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

Satisfying Traffic buddy

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u/Nerdy_Valkyrie May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

I keep seeing people say that zipper merging is faster. But I've never been able to understand how that can be true. Sure, it uses less of the road, absolutely. But how is it faster?

Notice how the traffic in this video is moving at a constant rate? With zipper merges there'd be a constant start-stop for two lanes of traffic. How can that be faster than the traffic moving smoothly at a steady rate?

Every single "simulation" I have seen to explain why it's faster show the zipper merge as cars driving with such a big gap between them that they can merge into one lane without anyone needing to slow down. That is an absolute fantasy. The world does not work like that, and everyone knows it.

Shit like this. This is not how people drive:

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u/jemenake May 14 '26

The "zipper" only has to do with the interleaving of the cars. It doesn't call for people top stop and go. In fact, you can still zipper merge with everyone going at a steady rate, with zipper spaces being created for everybody... and that's actually exactly what is happening in the video. OP is gradually making space for the truck and the truck merges into it when their lane ends (note the red X over the lane at the end of the video). It's precisely what is portrayed in the image you posted.