Why Traffic Scientists Want You to Cut People Off
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2021
- The first 1000 people to use this link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/halfasinteresting08211
Get a Half as Interesting t-shirt: standard.tv/collections/half-...
Suggest a video and get a free t-shirt if we use it: halfasinteresting.com/suggest
Follow Sam from Half as Interesting on Instagram: / sam.from.wendover
Follow Half as Interesting on Twitter: / halfinteresting
Discuss this video on Reddit: / halfasinteresting
Video written by Adam Chase
Check out my other channel: / wendoverproductions
In Germany we learn this in driving school.
Which absolutely doesn't mean people are doing it correctly here all the time...
The slower traffic is, the more likely it is to work. On a free-flowing highway people are liable to merge early. In a traffic jam or that two-to-one-lane merge close to my house almost everyone does it perfectly.
I learned it in my driving school here in the US
Another reason I adore driving in Germany, it just works
Just like the Rettungsgasse 😂
@@frederickm9823 yeah, but that is somewhat recent. But now that it set up in people minds, it suddenly happens like magic when the first few people start to form the
Rettungsgasse, suddenly everyone starts slowly moving into position.
"The most efficient way to reduce traffic is for all cars to drive at a constant speed at a fixed distance from the car in front of them"... Like a train.
I have a felling Adam Something will make a video about this.
@@duailibi2 🤣😂
Discovered that channel last week. At a certain moment I’m just waiting for the moment the train comes along as the most efficient way of transport.
@@jannetteberends8730 i agree with everything that dude says. Dubai sucks, America fucked itself and Europe is the best place in the world.
The most efficient way to solve traffic is to not have any traffic
@@duailibi2 It's already a quote from his video about self driving cars.
Honestly as a german, for the first port of the video I was "wtf, you abviously don't go into the left lane early, you have to do Reißverschluss, everyone knows that from driving school"
I like that word, it's a fun word.
Reißverschluss
As a Dutchie I thought this too, though we didnt get mentioned because the word "ritsen" is far too short to be interesting
While you guys have driving school we have a multiple choice test and once you pass then someone who's also bad at driving approves your technique on a simple 15 min drive. It's honestly hell on the road for anyone with half a brain, but there's no other form of transportation so we just have to deal with it.
@@skyeplaysgames4598 the word is though half as interesting and thus it would have been more apt to be mentioned here. Sam dropped the ball on this one
@@racecarrik sounds like riding a bicycle.
Personally, having a "main" lane and a "merging" lane is the problem. use the cones on both sides of the merge so that the zipper isn't wonky, then no-one has right of way at the merge point and a decision has to be made, the easiest of which is to alternate.
Interesting idea, but I don't think people are smart enough to not follow painted lines to some extent.
Singapore has this non-priority merging, but only on the ramps themselves, not the actual ramp-to-highway merge.
The problem with this is that it assumes people are good at merging lanes
EXACTLY
Exactly.
it works fine in europe cause we have signs telling you to zippe rmerge
In Europe it isn't a big problem
@@ridingweeb4801 Don't know in what european country you live in where this works cause at least here in Italy every zipper merge is a disaster.
I remember reading a reddit comment years ago where this guy mentioned that he's only ever been a part of one proper zipper merge where everyone did it properly, and it was the most beautiful thing he's seen in his entire life.
Miracles are rare but they’re a beaut to behold when they happen.
So...he's German? The only place I've ever seen it work is Germany. Everywhere else you're just being an asshole by doing this.
@@2011blueman Occasionally, here in Minnesota we get it to work. Traffic signs have been pounding it into us for the past 10 years. Don't get me wrong, for the most part, we're just as terrible as everywhere else, but every once in awhile it works out.
We definitely have fewer traffic vigilantes for zipper merging now.
I see this work out literally every single day here in California, though I will admit my part of California isn't anything like the rest of the state.
Works perfectly here in Sweden as well. You are taught the theory behind it as part of your drivers license education.
The most important point about the zipper merge - and where it tends to break down - is that everyone on the destination line has to yield to EXACTLY 1 other car. In particular, it suffers from too scared drivers who either merge early or yield to more than 1 merging car.
Btw, the complicated German term, Reissverschlussverfahren, is just the literal translation of "Zipper merge". Zipper = Reissverschluss.
It also breaks down because everyone is always have the mindset of ME FIRST ME FIRST. This is also the same reason when people are trying to exit out of places there also so much congestion, people on the road don't leave a space for cars to exit when traffic is at complete stop. Reason why signs are add to not block intersection and yet people still do it.
It more literally translates to "rip closure technique" lol.
@@MannyBrum Well, A "zipper" is a "Reissverschluss" 😉. The thing on the clothes.
In dutch it's "ritsen" which means "zip up". Which is exactly like shiwn
@@m__42 yeah, but "Verfahren" doesn't translate to "merge" but to "procedure" so the LITERAL translation is zipper procedure not zipper merge😉
My idea is that the signage should not tell which lane is closed ahead. I actually saw this happen, although accidentally, when the crews either forgot to put a sign up, or it got knocked down. No one driving knew which lane to be in so both were used. It was a beautiful thing!
Another idea is to use orange cones to divide the two lanes so drivers can't merge until it's time.
That second idea could create a major problem if anyone ever has to change lanes for normal reasons.
Traveled to China once in the 90’s. Merging accomplished by board with a length of nails sticking out.
@marscaleb why would you want to change to the right for it to remerge again on the left, cos it's closed ahead right? Maybe if you want to puke or to stop for your passenger to leave at the spot...
