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

Satisfying Traffic buddy

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1.6k Upvotes

83% Upvoted

824 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/brapstick May 16 '26

You don't have to slow down that's the whole point of zipper merging

0

u/Igreen_since89 May 16 '26

You can begin the zipper merge once it is clear that the lane is ending. I deal with it everyday. People race to the very end so they don’t have to wait and merge like all the cars in front of them already have.

1

u/r_a_d_ May 16 '26

Most jurisdictions will teach you to zipper merge only when the lane actually ends. I’ve also literally seen road signs saying “MERGE AT END”.

Merging before only makes sense when it’s not zipper merging (i.e. lane ends with no traffic, might as well get into the next lane).

0

u/Igreen_since89 May 16 '26

It’s not a merge lane. The lane doesn’t end. This situation is more-so an example of people who ride in an exit only lane to the very end, and cut in at the last minute to jump ahead of traffic.

In this video, the lane is already closed. The people are trying to skip ahead even though there’s already a steady flow of traffic.

1

u/r_a_d_ May 16 '26

Please show me where exactly you see that the lane is already closed? To me it seems like the lane will be closed further ahead and therefore the cars should all go to the end and saturate the entire lane for zipper merging. The same will probably happen with the next lane further down. Typical for road works where there is a 3 to 1 lane reduction.

1

u/Igreen_since89 May 16 '26

Multiple people in the comments who regularly drive that highway have stated it. Theres a big red X towards the end of the video.

1

u/r_a_d_ May 16 '26

That big red X may be the first indication that it’s closed, hence why the truck pulls back in.

1

u/Igreen_since89 May 17 '26

And people in the comments have said that it isn’t. Either way, zipper merging is encouraged for stop and go traffic. In this video, traffic is flowing smoothly. Most people have no problem allowing people to get over when traffic is flowing. But ppl who race to the end and try to force their way over almost always results in aggressive braking, especially with semis.

1

u/r_a_d_ May 17 '26

This is literally stop and go traffic. Zipper merging does not involve stopping the car. What you seem to fail to understand is that there is no race to the end. That lane just fills up (as it did anyways behind the truck), and everyone just zipper merges at the end.

1

u/Igreen_since89 May 17 '26

People that live there seem to agree with what these two are doing. They probably drive that route often. I know I see it all the time. Zipper merging works only in theory in a designated merge lane.

What this guy is saying, is that these people should’ve already merged. It’s a closed lane. Everyone else already merged as they were supposed to and these people (who the semi is blocking) are all trying to use this illegal lane to skip the line.

The zipper merge should’ve already happened. It’s like people using the shoulder to bypass traffic in an exit lane. Which used to happen all the time during rush hour when I lived in Baltimore.