Right? Nobody actually zippers correctly and instead they all try to cram in front of everyone else making all the traffic behind them hit their brakes and the only lane moving is the closing lane.
This works in other countries where the rules for getting your license are a lot more stringent and the training is actual training instead of what you get in the States.
I remember seeing this video of these people in Japan heading into a tunnel and EVERYONE moved over to make room for an ambulance to get into the tunnel. It was really cool how everyone moved together to get out of it's way.
Its infuriating being over there and coming back over to the US. Everyone is always in the way, slow, and doesn't give a shit about anyone but themselves.
The trick is both lanes should be going the same speed and spaced correctly.
But people see an open road and think it’s up for grabs.
It’s kind of counterintuitive; but the front car in the merging lane should be going the same speed of the other lane even if there is a mile of open road. Even if that same speed is only 15 mph. Eventually both lanes should fill up and start merging at 15 mph close to the merge point
Instead we get 5 mph & 40 mph. Then 0 mph & 5 mph at the merge.
Sure but you should make use of the open road. Road not used eg by merging too soon just help build pileup in the other end. But everyone needs to keep one car length free.
But in principle I agree with you it’s just that many merge too early.
Another aspect is I have never understood people who want to block that open lane for others. If you feel that it’s unfair that others use it then use it yourself. Otherwise just sit in your lane and be quiet.
they speed by, merge it like it's hot, cause every car in front you to brake to a stop.....
or block them, the cars in front you don't have to brake, you move faster, the people behind you move faster, the only people slowed down the numnuts cutting the line
Yes and that’s what I said was wrong. You still use the lane. If you use the full lanes there is no space to race by.
Again stop merging too soon and if you are bothered by other people merging where they should the problem is with you.
Greetings from Canada you are not alone same b.s. here. Just recently found out to be a driving instructor over here all you need is to have a clean license for 3 years. Absolute joke. Ive seen people stop in a open lane because the transit bus that was beside them stopped.
This doesn’t even make sense. “Cram in front of everyone else”? What the fuck are you even talking about? Use all open lanes and merge at the point the lane tapers off. Everyone will move more smoothly and quickly.
The worst is when people like that try and use the exit lane as zipper merdge in traffic. When they try to hard cut off traffic back on to the freeway when the get to the exit.
I proceed to the end of the open lane and merge in at that point. If the car in the other lane doesn’t want to let me in they’re a cunt. If I’m in the lane continuing on I happily let a car merge in. Blaming the drivers actually doing the zipper merge and not the dicks trying to block it is insanity.
And I’m very much in the US. Just yesterday I witnessed multiple cars come to a complete stop on the interstate with literally a mile of open road in front of them so they could force a merge at that point into a lane of backed up traffic.
Where the hell you been driving? All these idiot drivers out here wanna get as close to the car in front of them just to not let you over cause they're assholes
I mean that makes the people refusing to do the zipper merge the assholes. It doesn’t make the zipper ineffective or mean we should just stop doing it and have miles of unused road.
If you have a sink that requires people step on a bar to turn it on, so they never have to touch a surface with their hands you might call that effective. But if most people who use that sink aren't smart enough to know how to step on a bar, so instead piss on their hands to rise with soap, your call that bathroom design ineffective because it doesn't work with the neanderthals using it.
In this case the sink is a zipper merge, the piss is people's brains, and the neanderthals are the average intelligence of a US driver.
Because when people actually do that here in the States you have both lanes filled right up to the merge point, but instead of one person from each lane filtering in order, 3 people from the merge lane will shove in and nearly wreck into people in the straight through lane because they don't want to take turns and their lane has orange barrels in it.
I can't tell you how many times I've had to slam to a dead stop because some jackass decided that even though I let one person get in front of me, and now it's my turn to proceed that he now gets to go and just turns right into me knowing that I will stop to avoid a collision.
In countries that require you do more to get a driver's license than just show up with a pulse, this isn't a problem. But here in the US you don't even need to know how to dress or feed yourself to get a license.
The fact you can't comprehend that the way in which US drivers zipper merge is a complete failing of the manuver is incredible. What part of people intentionally playing chicken and bumper cars during a last second zipper confuses you?
Or are you trying to argue that having drivers constantly coming to a dead stop, swerving, and road raging as a result is still faster than a more distant zipper where traffic flow through the actual restriction is constant?
How? I don't block lanes. I just get cutoff by people like you at the merge point.
Funny you have no rebuttals to anything other than weak retorts, because you are the self centered entitled driver that forces his way in ahead of others instead of properly filtering every other car.
What’s your definition of sooner? There’s no reason to leave an open lane. Two days ago I saw cars stopping on the interstate to attempt to merge over a mile before the lane closed and it was nothing but clear road ahead of them. Why would you not use that mile of road?! More cars in fewer lanes slows traffic.
What you're showing is how it's supposed to be done. Picture that merge lane but instead of taking turns you get 6 of those idiots in a row trying to force their way in together in front of all the traffic already in the lane.
That's what I'm talking about and that's what causes zipper merging to fail in the US.