@@rokzcoban4394 Emergencies happen. Cars break down, debris flies into lanes, deer jump into traffic... Stuff happens, man...
@@rokzcoban4394 sometimes they put the merge point right after an exit
The Reißverschlussverfahren is quite nice, still a lot of drivers ignore it 😄
Is that really the name? Why is German so comical to English speakers lmao
Reißverschlussverfahren*
@@CaptainApathetic yes it is. I think why its so comical to english speakers is our use of compound words.
@@CaptainApathetic it’s really just many words put into one, it shouldn’t be that hard
@@CaptainApathetic Reißverschluss = zipper
Zipper merges work when both lanes cooperate. A common problem, perhaps not in Germany, is that the people who merge late often form their own traffic jam, obviating the advantage.
On the other hand, we have semi trucks in the US that are horrible at acceleration and often have large unused gaps in front that can be filled with merging traffic. Within reason, obviously. Don't "cut off" the truck like a jerk.
You don't need to cooperate because no driver is deliibately going to crash into another driver. If someone merges in front of you, you adjust your speed.
@@jakel8627 But there are different ways to do that. Drivers filling both lanes and cooperating makes the whole thing go faster than some cramming in at the last minute and other people fighting them
The problem with the zipper merge is that many drivers simply will not allow the other guy to merge when it's the other guy's turn. I usually merge a bit early so I won't be the victim of non-zipper-types, and then try to apply the zipper, but, as with all traffic efficiency measures, unless everyone is playing the game by the same rules, it simply doesn't work.
if "the other guy" already broke the zipper by speeding to the front while the people that were in front of him zippered already(a zipper moves!!!) it's not "his turn"
@@Pyrrho66 I completely agree. Once the zipper starts, everyone needs to alternate into place. But some people steadfastly ride the bumper of the guy in front of them -- irrespective of how much empty lane exists -- as if being one car further back will cause Earth to stop turning. The "optics" of flying to the front make other drivers think the flyer, even though he might be technically correct, is trying to cheat and cut line. So they don't want to let him in. It's like a marching band that's supposed to be on the 50 yard line in a nice neat row, and is dead straight but a few inches short of that mark, and one marcher is right on the 50, sticking out like a sore thumb. He's technically in the right spot, but to everyone watching, he is the one who looks wrong.
@@rangersmith4652 we are immediate friends…I was a band kid, and drum corp kid, growing up. You learn real fast that being “right” is reliant on everyone around you, that it’s subjective. The picture created is more important than the dot on a piece of paper.
At minimum, the name needs to change to like, “compression merge”, where you compress from each lane as the cones push you, and not zipper cause a zipper moves while the jacket/road stays still. Lol
@@Pyrrho66 That would be a better name. I was a drum major in high school and later a marching contest judge. Nothing worse than one kid who's "right" amongst a see of kids who are looking great while being wrong. It's the same for a person on a limited access highway desperately clinging to the speed limit when everyone else is going 10 over. He's in the way and causing a hazard, even though he's technically (legally) right.
That one thing is what makes a lot of what they are saying about the merge incorrect. You sir are right.
Luckily we bigfoots don't have to worry about traffic out here in the wilderness
Yet...
They're back.
My favorite profile on RUclips!!
Σ(°ロ°)
Majestic creatures
Dang, you Rick rolled me with that website. Well done!
Amazing work by HAI
luckily for me, i got an ad
@@Iimitbreak_. unluckily for me, i have YT premium ;-;
how are u guys getting rick rolled bruh i got chinese porn
@@happyspearr haha what?
I find that I merge as late as I feel I can get away with, without totally pissing people off, because personally nothing in everyday driving is more beautiful than a long series of perfectly executed zipper merges ... And it honestly angers me when people don't just default to the zipper.
Same here. There seems to always be someone lacking to smoothly get in front of without causing a fuss
And for a brief moment, it was as if we were fighter pilots.
Completing the Kessel Run.
With one cohesive move.
Flawlessly.
Imagine you're Jennifer Harms, watching this, and he freaking name drops you OUT OF NOWHERE.
'Reißverschlussverfahren' literally means zipper procedure and is pronounced: rice-fer-shloess-fer-fahren
(fer like in to confer, shlooss like shoes but with an L and fahren like in Fahrenheit).
Some German words are so long because they are actually compound words. You could also write "Reißverschluss-Verfahren". Even "Reiß-Verschluss" itself is a compound word.
Why do Germans hate spaces
@@donaldfrankcheadlejr.1244 I think the idea with compound words is that they represent a single concept so they should be a single word without spaces.
But honestly it's just normal to us and as a bonus it even saves a little bit of space.
As an English speaker, there is still no way in hell I am getting the U and Rs right in that word. HChchHrice fohrh shleuuess fochrrh igiveup. French has basically the same problem.
But as an American, I can take comfort that most foreigners will never get my Rs right either.
Except that most people pronounce Fahrenheit as fairen-hite and not fawren-hite, as it should be
@@zackd519 in the south its fayr yen hyte
3:16
Did we just get rickrolled? That was the most subtly genius thing ever.
Yepp, seems like it, hillarious! 😂 I wonder if he is the one owning it!
@@mahnas92 seems like it, WHOIS data says it's a Hover domain and it was registered on the 18-08-2021. Good job Sam! haha
Lol
Sam, round of applause. That may have been the best rickroll I’ve ever seen.
Fucking gold! Sam’s a legend! 😂
One thing nobody ever seems to mention is where you should be driving if you are in the lane that is about to have to merge. If you keep your car located at a gap in the cars in the next lane and maintain that spot, maintaining the same speed at the merge, then it sets up the most smooth merge.
