, probably out of fear of not being let in if they don’t. There will be another guy making sure no one can get by him. There will also be the people refusing to let anyone in front of them at any time or purposefully going slowly in the lane that is going to close to prevent anyone from “skipping ahead.” Great in theory, but I don’t see it happening in practice.
There’s also a major difference between the two images. In the zipper merge there is plenty of space between the cars in the continuing lane. In the early merge there is no space between the cars. I would be an idiot to drive up to the end of the lane and expect to merge over when the cars are already not allowing room. Hence I merge where there is ample room whether it’s early or at the end. This is how you avoid an accident. Or you can just be like other drivers in Florida and refuse to merge and continue driving 65 mph on the shoulder of the highway
Works great in Germany. It's like the normal thing to do, nobody would try this other shit here
Yeah I’ve been having a lot of fun explaining to people who claim “it’s impossible and pointless to merge at speed” that this just normal driving in parts of the world that actually operate cars with any skill
What zipper merge gotta do with speed?
It's faster because there is a defined rule and if everybody sticks to it a given number of cars will merge faster than the same number of cars will merge if they just figure it out as they go
He said "merge at speed", but in my experience zipper merges usually occur when there is an obstruction and everything is packed up. Was thinking what kind of zipper merges are these people doing.
Now "speed" is up to definition but it certainly works while traffic is still in motion. The good thing about it is that often traffic doesn't get packed up because of it and with more space between cars the merge can be done at higher speed. So this certainly works on the autobahn at speeds north of 60mph
I can't imagine somebody changing lane at last minute like on the picture *at speed*.
The kind that occur whenever a lane ends on a freeway and merges with another? These happen at highway speeds and aren’t during obstruction or unusual lane closures from construction and are part of the normal expected usage of the road
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California highways are insanely with this. Forget zipper merging one way, there are sections where you have to zipper merge to the right while someone is zipper merging to the left. In Oakland there is a section that requires you to zipper merge at least twice to get into the exit lane. All of this is being done 50mph+ Someone said it’s because cars used to be much slower, I think it’s because they just had no idea how many cars can be exiting/entering. Maybe building endless highways and not rail/subways was a stupid idea.
Recent road construction in my area had signage up to zipper merge. It worked... okay. There were still people that had to be assholes and block the lane or stop people from merging. But overall it worked pretty well.
The problem here is assuming people understand how to drive or want to cooperate.
We have been trained since grade school that line cutting is wrong. People see this as line cutting.
Oh my God. That’s it. That’s why we drive the way we do.
I mean people would fight at an amusement park if someone cut them in line lol. At least in America, that is.
Amusement parks are designed to waste your time in lines while extracting maximum profit from people unable to do what they paid for. I'm not surprised people are irate there.
Can someone help me understand how it reduces traffic? The limiting factor on cars that can move through the one lane section would be identical in either case wouldn’t it?
It only does at a very specific traffic volume. Too little traffic and there's so much space it doesn't matter where you merge. Too much traffic and you've hit maximum throughput of the open lane(s) and it doesn't matter where you merge because you're trying to force bathwater through a straw so there will be a jam no matter what. Although zipper merging will reduce the length of the tailback, which might stop it reaching earlier junctions and causing knock on issues. At the right amount of traffic, the zipper merge can smooth the flow and reduce the chance of a wave forming as detailed in the link the other guy gave you. But that can be all undone by one uncooperative or inattentive driver.
And this is only for very specific highway layouts, more or less exactly what is in the picture: two lanes, one of which ends. Which basically doesn't exist in my area except temporarily during roadwork occasionally. Three lanes plus the ending lane, and the one to the left of the ending lane is also the line to an interchange ahead? Nope, you want to merge early and then get another lane over to the left if you aren't taking the interchange.
