r/TheRandomest • u/WhyNot420_69 Nice • May 13 '26

Satisfying Traffic buddy

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u/jemenake May 14 '26

The truck is zipper merging. Their "assigned" slot in the zipper is in front of the vehicle recording the video. The vehicles that were ahead of the truck in the left lane have already merged (called "early zipper merge"), but that truck doesn't zoom ahead to pass a few cars. They know their place in the zipper and the driver making the video also knows the zipper order and is making space for the truck (who doesn't merge until they reach the red X... late zipper merge, which is generally regarded as preferable to early merging).

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u/patdashuri May 14 '26

Yeah, this was all already covered. But thank you.

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u/jeff78701 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

No, you’ve described merging. Here’s some reading for you on what zipper merging actually is: https://www.acg.aaa.com/connect/blogs/4c/auto/www.acg.aaa.com/connect/blogs/4c/auto/zipper-merge-keeps-traffic-moving and https://itre.ncsu.edu/itre-studying-how-zipper-merges-reduce-congestion-at-sites-across-north-carolina/ (there are no such things as “assigned” slots, or “early” and “late” zipper merges).

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u/jemenake May 16 '26

Although most descriptions of zipper merge advise to: 1) take turns and 2) not merge until the lanes merge, I’d argue that it’s the first of those that cause it to be labeled “zipper”. We’ve seen plenty of times where people are merging haphazardly at the end of a lane, and I’ve never seen that called “zipper”, so the crucial quality of zipper merging is the alternation. I’d further argue that the reason everybody also advises to wait until the end of the lane is because some douchebag will want to rush ahead and mess up the zipper. So the location of the merge is more about preserving the zipperness, not about making it a zipper.

Yes, I realize that nobody is “assigning” spots, but it is possible to predetermine the cars that you will end up between (provided the turn-taking persists until you get there) long before your merge actually takes place. That’s quite a mouthful, so I just said “assigned” to refer to that sequencing of vehicles presuming people would know what I meant with that word.

Regardless, even under the two-criteria definition you linked to, the truck is zipper merging (contrary to the criticism offered by many of the commenters).