I'm a highway engineer, by the way.
Most of this occurs in stop and go traffic caused by sphincters who are too entitled to let anyone merge so the whole positioning and constant speed thing isn't exactly relevant.
@@yazmeliayzol2895 I'm sure as hell not going to let somebody fly up and cut me off. They might want to sit in the next lane and make eye contact and ask to merge. Otherwise, I think they are the entitled assholes that I'm not letting in.
it's great that even 1 year after the video was posted you're keeping the website working
In Germany, you get honked at and are considered "cutting off" when you are *not* zipper merging.
Also, Reißverschlussverfahren is pronounced [ˌʁaɪsfɐʃlʊsfɐˈfaːrən], for the lads who don't think of IPA as a hipster beer
Can confirm this, Germans know how to do this and also how to leave room for emergency vehicles!
Plus, it's in the law that you must follow the zipper merge whenever two lanes come together like that.
Yeah, totally can pronounce that now, thanks!
In Belgium too... There are even traffic lights. It took me some time to understand why other drivers were upset
whats wrong with IPA?
Let's appreciate the fact the Sam actually got the domain, and set up the site with actual instructions providing information about the zipper merge. I highly encourage you guys to check it out, the page layout and especially the animation on the zipper merge is top-notch!
I really learnt a lot if I'm that page 10/10
oh dang, very informative!
Once I'm done throwing bricks at Sam, I'm gonna see if I have any left for you.
I agree. It was very informative.
Super well put together!
That's the best rickroll I've ever seen. Well done Sam!
Glad I was too lazy to search for it.
I wasn't gg
@@th3s4lm0n Yes. I went to the link.
+
agree. I felt so stupid xD
The thing is, it’s NOT cutting anybody off
If you decide to merge ASAP and sit in a giant line while there is a completely open lane right next to you, that’s your prerogative. But you shouldn’t get mad at everyone else for using their brains and using the rest of the road.
I’ve been the victim of road rage for zipper merging, and the aggressor was a commercial driver in an 18-wheeler! Here in America even high level commercial licenses holders have no idea how to drive a road-going vehicle.
I've grown to accept the zipper merge. What gets me is 1) when tailgaters refuse to wait their turn and instead, force/bully their way in and 2) When people cut across a gore point in a LATE lane change (remember, gore points are where lanes split, not merge, so zipper merging wouldn't apply here).
I want to be on board with zipper merges but until everyone is on board, it's pointless. I genuinely hope it is more often taught as THE way to merge in these situations.
Yeah if you still have most drivers not doing this, I imagine the zipper method will actually make matters worse lol
Even if everyone is on board, people are still executing it extremely inefficiently. Its very common in Germany but it almost never works well. People constantly stop and excelerate instead of keeping a slow but steady speed. Its not gonna be faster until self driving cars are the majority of all drivers.
if you are the only one you can just drive until the merge point without morale problems
It’s like equality of outcome, not possible.
I see the big problem is that drivers are only taught in the USA to do what you need to do to get your license (lets say at 16),then never get educated by any state agency except the newspaper which no one takes anymore until you drive for 70-80 years.
I passed that intersection everyday for years. Crazy to see your own city in an HAI video!
Username is legal name
Pfp is real picture
Comments: this shit
How to doxx yourself 101
*unless thats a fake name and fakepfp
@@amistrophy that implies that someone actually gives enough of a shit to dox this person. Just not worth the effort. The world need not be such a scary place.
@@Washington715 true
I bet its easier than you'd think and someone would do it for the funny though
I always got super salty at people in that intersection who used the inner turn lane
4:29 The most efficient way to fix traffic is to build more public transit and safe cycling lanes and intersections while also making it possible to build more denser neighborhoods
its interesting that CIties Skylines (a videogame) taught me that a long time ago, cause for some reason the ai refuses to spread over multiple lanes and I always ended up with the whole city stuck because of one street where all cars piled up on a single lane
Construction: it's nice when there is clear signage to zipper merge, repeated a couple times up to the merge; there's no confusion and assuming almost everyone is paying attention to the signage, spite or revenge not really a thing. I've seen those types of merges a few times during highway construction into (or out of) Vancouver, BC when I visit
We have "when queueing use both lanes" signs
I had a car try passing on the left lane of the highway once right before the lanes merged for construction, all the while there had been signs for miles saying the left lane would be ending...
@@OrangeC7 That car was doing the correct thing. Use all available lanes until the merge point. Not move out of the lane that's ending three miles before the merge point because you don't want to seem like an asshole, and you like staring at an empty lane you could be utilising for three miles. The only exception would be if traffic is very thin so that the extra lane isn't needed at all and there is no slowdown near the merge point. Even then you should probably keep using all lanes until a couple hundred metres before the merge point, then, if your lane is ending, slow down a little and slot in between the cars on the lane that isn't ending.
@@mariusdufour9186 Except, not really. What SHOULD happen is everyone in both lanes maintains the same pace, both lanes leave about 3 car lengths between the cars in front of them and everything works. However, as we both know the lane that remains leaves about 6" of gap in front of them, and the car that runs up all the way to the end in the lane that ends tries to jam into a space that doesn't exist and everything gets messed up.
No one pays attention to signage
As someone in traffic engineering, watching people successfully zipper merge is a thing of beauty (as beautiful as inherently ugly driving can be)
@Mind Blown True, NYC drivers do it there, I’m a driver from NYC too. However, i feel drivers there do it because they have a natural tendency to fill up any empty space. Like when approaching a stop light on a road with multiple lanes, drivers in other places tend to line up even when the other lanes are empty, New Yorkers will switch lanes and fill up the empty lanes and move to the front.
