[justatroll]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

He's talking about a zipper merge. That is not the correct way to execute a zipper merge. The correct way to zipper merge is for the car merging into traffic to proceed to the end of the acceleration lane, and the car in the travel lane to let them in. If you're trying to block people who are doing a zipper merge correctly, you're the one causing the problem.

"The correct way to zipper merge is for the car merging into traffic to proceed to the end of the acceleration lane, and the car in the travel lane to let them in"

This is incorrect technique BECAUSE MOST drivers accelerate all the way to the end of the merging lane and then ABRUPTLY STOP BECAUSE the people occupying the merged lane do not let them in. That is partially because they RACE to the end and then "demand" a place instead of approaching the gap they intend to merge into then PACE the other cars effectively asking permission to be let in.

It is FAR more efficient to make an arbitrary "end of merging lane" that does not have a physical barrier so that the "end of lane" can move forward and back as the lanes merge. This allows the ebb & flow to naturally move up & back as the merge occurs.

IN THEORY it makes sense to do this all at the last minute , but in the real world, this is NOT the most efficient because it doesnt allow any buffer space.

Here is an example of what I am talking about it happens every single day exactly as I explain it below:
Two lanes approach a highway on ramp.
These lanes merge together (right lane ends) about 20 yards before the actual highway entry.
Typically there are hundreds of cars moving at ~ 5MPH and merging ~50 yards before the right lane ends, traffic is NOT STOPPING because the zipper merge is working fine.
Now someone sees that everyone else is moving at 5 MPH and merging, so what do they decide to do? GET OUT OF the already merged traffic and try to pass as many cars as they can, then jump BACK into the merged lane at the very end.
Almost every single person that sees this occur will NOT LET THAT PERSON IN at the very end and it causes the "cheater" to STOP and then "Beg" to be let back in.
This causes the properly merged lane to STOP and let this car that is STOPPED to get back in line.
This STOPS the merging lanes entirely for the one asshole "cheater".

Originally Posted by krayzie

Yes most drivers that feel they need to merge earlier just to get a spot while holding up the queue behind, don't understand that traffic flows much more efficiently by merging at the endpoint of the closing lane / merge point alternately 1:1 you are absolutely correct.

As for those asshole bus drivers, some of them even try to get a head start before the light even turns green just to merge in and then drive very slowly to hold up traffic. The yield sign is actually on the back of the bus, not on the side or at the front. No wonder Jeeza used to call them little Hitlers and murderers.

"don't understand that traffic flows much more efficiently by merging at the endpoint of the closing lane"

This makes ZERO sense as it would be exactly the SAME efficiency if I moved the end of lane barrier back 20 feet, or 50 feet, or 100 feet.
But by setting an imaginary barrier and TRYING to get everyone to merge before THAT it allows some margin for error where traffic can continue moving instead of forcing cars right UP TO the physical barrier.

The fallacy here is that it somehow makes it more efficient to merge when there is no road left.
This is false as it is definitely more efficient to complete the zipper merge of both lanes BEFORE the physical barrier to accommodate errors and assholes.


This pisses me off the most because MOST drivers cant pull their head out of their ass long enough to PLAN ANY sort of maneuver more then three seconds in advance.