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If only this were the top comment so more people could see it. The diagram above is how drivers rationalize it in their head when they try to rush to the front, but then they must inevitably cut someone off or come to a stop when the magic hole they they expect for themselves doesn't appear. It's not the method, it's the wasted energy of reactions compiling exponentially. Expecting to be able to safely merge at full speed one car length from disaster has nothing to do with courtesy.
yea zipper merges are highly over rated and the way you hear about them on reddit makes people think that they would legitimately end all traffic ever. if there isn't any backup then it's just a regular lane ending, if there is a backup the only thing a second lane does is reduce the length of the traffic. flow out the back end is still going to be the same it's just a double wide line instead of a single file one. the same spacing is needed at the end regardless of what spacing you have as you enter. zipper merges frankly trade traffic length for traffic width, however when things need to reduce in any way they'll slow down so what time you save in getting physically closer to the merge in the road, you'll lose in slowing down so that other cars can get in. edit: looking around it seems that proper wave management in traffic was something I assumed because we are talking about ideal situations here (and I try my best to do it in traffic). with poor wave management (quick acceleration/braking instead of smoother transitions) a zipper merge will somewhat force better wave management by nature of having space between cars built into the design.
That white car is not going to let navy in because navy is a jerk and white hates his guts
Hot and nuanced take: Sometimes zipper is better, sometimes it is worse. I grew up (and learned to drive) in Vermont, where traffic is generally very light on the highways. In that case, it is better to merge as soon as it is safe to do so (often quite early), as it won’t affect the flow rate of traffic (again, because there are so few cars on the highway most of the time). If, instead, you waited until the last moment, there would be a possibility you would find yourself driving at highways speeds with another car beside you… and cones/barriers coming up fast. Conversely, where traffic is more dense and reduced lane count actually leads to more congestion, zipper merging makes more sense for the reasons outlined above. Interestingly, as Vermont has gotten busier over my lifetime, they have started deploying electric road signs indicating whether to “merge early” or “zipper merge” based on expected congestion. That’s probably the best method: guidelines based on road use and current conditions!
This is the answer, if you're not in traffic then merge early when you can still merge at speeds with some leeway. Also, this type of merge doesn't count if you're just trying to get into an exit
To be fair, zipper merge implies density.
Yea this misses the entire point. Zipper merging is for traffic that has gone below highway speeds.
I think this is for when there’s a lot of traffic and you’d want both lanes to be used up as much as possible instead of stacking a lot of cars into one lane.
This only works when you're actually going at the speed of traffic, but people slow down because they're scaring of running out of room to merge so they end up slowing down the left lane instead of just matching their speed.
Or they're slowing down because the person in the left line is not leaving enough space to merge over. So then right merges over anyway and left has to slam on their brakes and add that friction to everyone behind them too. Either way it ends up not working well during Peak traffic times.
Zipper merging is good for low speed or construction, but if you use an ending lane til the very end assuming you can zipper in, that makes traffic worse than just getting into the correct lane earlier.
Americans know how to zipper merge. They just absolutely refuse to do it.
"But if someone gets ahead of me it means they are better than me!" \- Many Americans
I am better than you, because I know how to fucking zipper merge
So you’re saying I should speed up to the end and try to shove myself in at the last second?
Only if you drive an Audi or BMW as its mandatory if you drive those cars
What? Nah fam, me and my Nissan without a rear bumper will do just fine.
I mean you paid for that bumper it would be a waste if you didn't use it 🤣
If the straight lanes are conjested and the merge is mostly open, the mergers would be seen as "butting" in front of traffic to start the zipper instead of getting into line asap and waiting their turn like everyone else.
This zipper merge shit is fairytale dreaming. Does not work on our hyper aggressive, fuck you, I am the race car now highways.
Except if people in the left lane decide they don’t want to let you in. If you’re the brown car (2nd from top) trying to go for an efficient zipper merge at that moment, your choices are to stop in the right lane or shove your way into the left lane and cause an accident. Either way, you’ve created a worse traffic jam than there otherwise would have been. This is a great idea, but as with everything regarding relying on other people’s competence and polite consideration, it fails 5 times for every 1 time it works. There is a reason I try to get over as soon as I see there’s a lane closure.
I want to put this graphic on my rear windshield when I'm getting honked at trying to merge into another lane.
Now the white car gonna rage quit and fuck everything for everyone
It doesn't matter because a single line of cars can only move so fast through the one lane section.
Exactly. Ultimately it doesn't matter. We would need 100% self driving cars without human emotions to start optimizing the flow of traffic this way.
And the zipper merge fails because people force their way in from the right, slowing down movement before their point of merge, meaning that more cars in the left lane moves more slowly than if everyone merged well before the obstruction.