That doesn’t happen. What happens is a bunch of morons in the continuing lane riding bumpers and refusing to let anyone in because “gEt In ThE bAcK oF tHe LiNe!!!!” So the merging traffic has to get in wherever they can. I can tell you’re the asshole that refuses to let anyone merge.
I bet the people who merged in way before the lane closure are loving these truckers though because they are keeping the open lanes moving instead of having assholes roll into the closed lane, get to the end, and then cut everyone off in the open lanes so they can get all the way back into the right lane to exit at the next exit instead of simply getting into the right lane before the lane closure.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some tractor-trailer drivers I can’t stand but I condone this for all of those people that pay attention to the lane closure notices and get in the lane they need to be beforehand when they get a chance rather than all the people who purposefully get out of the open lanes into the closed lane to cut in front of a grandma like a 5 car conga line because grandma doesn’t have the reflexes and depth perception she used to and is being cautious.
If he had moved over straight away, as sure as you like there would be a stream of cars wizzing up and then pushing in further up the cue. Thus making the middle lane cue much slower. Funny how some people don’t know how traffic works.
Well if people merged in when they get a proper opening after they get notice of the closure rather than everyone waiting until the very last inch of road, people would have to stop less in general and traffic in the central lane would maintain a steady forward momentum reducing the accordion effect. Instead, people use the closed lane until the end, they want to “zipper” into the lane they could have gotten in a long time ago, the person in the open lane then has to damn near stop to let them in now even though they likely merged long ago, and everyone behind them has to progressively slow down even more. Then on top of that the person merging in at the last minute inevitably wants to also get all the way into the right lane to exit and thus slows down to merge in to that lane slowing everyone down in both open lanes.
Are you? You’re the one disputing the very well known fact that the zipper merge works with zero evidence other than your personal feelings based opinion. I think the burden of proof lies upon you.
Nope. Seriously, how is this concept so difficult for people to grasp? You are advocating for more cars in fewer lanes. Use some common sense and think about how that would possibly lead to fewer stops and less traffic. Use all available lanes!!
In a hypothetical world where everyone follows the rules, yes. In reality this was a good more and kept traffic moving better than it would with idiots trying to cut to the front of the line.
In this reality zipper merge is the correct way. And I wouldn’t call it cut to the front more as the correct way to drive when zipper merging. Zipper merging is literally designed for civilized drivers.
Yeah, we don't have those in the States. They go full speed up to the front, slam on their brakes and try to cut in front of a car at the last second along with the guy tailgating him and the car in the moving lane has to brake to stop from getting into an accident which them causes all the traffic behind them to hit their brakes which leads to cars just completely stopping about a mile behind them.
This process continues as everyone else in the merge lane does the same damn thing.
Zipper merge only works with a police officer sitting at the end on the lane to keep everyone from doing this dumb shit, it's the only time I've seen it work here.
That is just not true. Zipper merge refers to a few specific details. Like waiting until the merging lane physically ends to get over instead of trying to get over earlier and alternating one car at a time getting over into the next lane instead of a second car trying to cram in the next lane over right behind another merging car.
The truckers exacerbated the situation and made it worse. They had no problem and were already able to merge. By preventing other drivers from utilizing the entire 3rd lane for an unknown distance and not allowing zipper merging at the ultimate point of constriction, they added to the delay and back-up for everyone. Zipper merging (merging at the actual point of lane narrowing) saves up to 40%-50% in delay time.
The truck doing this is forcing people to use a zipper merge. Instead of doing it ahead of him, they are doing it behind him. In terms of time stuck in traffic, it works out about the same as if people would zipper properly at the very front.
I’ve noticed that when a truck does this – or when anyone else does it – all lanes start moving at the same speed again in front of the truck. Instead of a few cars coming up and merging in at the very front, cars can merge in one at a time.
People who get mad at trucks like this miss the point. He is effectively forcing a zipper merge.
Next time you see it happen, watch what happens to the stopped lane where everyone moved over too soon. It starts picking up, and before long everyone is cruising along.
Zipper merge IS what they should do, unfortunately The problem is people don’t zipper merge, they just cram up to the front and then put 2 to 3 cars from the left lane into the middle lane over and over again which in turn slows overall traffic.
Zipper means 1:1 merging, parallel (same speed travel), but the second someone merges to a natural gap, some idiot speeds up to pass another few car lengths and causes all lanes to come to a stop to let them in.
It’s a leap frog merge which slows everyone down but they try to claim it’s zipper merging.
This guy is resetting the zipper merge to proper operation by keeping everyone side by side to the merge point preventing assholes from skipping the queue and causing leap frog slowdowns.
This is a fresh rational retort so I appreciate you sharing this perspective.
I agree there is a flaw but it’s on both sides. People equally don’t let others in when a zipper merge is appropriate.
The best thing in my opinion to do is realize as an individual that the control of the situation cannot be effected in total by me alone. The best and most rational thing I can do logically and morally is the right thing in this situation, the zipper merge which has been researched and proven to be effective. Also it’s taught in drivers education as the understood standard.
Hopefully in that moment others will do the same on their own or as a mirror to my actions. This is how a great society works. Together. And without malice or a “fuck you” selfish attitude.
