This only works best if Everyone does it

[j-c-c-62]

Zipper merge:
MSN
It's not hard to do

 

[YY1]

I get it.
Sometimes they guy in front of me gets it.
The problem is that all the people in the "affected lane" that need to merge out of it don't get it and don't want to get it.
They do however, hope that the rest of us get it, so that they can continue to cheat their way in.

 

[YY1]

I let in ONE CAR.
ONE.

...and If I see that car has tried to bypass the merge, I don't let it in, if I can help it.

 

[j-c-c-62]

I let in ONE CAR.
ONE.

...and If I see that car has tried to bypass the merge, I don't let it in, if I can help it.

I agree, however two things still hold true, there will always be the driver that wants to buck the system be an A******* and follow the car in front, rather than zipper, and the fact it's only one car extra, nothing to get bent over, IMO

 

[Cranky]

Spent a LOT of years going to work and crossing the Houston Ship Channel using 2 lane tunnels where the zipper method was used but yeah, there was always someone that didn't want to do it. I usually forced the issue back then but probably wouldn't do it today. Too many crazies living around here these days....

 

[Coelacanth]

Out of countless times I've been through this, seeing idiots in front of me letting in idiots who wanted to cut their way in...I can only recall maybe 2 or 3 times when the cars ahead of me recognized the idiocy and tightened their gaps, leaving the idiots stranded for a while. Sadly, this doesn't happen NEARLY enough...

 

[eldubb440]

just ride the shoulder and pass everyone

 

[toolmanmike]

just ride the shoulder and pass everyone

 

[ct71rr]

I let in ONE CAR.
ONE.

...and If I see that car has tried to bypass the merge, I don't let it in, if I can help it.

I say this to my wife every time we run into traffic! If everyone lets one person in, no issues!!

 

[dadsbee]

Left right.. left right... but common sense went out the window 40 years ago...

 

[j-c-c-62]

just ride the shoulder and pass everyone

Maybe Not.
Decades back I am driving in the perennial downtown 24/7 Miami traffic jam by the airport.
All lanes are full and at a crawl. Right Emergency Lane has a guard rail, and cars are zipping past all the standing traffic.
I am in the right lane being followed by a tanker truck. By me slightly encroaching into the emergency lane, me, the tanker and the guard rail bring all that bogus emergency traffic to a halt.
But I have to be careful with my speed, because if I a race too far ahead, cars will sneak between me and the tanker and cut us both off.
So, I am constantly having to watch the following tanker distance, the car in front of us, and the cars stuck in the emergency lane, who are not real happy. That goes on for a mile or so.
We approach an overpass, and the tanker driver sitting up high can see traffic much farther ahead than me.
Out of the blue, the tanker speeds up and effectively forces me into the emergency lane.
I keep driving alongside the tanker trying to figure out what is going on as we crested the overpass, and there sitting in the emergency lane is a stopped patrol car, motioning me to stop. License and registration please routine.
Obviously, he accused me of improper use of the emergency lane and passing cars.
It was probably hardest ticket I ever talked myself out of, and I did.
Bottom line, it's not worth it.

 

[WileE]

We call it "alternate feed". For a moment, I thought the thread was about everyone in the country sending me ONE DOLLAR.

 

[Don Frelier]

The title should read something like:

It will never work until everyone has self driving vehicles.

 

[XS22J8R]

Decades ago I was in Germany, driving on a highway, but I don’t recall it was the Autobahn. I saw a sign indicating there was a lane closure ahead, and to merge into the right lane.
I caught a glimpse of someone standing by one of the signs on the shoulder, it appeared he had a phone in his hand.
I didn’t think much more about it until I got toward the end of the construction area, where I noticed a couple policeman on the shoulder gesturing to some of the cars in the traffic to pull over on the shoulder. There were already some cars pulled over, and police talking to drivers.
Best I could figure was that the first person I saw was noting cars that didn’t merge immediately upon seeing the signs, and radioing ahead where they’d get pulled over and ticketed.
I’d love to see that happen here.

 

[j-c-c-62]

Do you understand how long of a line (miles) would be formed when taking a busy interstate of say 4 lanes down to one, and the resulting road rage as EVERYONE would feel towards anyone merging to the one lane in front of them would be cutting the line?
Nobody has yet said what the problem is of everyone just merging at the very end, and just make it a zipper merge.
It's not like somebody is going to get stuck waiting to merge for half an hour at the final merge point.
The biggest hurtle, is whatever the "rules", it only works if everyone knows them to start with.
I have NEVER seen/read a rule that says anyone must merge at the earliest possible moment, which some here think is an official rule.

 

[F4R/T]

Courtesy, common sense and being nice has been in the can for along time now it’s all about getting ahead and instant gratification. I forgot its also about hey look at me and I didn’t do anything wrong.

 

[Coelacanth]

Anybody who has ever gone skiing and waited in a line for the chair lift understands the "alternate" merge principle. Multiple entry lines all bottleneck down to a single line, and skiers mostly all know to take turns. Skiers who try to cut in front will no doubt get dirty looks, nasty words...or worse. People do it in cars because they're rendered more anonymous by the steel surrounding them and little chance of retribution from other drivers.

 

[j-c-c-62]

Courtesy, common sense and being nice has been in the can for along time now it’s all about getting ahead and instant gratification. I forgot its also about hey look at me and I didn’t do anything wrong.

To nobody in particular, say I am out of towner driving on a three-lane interstate, minding my own business in the far-right lane within 1+- mph of the speed limit on cruise control.
Traffic is flowing briskly and everybody in my left lanes are driving over the speed limit, bless their souls, or any speed and they are passing me.
There is a sign that says construction 1? mile ahead, right lanes blocked.
Nothing changes as I am driving, wherein the past there was no "rule" as to what I should do, just each individual person's understanding of common sense and courtesy.
A little bit further cars are moving into the left lane and very soon they come to a single lane at a crawl, I can't even see the blockage ahead, my lane is wide open, and I'm still doing the speed limit.
What I supposed to do?
Move immediately to the far-left lane abruptly slowing traffic?
Back up, which is wrong?
Cut in as soon as I can which everybody can see?
Or drive safely in my lane to the approaching merge point and alternate merge showing no courtesy or common sense to the other premature merge drivers?
I have another take on the real issue, those that can't stand any car getting in front of them period.

 

[kiwigtx]

Anybody who has ever gone skiing and waited in a line for the chair lift understands the "alternate" merge principle. Multiple entry lines all bottleneck down to a single line, and skiers mostly all know to take turns. Skiers who try to cut in front will no doubt get dirty looks, nasty words...or worse. People do it in cars because they're rendered more anonymous by the steel surrounding them and little chance of retribution from other drivers.

You should see me ski.

We had signs on the motorway entrances a couple of years back that read "Merge like a Zip"

Now we have traffic lights to control entry on to the motorways at peak times....at certain known bottlenecks.

I was thinking about making stickers up that read "Merge like a zip, don't drive like a Prick"

 

[mmissile]

I have all kinds of thoughts about this....probably better kept to myself.