You can tell when drivers "get it" as they already stagger their positions in the two lanes. Everyone knows where they are going to be. Like a choreographed dance. It is indeed beautiful.
Hello, traffic engineer. Tell me, is there hope for humanity, or are younger still traffic engineers blindly accepting the teachings of their forerunners, who bear so much direct responsibility for climate change?
Unless you're not in the U.S. Maybe traffic engineers are smarter wherever you're from.
@@TheRealE.B.
🤨
It's like seeing a double rainbow.
This made me think of a time ages ago (late '80s) when I-75 South was under construction near my town on the border of Michigan and Ohio. I think they were adding a lane on the left. There was a point where it went from 2 lanes down to 1. That area gets a LOT of big-rig truck traffic, and apparently those drivers got tired of people cutting the line so they started driving side-by-side until the choke point. Car drivers started passing them on the shoulder, so the truckers would have a third truck drive on the shoulder. I can't say that it helped speed up traffic, probably the opposite, but I thought it was funny.
One time when I was on a road with one of two lanes closed a few kilometres ahead, the driver in front of me just positioned their huge fuel truck over the line dividing both lanes, in an attempt to reduce the road to one lane capacity right there.
I live in Fort Collins, Colorado and can actually say a lot of intersections coming off of the interstate onto smaller roads have zipper merge lanes and it’s so convenient. Most of the on ramps to the interstate now have this as well.
We have the same concept in the Netherlands. It’s called “ritsen”, which translates to “to zip”. In involves two more steps, so the procedure goes like this:
1. The merging lane slows down to match the speed of the other lane
2. The cars in the other lane create some space for the mergers
3. The two lanes merge, like a zipper
Of course, this tends to fail a lot due to people merging way too soon and spite.
I suspect the only way to actually zipper merge in many places would be to have someone directing traffic at the merge point forcing the zipper.
Of course this also puts someone in the danger zone of standing at the merge point surounded by road raging drivers so its unlikely to happen.
These are allll over the place in the Netherlands. In a city called Eindhoven there is a street that has then after the street light. So multiple lanes before and after the light but then they merge to a single lane again. It used to be a better before they rearranged it to this configuration.
Where 'part 1' is key.
First you set up the merge the way you would normally do. (which is *not* blowing past everyone, triggering spite)
However hold off the actual merge until the corresponding sign (at the end), which makes it easier to arrange the 'fair'-split. And solves the 'backup reaches the previous intersection' issue.
Unfortunately it's true that even if people manage to do the setup _politely_,
it is unfortunately pretty common, especially for people who insist on driving ('cough' reason self-driving cars aren't as common as they should be 'cough'), not to think too far behind them / assuming they know better, thus not seeing any reason why they shouldn't do the thing that's already set up.
@@user-jn4sw3iw4h Finally someone that understands! Hello fellow Dutchman with traffic insight.
If you are on the merging lane and you match your speed, you force everyone behind you to do the same. When the last moment merge folks in front of you are gone, the whole thing gets moving efficiently, so that you benefit too.
The dolphin joke absolutely rolled me for some reason. How has noone done that joke before?
I think it was a missed chance for "those are flipper experts"
5:06 "graphic design is my passion" -vinesauce joel
The problem with the zipper merge is that for a safe vehicle movement, you need time to move over safely and sufficient space between the cars such that you're not causing a tailgating issue when transferring lanes. This rarely happens in the real world.
It does work in places where people don’t behave like assholes.
Like when merging on an Autobahn, you have the french try to force themselves (without right of way) immediately on the highway while all the others use the full length of the merging lane and at that point, traffic has already sped and adapted to a car with its blinker on to merge on the highway. The congestion happens in the beginning due to the french drivers.
@@DengMam part of the point I'm making is that even if people aren't acting like assholes, in most situations it's technically an unsafe movement because you're entering a space where you're too close to the vehicle in front of you and too close to the vehicle behind you because everyone in theory is already safely spaced for the current traffic in their lane. I could see cops watching the merge zone and ticketing huge numbers of people for unsafe movements.
@@ianbelletti6241 This. Any merge by its nature will decrease the distance between cars, necessitating a slowdown. You can't magically increase the throughput of a merged lane by doing a zipper.
You must drive a BMW huh Ian? The person in front is entirely incapable of causing a tailgate incident. GWB
I think your argument actually supports the zipper merge. All vehicles should be slowing down at the pinch point and therefore safer.
To be honest the best way to reduce traffic is by designing city's to reduce traffic. Making more and easier public transport or make stores walk able/cycle able.
You think Americans would walk?
@@dylan__dog YES
@@dylan__dog Fewer younger Americans can afford to buy decent cars so yeah I bet a lot of people would rather walk and take public transportation, if it didn't suck.
@@dylan__dog I want nothing more than to be able to walk or bike. Driving sucks, my car is expensive and largely unused, and I need more casual exercise in my life. I will continue to drive though, because my
Zipper merging is realistically only useful in highways or parking lots leaving major events like concerts anyway. Nobody is trusting that they can merge in 300ft of road when they could have just picked the correct lane in the first place. The actual solution to that intersection he showed would be to have the main road keep going and have a + not 2 Ts if you cared about throughput.
As far as walkable cities, 100% and make it better by having high speed rail between cities with the stations served by good public transit like a subway or bus stop so you could not need a car to visit another city and shop and return safely.