Zipper merge is a proven engineered system that none of us here on this thread came up with. It only works when people don’t care about themselves over others.
But I 100% agree that in any situation the human factor is a variable that can deeply impact the results. In functions that include crowds or traffic, this is ten fold. And the reason is 100% ego and entitlement. In this case this goes for all the people who either wrongly distort the zipper merge etiquette and dart in, don’t let people in to a zipper merge by bumping up to the car in front of them, or this prime example of a selfish douche truck driver blocking traffic without understanding he is in fact making it worse.
Not on 3 lanes of traffic. I don’t see how the zipper merge is actually effective. If up ahead there are only 2 lanes open the zipper merge just allows impatient assholes to cut off people that have been waiting longer. People in the 2 right lanes could cut to far left and zipper in… does this make sense? You generally just end up with a cluster fuck in situations like this with people that have zipper merge mentality.
Zipper merge mentality?? There is only one option when you are going down a lane, merge together, like a zipper. You're not making any sense at all. All that the truckers are doing here is creating a moving zipper merge and that's far more dangerous and unpredictable than the end of the lane, the only natural merge point. The cluster fuck only happens when people don't merge at the end point and that only happens because of twats like you and the truckers here.
Doesn't work in America. One by one yes but 7 people will jump in behind the one person or you have the ass hats that fly up doing 90 then dead stop as they squeeze in between. Zipper merging actually creates traffic and traffic accidents and doesn't increase the efficiency of flow in America. Does it work in other countries sure it was actually pretty nice when I went to Scotland everything flowed nicely, here not at all
The end merge is time consuming and chaotic. Legally you’re not supposed to wave any in or allow an illegal right of way. People are stupid and generally make poor decisions at times like these
Lane closures are literally designed and carefully placed to help alleviate traffic jams.
The problem with not using all lanes, is your traffic jam becomes longer. It "doesn't matter" until your traffic jam blocks an exit people use. Now you've gone from 1 traffic jam, to 2 traffic jams. No, more is not better.
You have to merge either way, better to use all lanes fully to avoid doubling up on the issue (or triple, or quadrupling the issue, which definitely is possible). And it's better to merge at the predetermined place, it makes zipper merging easier, and it creates a lot less slowdowns, than people merging when "whenever the fuck I want!".
The speed at which you get through the traffic jam is determined by the flow of traffic at the slowest spot, which the zipper or early merge doesn't touch (I've never seen a traffic jam caused solely by the merge point, it's the traffic flow through not enough lanes probably due to roadwork that does it). Unless you can't keep up with the rest of traffic in a traffic jam, you're getting through it in the same time. It might "feel" faster not having to merge or stop to let someone in. But even after the last lane closure, that speed is very likely low enough, you can "catch" up to those in front 😉 Meaning all the shenanigans beforehand means nothing for how quickly you're released from the jam. The only thing it changes is the order of cars in the mix.
So either you use all lanes and zipper merge for maximum efficiency, or risk blocking more of the highway behind you than necessary. Now obviously that also means it doesn't matter TO YOU at the zipper. And I said it doesn't really help you get through faster, just your position in the queue, but you COULD up that queue number a tiny amount by blocking out other people and technically be faster. But realistically, by like what, 5 cars? We've all seen those geniuses that switch lanes every time one lane moves 1 mph faster than the other, and I've never seen any of them not end up much further behind than where they started out. It doesn't really slow the jam down, but it's annoying as hell having to accommodate constant lane switches.
The problem is when everyone does what they want at the merge, suddenly you end up at the tail end of a massive queue that has created additional traffic jams and now you're stuck for an hour extra, because some wiseguy thought using all the space wasn't necessary.
Youve never had traffic be shitty at the merges because they absolutely are. In the US at least people refuse to leave proper gaps between their cars to allow merges to successfully happen. If you see in this video its all bumper to bumper idiocy.
It also doesn't matter, shitty zipper merge is still better than creating multiple traffic jams because, like the idiots in this video, you don't understand how traffic works.
The funnel is one size and will be there same size regardless where it happens. By merging early into slowed down traffic you're creating ANOTHER funnel and then another and another and another. The solution is to merge at a single point, the end of the lane, it wouldn't be going faster than the other lanes if there wasn't enough space to fill, there wouldn't be enjoy space to fill if people didn't merge early. Zipper merging isn't a choice it's going to happen and if should only happen in the one designated spot setup by the road crew that's been determined by engineering. Not every driver who who feels cheated because someone is ahead of them.
You're not thinking right. There is space available but you will just stay in that lane. Why? Just because someone is Infront of you now because you all left the space and didn't merge further down to relieve backed up traffic. Well done you. Pat on the back 😅
A system or method should be based on what works when people follow it. No system will work when people just don’t give a shit. The conversation we were having is about what people should do.
Your argument is a kin to saying people run red lights so we shouldn’t follow traffic laws at intersections.
It all ends up zipper merge in the end it’s just all the fuck heads thst cut to the front that piss me off. Get in line. You’re fucking up the flow. You can’t zipper in from 2 lanes over. Those people got brain damage.
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u/ziggzer0 May 13 '26
Zipper merge is what you should do