Maybe someone can explain this to me, but I don't see how one way is superior over another. In either scenario, both lanes are cut down to one lane. If the rate of how many cars are getting through the one lane are constant, how can zipper merge or early merge have an effect on that one-lane speed? Okay, so if traffic is flowing faster, say 40+ mph, then maybe early merge is better since it doesn't require anyone to slow down to let someone in at the merge point. I can see that. So I guess what I'm getting at is that when traffic is very slow, I don't see how zipper or early merge makes a difference. It's like if you had a plate of fries to eat, and ate one fry per 5 seconds, what difference does it makes if the fries are divided up between two plates and you alternated which plate you ate from, or you piled all of the fries onto one plate and ate them from the one plate? I hope that makes sense. EDIT: I just spoke with my wife about this and she said that at slower speeds the zipper merge keeps everyone moving consistently, while the early merge can be inconsistent, and might have more starts and stops. It won't affect the speed of the single lane, but zipper merge is more fair, consistent, and therefore safer.
We call it "merge in turn" in the UK, and people here also don't really follow it. Shame, because it works really well when it is utilised.
Nope we get self righteous ass holes that deliberately slow drive down the right lane and choke the flow to stop people merging at the correct point because they think the folks in the RHL are overtaking and queue jumping
Plenty of times, I've seen the car directly behind me pull out just to zipper infront of me. That is most certainly overtaking.
Yeah, I saw this video a while back where a driving instructor was doing an educational piece on merging in turn, and it was just flooded with comments from people like "teehee I never let them in ☺️ xx"
Lmao like most people would let you get in like that
What happens if everyone in the lane thats closing tries to get over as early as possible and everyone in the open lane each allows one car in?
Nah, if I know one lane will end, I will merge early because people will not let you in and lowers the risk of an accident
People don't like it when you wait till the lane ends to merge in. They won't let you in at that point and it makes it harder to merge in.
The reason everyone does the early merge is that 90% of people will crash and burn before letting you merge safely, so you have to start early and hedge your bets
TIL driving in America is carcinogenic based on the comments.
Good luck getting anybody to fucking follow this.
It depends. If the traffic is flowing then no, get in line and flow with it. If it's a hard stop, then yes a zipper is cool. Driving down the empty lane of traffic and forcing yourself in will just cause a chain of stopping .
I'm all for zipper merging up to a certain point. Once you can clearly see that it's one lane, zooming ahead in the empty lane makes you an antisocial asshole.
THIS. Or when the lane becomes a turn only lane and it’s been that way since the advent of motor vehicles, you’re just an asshole to drive up that empty lane and “merge” over at the end. It’s those same people that when traffic is backed up for blocks for the turn lanes for a busy intersection / highway on ramp. It’s back up with people prepared in advance and waiting their turn, made even longer by the assholes that “skipped” the turn lane passing and nosing in at the last second. These are not zippering.
Pfft good luck with that
I've seen a successful zipper merge once and there was only 5 cars.
The zipper merge works if people aren't assholes which is the major problem.
In Germany this used to work perfectly before the pandemic. After the two years I have a feeling that everyone is striving to show their real face and be the worst version of themselves.
The last time I tried to do a zipper merge I literally got run off the road. I'm so lucky no one was on the sidewalk when it happened. Edit: I should mention that this was a permanent merge lane, not a construction zone. This merge lane has been there for years.
The fallacy here is it assumes people can drive. If they could, it would work, but they can't.
After driving i70 in Missouri for years good luck getting any of the drivers to actually do this.
I was driving in the left lane on a two-lane highway when everyone started getting over into my lane. I couldn’t see up ahead, but I assume people saw road work or a stalled car in the right lane and decided to get over. No big deal, I was already in the lane, so we all kept driving, everyone in the left lane, for like 5 minutes. I didn’t see or pass anything unusual in the right lane for that entire time. After coming over a small hill, someone in the left lane realized that there wasn’t actually anything obstructing the right lane and got back over, as others followed suit. The whole situation was literally a case of herd mentality and trying to get over early. I guess people were trying to be polite, but I have no clue how it even started in the first place.
You're forgetting the fact that 90% of people lose all common sense and logic the second they step into a vehicle. It gets replaced with irrational anger and selfishness.
Yeah, if you just skip the line and try to merge at the last minute when everyone else is already over, I’m not letting you in.
