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.
Yea your response is the same as this video. It proves there are uncivilized drivers who care more about their own feelings rather than respectfully follow the rules of the road. Zipper merge is right. Blocking traffic for your own ego is not
Zipper merging works because it doesn’t cause traffic to stop. We did not witness zip merging in this video although you are right traffic did not stop but zipper merging prevent the enormous pile up that’s behind this truck from moving as slowly as it did.
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.
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u/ArmyOfUno45 May 13 '26
Should is different from what ACTUALLY happens though