4:30 actually the most efficient way to reduce traffic is to not drive cars
Important / underrated comment. The US needs better public transit.
agreed, Cars are space-ineffecient, every governments needs to better allocate and use the money on public transportation.
*BINGO.* There is literally no other way to reduce traffic. None whatsoever.
This is the most logical solution. But there is so much money involved with car dependency; car manufacturers, oil companies, big box retail stores, shopping centres/malls, not to mention all those living in sprawling suburbs. Countries like the Netherlands are a good example to the rest of the world, hopefully the UK will be like them soon.
@@philipr.7893 Great idea! I definitely want other drivers to use public transportation.
The problem with:
Constant speed is that it can not always be implemented.
Zip Merge, you have to create some alert on how the zip merge will work.
Or people can just be an iota less entitled...
My problem is: There will be times where the entire left lane does not concede to the merging traffic, I've seen as many as 6 cars in a row speed up way above the speed limit to prevent the right lane from merging in. Leaving the right lane stopped waiting until its safe to merge.
The question is, why are those lanes closed if they're never actually doing any work on them?
@@Avendesora And I'm guessing they are too lazy to open them up during the day.
Let the tar dry up gents.
@@kylerivera3470 Yeah, because you have to put thick ass steel plate over the roadway, which you need a crane to properly lift. Those plates are also only rated for 30ish miles max if not recessed into the road, which means they would also have to pour temporary asphalt. Large sections are required to be welded together so they don't make a gap that your wheels can fall into. No way to do that every night for a large roadway.
@@henryzhang7873 So basically, since the road work is only partially done it isn't safe to drive on until they're finished? Still doesn't explain why they can't work on it during the day.
@@kylerivera3470 You can't drive on wet cement or asphalt, and roads are built in layers. You don't want to work on it during the day because often they will have people stop traffic for large machinery like the compacting rollers, excavators, dumptrucks etc. When you see those people holding stop signs at construction sites, it is because they have heavy machinery on the main roadway. Often what they will do in that case is split the oncoming side (2 lanes to 1 in each direction), which gives them a buffer lane, but only leaves 1 lane each direction for traffic. Not an issue at night, but bad during the day.
3:15 Honestly, I expected to find a boring government page, but it's actually surprisingly informative and well made.
i learned so much from that link
true, i agree
@@chuharry5360 r/wooosh
I'm surprised it actually looks so good, great site 👍🏽
The best government page I ever visited :P
Well, as a driver I find it pretty stressful to do a lane change on a busy congested road especially so when other cars are not giving way, you can't just hog up the lane. That's why it's good to plan your route before you drive. However, I do agree that in these situations, roads are underutilized. It all drills down to we are all humans with our own thought processes and some selfish behavior. If we could all sync like computers, things will be perfect.
This makes it more sound to have computers driving our cars, so we can accommodate more cars on a road and having a smooth flow. That's provided that all the driverless cars work together to make this happen, which might be a moon throw away.
@@satunnainenkatselija4478 in the real life example shown, the problem was traffic flowing through the traffic lights in only one lane. This effectivity reduced the capacity of that intersection.
@@satunnainenkatselija4478 This, exactly. Regardless of how well you merge, at the end of the day the throughput of the one final lane is the same. Merging early, merging late, it doesn't make a difference.
@@satunnainenkatselija4478 , using '720 vehicles' as you have quoted. This two lane road before merging should hold 1440 cars, but with all 1440 cars queuing in one line you need double the length of road, hence the under utilisation. Another concern is with long queue formed, this will in turn affect the other intersections and cause unnecessary jams at other parts of the road.
Props on being the only other comment I've seen addressing the real issue, entitlement...
@@JKtunes Not my problem, it doesn't affect how fast the cars in front of me move so I don't care.
I do this daily and boy do I make a lot of enemies. Like my momma always said, take the high road it's never crowded.
As a city's skylines player, I can relate.
it is so much fun to watch skyline lets plays. Kids complain about idiots not using 3 out of 4 lines, but in the same game, their tube only goes clockwise - which explains why people to not use their tube system. I really love those systemic games, as it allows people to learn and articulate highly complex system, their interconnection and why both city planners and drivers can be total morons - but that using both perspectives and some simple tweaks resolves the issue.
You made the point yourself; 100% the reason I don't often zipper merge is that I fear being prevented from having a safe opportunity to merge. It may be slower but it's far safer to already be in the correct lane.
But what you can be is the guy who lets people safely merge once you're at the zone and a car is there before you.
Just don't be like me, though, where I let a car merge and then fight the insolent buffoon behind that one who thinks I'm letting them in, too.
I mean, what does this fool think this is?! A two-for-one sale?!?
If your front bumper is ahead of their front bumper, it's their responsibility not to hit you. You just have to force your way in sometimes.
What If you don't know which lane is closed? You'd use both!
Jesus loves you
Lmfao... 'correct' lane... GWB... you are the problem so you don't get to complain about traffic jams... just the notion of correct lane in this context shows how entitled you are...
One time I saw an electronic sign before the merge point that read "Take turns to merge and use both lanes."
It was beautiful. Everyone was literally taking turns and neither lane was terribly backed up.
I wish everyone would take turns so we could all get through it faster!
It's actually mandatory in Belgium when there is a jam. Blocking others and early merging is against the law for the last 6 years already
It is in most European countries, but glad to hear that it is enforced in Belgium.
any amount of time i save by zipper merging isn't worth the stress of relying on other drivers to let me merge
How is that too much stress?
If you have a car beside you blocking your merge, simply accelerate or decelerate to switch your position.