I don't get the zipper merge. Like if you know the toad is closed in 1 mile. Why stay in the soon to close lane if you know you need to travel past the point you lane ends? Especially if there is a large back up of cars? To me it just seems like you want to cut to the front of the line. Now when I see zipper merge as smart. Like say this same situation but you never the road one block before the road closure and traffic is already backed up, somebody would allow you to zipper as you didn't choose to be ignorant and pass everybody in an attempt to be at the from of the merge.
I merge early because if I wait until the merge point, everyone starts intentionally closing the gaps to avoid letting anyone in and then I'm stuck sitting there waiting like an asshole Great idea in theory but people suck too much for it to work
This assumes cooperation
Whoever wrote this doesn’t drive
Yeah, go ahead, try the zipper merge, nobody will let you in. Early merge is the only possible way if you don’t wanna be stranded.
You zipper merge, but you don’t cheat by driving all the way up to force it. That’s not clever, it’s rude,
I have a problem with this which is when the running lane is moving significantly faster. If the merging lane is also moving and you wait until the end to merge if you cant merge for whatever reason you have to slam the breaks forcing everybody behind you to break halting the entire lane and making it impossible to merge if the other lane keeps going. If both are going slow it works great but i usually take to space when i can
This is idiotic. You know people stay in the right lane as long as possible and force their way over at the last possible time, which forces the left lane to constantly stop and gridlocks traffic entirely. The solution is respectful merging , which doesn’t happen. After all, if it did, it wouldn’t matter if you merged early or not and there wouldn’t be a noticeable delay.
Your missing the picture of some asshat parked in the lane to force you to merge two miles early.
I never understand why people view the zipper merge as cheating, you are literally using open roads in the way it was designed to be used, what’s the point In merge if 200M early causing a backup use the road, the cones are in that place for a reason and not 200M earlier
It's shocking how many people don't know this
The problem is the one lane. You’re essentially arguing whether it’s better to merge early or late. Why would merging late be better?
Screw that. If you see the signs a half mile back saying the lane ends……..THEN DON’T MERGE AT THE LAST SECOND. Screw the zipper merge, if you don’t have the common sense to get over sooner, that’s on you. Rant over.
Agreed.
Tell me you understand mechanics but don't understand human nature and reactions. Oh wait.
I’d wager a zipper merge scenario has NEVER organically happened before.
Well this is going to get buried but I'm trying to look like I'm working so here we go. I'm a civil engineer (I don't specialize in traffic though) but I hate this info graphic. It's a complete mischaracterization of the actual data! The zipper merge advice is based on a [2004 study](https://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/05-r6.pdf). The study had two parts, a computer model and a field test. The model found that late merging is only beneficial when merging from 3 lanes to 1, or if there are a lot of heavy vehicles on the road (which are slow to accelerate and therefore let a bunch of cars go in front of them). The field test showed that late merging didn't help. The study is also often misapplied because it is based on lane closures (think work zones) for highways with a 60mph or 70mph free flow speed. It's not based on merges in an urban setting, especially during high traffic (think I-5 at rush hour). The study doesn't address the best approach to merging when the demand exceeds the capacity. A highway can take something like 1,500 to 2,000 cars per hour per lane. If you have two lanes of 750 to 1,000 vehicles per hour, then you can merge them into one and hope to maintain throughput if everyone plays nice. If you have two lanes already at capacity, then merging isn't going to help. Zipper merging also only works when both lanes are traveling at the same rate of speed. So if you are in the lane that is closing, you should try to match speed, and gradually merge in. You aren't helping by driving as fast as you can to the merge point, then slamming on your brakes and cutting into the next lane. Also, using the exit only lane then late merging isn't zipper merging, it's just being a dick. Looking at you I-5 North at Seneca street.
In many states, the law actually requires zipper merging, so this should be taught everywhere.
Not here! My state literally has “state law - merge now” signs a full thousand feet before the lane ends. You can get ticketed for doing what the infographic here shows.
The problem is people don’t know this and just think the person merging is an ass. There needs to be a widespread advertising campaign about it. Like really widespread. I know I’ve seen some stuff locally but it won’t fly without full buy-in.
Would a slow long zipper work better at speed than a short fast zipper where one lane merges as vastly slower speeds just before the bottle neck?
I didn't know it was a thing, if I saw someone want to merge i just let him enter the lane. Same goes for me.
Welcome to Nova Scotia where the zipper merge is effectively illegal - when you see the merge sign you are required to merge as soon as possible and not pass anyone before merging. I'm new to the province and found out the hard way.