@@moochoopr9551 Doesn't work in NYC or LA. That method relies on the next person deciding to let you merge and not a single person would ever let you do that.
The best method is to drive like you failed elementary school twice so the guy you're merging in front of is too scared to try and mess with you.
ah yes, the stress of worrying your merge will turn into a game of chicken.
As a commuter in LA, it's not so much counting on people to wave you through, and more like moving into a gap so that they're forced to let you through once you get a foothold (tirehold?). There's usually enough space to fit, even on the 405 in rush hour traffic. I like to imagine it's a social contract most natives sign on to--we're all stuck here anyway, why get angry? If someone wants to be an asshole and tailgate the guy in front so that you can't merge, the next gap comes in a few seconds, so no worries.
The ones that cause me consternation are usually overly careful drivers, because they think they need gobs of space in front or behind them to merge. "I'm giving you progressively more space, why won't you merge!" Whereas Mr. speedy will gladly take the small gap I give, and we all move on.
That was one of the smartest rickrolls I have ever seen
What I really appreciate about this video is the recognition that zipper merging might be optimal in theory but in practice they often don't work and just end up with n lanes backed up.
What do you mean? You think using a single lane is somehow better than using two lanes? The zipper merge is all there is. There is no alternative except causing more congestion. It's not an abstract theory. It's proven most efficient every single day. What the hell are you talking about? If you don't zipper merge, you are causing congestion.
That’s why there are signs on the freeway near my house that say:
“USE ALL LANES DURING BACKUPS”
A simpler solution to the Fort Collins problem might be a dual right turn, given that there appear to be two lanes of traffic that want to go south.
As an Engineer who would love to do the design. I agree!!!
@@AaronErfman How would you handle the bike lane at the dual right?
You would need signing before the left turn to prevent through traffic on Horsetooth being trapped in the rightmost right turn lane and forced onto Lemay.
You might also need tight-of-way.
I think the biggest problem with a dual right turn is that people who are making a right turn in an intersection too often go straight into the second lane, without signaling, as they round the corner. Even though that's technically illegal even when there's only one right turn lane; driver's education in this country is terrible. I witnessed another city, coincidentally near Fort Collins, get rid of such a dual right turn because of that.
@@jakurdadov6375 The bike lane would go inside of the dual right turn lanes. I imagine the extra right of way required would be the biggest hurdle.
Yes, the design would need to be done without any trap lanes. I'm strongly against those. Maybe traffic counts would show only one lane is needed through this section.
It also looks like there are different roadway sections on either side of the West Lemay. There's already a roadway shift due to a larger median on the East. This area is definitely in need of some redesign and not just a single intersection.
For zipper merge to work, you might need the traffic, in the lane being merged to, to keep at a distance twice as their normal distance. Otherwise, every merge requires the driver in the merged lane to break, which cause every car behind him to break (and hence traffic jam, by the evident chain reaction)
Thats how its supposed to work. If the lane to our right is merging with ours, we're supposed to leave enough space for a car to get in. Fragile egos cause a lot of problems, including traffic
Brake.
In other words people would need to stop tailgating, which would be safer and allow for better traffic flow in the first place.
Also, school bus drivers are trained to stop such that you can see where the back tires of the car infront of you touch the ground, everyone should do this and recognize that this should be the absolute limit of approach to vehicles infront of themselves. It makes everything safer and give room to maneuver in an emergency (like if the car behind you loses control on blackice and you need to move are be rearended, my mom had this exact scenario happen to her and the other car stopped exactly where she had been)
You should always be double the length from the car befor you and behind, that’s why people have so many sudden accidents because they never distanced themselves enough to stop in time 😂
have you seen japan zipper merge line?
i envy japan.
1:38 this is actually pretty misleading on the narrator’s part: the study literally says a few sentences later that “While the zipper merge produces a safer merging situation and a shorter backup, It did not reduce travel time.”
The Reißverschlussverfahren is great, but doesn’t work most of time. I crash almost every time, because of some idiots that think I’m the idiot. But when you see it work out as it’s supposed to, it’s soooo satisfying 🍻🇩🇪
However, zipper merge does not help with an existing traffic jam. That is because a late merge requires spacing out the already jammed up lane, that means a lot of braking and waiting and reacceleration. Thus it is sometimes better to merge early, when there is enough space between you and other drivers
That's the thing I've never understood about how the zipper merge is supposed to work so much better. You're supposed to have adequate space in front. With the zipper merge, you immediately have to slow down because you removed that adequate space so you need to create it again, which causes a back up regardless. Merging early, you can find somewhere that already has adequate space, or at least closer to adequate space. Though, in cases where there's no adequate space, I suppose the zipper merge could be more effective.
Thats the whole point that this video skipped, Active Vrs Stopped. The cars in a traffic jam have already zipper merged before the red sports car forces its way in.
Then drivers need to start creating space between them and the car in front of them, before they get to the merging area. Basically start reducing speed (not pressing the brakes, just release gas) as you arrive to create space, and start letting the other drivers in who do the same thing, so that no one has to break, and everyone can merge. Of course it always works in theory, but it can be implemented. I always do it when in traffic.
This is wrong. It only needs to be spread out right before the merge. As long as drivers cooperate it's really not a problem when you get used to it.
@@lordhosk the entire point is that you don't want to "zipper merge" before you have to, as that leaves a lane empty. If that lane was full, the line of cars would be shorter. Everyone wins.
A good way to do the zipper merge is to hang out in the ending lane, but maintain your position and don't pass. The road will lose some capacity but not as much as if you merged early, but the car on the priority lane is more likely to let you in, and cars behind you will follow your example and zipper merge as well
and you still get to have the dopamine that the traffic vigilantes feel because you also get to spite people behind you by forcing them to not "cut" in front of the "line". win-win for everyone.
@@douglasshouganai2516 Yep this is me, read about this maybe 15 years ago and that has been my default. On highways as well if you do this along side a semi truck they will always let you in cause they know what you are doing.
What is a priority lane? Nobody has priority over me.
It's funny like you do the right thing and then all the other people are like oh shit that's how we're supposed to do it 😂
People behind will just drive around on the shoulder when they see a big enough opening ahead
3:16 this video should've been sponsored by Hover
I can't believe he just bought a domain to rickroll us
In the Horsetooth sample (2:07) I can see where the zipper merge is very useful. But if you have a long enough stretch of road where everyone can queue up in a single lane, then the most important thing is how many car can get through the choke point per minute.
yes. of course. but then you have idiots who want to save 1 second at the cost of the publics minute. :/
By increasing its he length of the choke point you reduce the number of cars per minute that pass through it. That’s why zipper merge works. It’s the same as resistance in a wire.
@@obabikaa1721 Took me a second for my brain to get that - a choke point is a point and has no length. But yes agreed, the length of the queue causes lower throughput because every start and stop propagates slower and slower down the line because independent human drivers just can't
@@emdivine That’s correct, your explanation is better worded than mine haha.
@@obabikaa1721 Zipper merge just reduces the rate at which cars pass through the chokepoint cause people are just constantly trying to figure out who goes when, instead of using the earlier road to handle all that beforehand. Real life is not a perfect model like the video shows. Zipper merge just makes things worse.
3:19 Hmmm... I wonder who changed the link to a rickroll...
It's also important to note that just because someone flies up to the front and zipper-merges, does not mean they do it safely. When zipper merging, you still need to find an opening that is safe to get in. Every single video I've seen demonstrating this merge always has that perfect scenario with a gap they can fit in. In practice, that gap doesn't exist and drivers get to the end of the merge, slow down to about 20 mph, and have to merge with traffic going at 40 mph, and now you have a huge line of people hitting their brakes and causing a traffic snake. I would be all for zipper merges if computers drove cars. Until that happens, I will get over when I see the gap in traffic, safely, and without creating traffic snakes. It's like the engineers running the computer simulations never actually drive in traffic.
As you near the merge point, you'd line up your car slightly behind the car at the other lane that you'd follow at the merging point. If you do it right, you shouldn't need to stop (maybe just slow down a little.
@@rap3208 2 things
1) This comment was over a year ago
2) True, but people don't drive that way. If they did, it would be great.
Also I have noticed, that people are not courteous, and won't let you merge in. This entire zipper merging breaks down when no one will be civilized and allow you to go ahead in.
@Klydesdale2010 I'm civilized. I arrive at my appointments early. Similarly, I merge with the early-merging traffic -- not incidentally, using the very same zipper technique!
@@DerpedOutTroll They do at zipper merges. At Houston where H6 exits from I5, people have learned to do the zipper merges. Of course there are always those guys who doesn't know the zipper merge or they just don't care to follow at all.
Anyway, if those at the back of the ignorant driver follows zipper merge, the zipper merge goes right back without breaking stride. You guys seem to think that if one guy breaks the zipper merge, everything goes haywire, it doesn't work that way - you just let the guy break it and then continue as if nothing happened.
My driving school literally taught me to look ahead for signs and obstructions and to lane change as soon as possible. Not to mention the only thing the zipper merge has got me is an 18 wheeler in the rear lol
Well then that driving school should lose it credentials...
oml when did your vids start getting so chaotic, i love it :D
WOW In Italy we absolutely hate those that seem to be skipping the line, so it's like you're an asshole if you do the zip merger. Never though of it
Interesting to know there are significant cultural differences within Europe. Rules should be hamonized, but as a motorist, I do notice there are subtle differences from country to country.
This always makes me so angry when there's traffic in my city. There is a section in my city where there is a big merging zone, and there is a merging lane to help. But everybody wants to merge so much sooner and traffic comes to a standstill because nobody wants to let anybody in, and the entire merging lane is just empty in front of them.
good. put a metered entrance on and keep em on the city streets or BETTER YET in their stupid driveways. if the highway is full its full. slowing it down makes it even worse
My town introduced a zipper merge a few years ago, and it seems to work great. The reason is probably that, after leaving the two turn lanes, you have no choice but to all ride together in a single lane for a few hundred feet. Since the inside turn lane is on the outside of the curve, it usually works out pretty well--if you take the outside turn lane, you reach that lane faster, so there are naturally bigger gaps in the lane that you need to merge into. In general, people seem to just pick whichever turn lane has a shorter line when they show up, so there's no preference that makes one line longer than the other.
notice how it says length of traffic build up, not delay. the line may be shorter but the cars move faster when merging earlier
This also applies to merging onto a congested highway. Go all the way to when the merge lane ends, then zipper in. Otherwise, the merge lane clogs up all the way to traffic lights. I live in an... aggressive... city, where most people know this and will honk and rage against early mergers.
In that case, one has to judge the speed of the cars on the freeway before they get to the end of the ramp. A lot of drivers will get into the left lane to allow merging traffic. I have a problem where the entrance ramp becomes an exit ramp for another road. Why do people have to get in front of you as you are trying to merge on the freeway, when they are using the same lane to exit the freeway. Let me get out of the lane then you have an empty space to get in the lane.
The problem with waiting to merge until the lane ends on congested highways is that the end of the merge lane typically coincides with the point where traffic flow is beginning to pick back up and people merging there just grinds it to a halt again.
@@MikeDCWeld yep. If there is an opening before the end, and you can match the speed and seemlessly merge, go ahead and do so. If you wait until the end, there may not be an opening, which will then require traffic to slow down at that point to make space. In theory zipper is a good idea, but it doesn't seem to work that well in the real world unless traffic has slowed to a crawl already.
Yup. In traffic, use the whole onramp to merge. Its not the asshole thing to do. That long ramp gives everyone enough time to match speeds and make a gap for you to move into, without having to slow down or speed up traffic too much. Constant speed is the goal.
That sounds unsafe. Though i live in a city where on-ramps never get clogged. Here you match the speed of the highway and then find a space and merge as early as possible so you have more room in case there's issues. If you fail to merge then you have to stop, and then do the much more difficult and rare maneuver of merging with 60 mph traffic while you're stationary. That is the only way an on-ramp could get clogged here, someone falling to get on and then being stuck unable to get a big enough gap.
Given the consequences of failure, you have to keep your chances of success as high as possible, merge early.
In Belgium it’s part of the traffic code, basically mandating this procedure in law and levying fines if not done, although I haven’t heard anybody getting fined in practice. A big benefit is that many (if not most) drivers follow exactly that procedure and it’s become quite normal, so it’s not so likely that somebody will block you… you’re following the law after all.
In Turkey, they instead prevent zipper merging by altering the road geometry to force one of the lanes to the other.
The key is taking the human element out of the merge. I never make eye contact with the driver of the vehicle I merge with. I put my blinker on, check my mirror/watch the fender of the car I'm overtaking and make the move when I see the slight opening. Of course, that's when it's slow traffic. If everyone is driving at normal speeds approaching this merge, you try to move over sooner so as not to slow down traffic...
Does nobody know how to merge at speed? Wtaf..? You match speed beside the vehicle you intend to merge behind and hit that lever that activates those blinky things then ease back until just behind them then begin to merge once your wheels are in the new lane start creating more follow distance and continue your merge... at speed there should be approximately THREE OR MORE vehicle lengths between vehicles so wtf does everyone mean when they say there is no room..?
Best way to encourage a proper zipper merge is to match speed with the lane you'll be merging into when the merge is announced. That's where you're going to be when it happens. You get to know who's going to be in front and behind you. They know you're there and what's about to happen and it should be pretty smooth. You're also blocking the guy that would race to the front actually cut someone off and cause a brake chain.
It is the people racing to the front of the blocked lane that cause the traffic jam.
@@swinde if there's an empty lane for them to race to the front of you're doing it wrong
@@gwartard
There is almost never an empty line to the front because of the cheaters. If the blocked lane was clear the open lane would be able to go through at the speed limit. A single lane going at the speed limit is more efficient than two lanes going 0.5 mph at the front and totally stopped just a few cars back while the ones at the front battle it out to go next.
@@swinde did you ignore the video and jump straight to the comment section?
@@gwartard
I watched the entire video but most of my opinion on 58 years of driving and noticing when these mergers work and when they don't.
One example is from a US highway that had to close one lane for repairs. These closures were during the rush hour. The first couple of days there was a long traffic jam with people doing the slow zipper merge at the choke point. During the rush hour many of these people are on the road at the same times during weekdays. After a few days people began to get in the open lane earlier and traffic flowed smoothly at speed. I will conceded that if the traffic is already congested daily with both lanes open, the slow zipper at the end will occur no matter what you do. It is always slowed more by the people that are uncooperative at the merge spot.
Zipper merge seems like a inadequate software solution to a bad hardware problem.
Better designed road layouts are needed.
Or fewer cars on the road, which is the one and only solution to traffic congestion.
wait… you guys don’t do this where you’re from? we literally have signs here on a lot of the freeway merging signs that say to merge like a zipper 🤔
All merging is zipper merging though. The debate is where you do it. And the right answer is well ahead of the actual closed lane so as not to be a jerk who cuts the line.
@@User31129 Wrong - if everyone drove as far as they could before merging, it wouldn't be possible to be a jerk that cuts the line because they couldn't get ahead. You also reduce the tail backs of the side that you're merging onto, meaning potentially reducing congestion at previous junctions
@@JAYG6390 I dunno man, either everyone has to follow the rules or no one will. It's like a roundabout. One fool turning left from the outside lane will cause chaos if you don't see it coming. Unless everyone is driving in the right lane until the last 100 feet or so, it's not going to work.
@@User31129 Right - the problem is that too many people don't do what they should which leads to them then complaining that people are abusing the fairness of it, when in reality what people are doing is making a big gap in the queue then complaining that people are filling it up. Its no different to queues in a supermarket. you pick a line, and wait your turn. the only difference is that at the end, they funnel to one person instead of two. Would you join the queue that has 100 people, or the one with two. If its 100, you'd complain about anyone going in the one with two abusing the fact that they've gone in the one with two, when if people had all queued in a more uniform manner, its not possible to abuse (or at least its far more difficult)
@@User31129 The Rule is to merge as late as possible. That is how you avoid a bigger traffic jam.
I love that your example is a completely different situation. Great jorb.
The last time I watched you was roughly a year ago, and I gotta say I love this new energetic Sam ❤️
Me, from a left-driving country: 2:04 *confused screaming*
dothezippermerge.org definitely has some good information for those wanting to learn more. Sam has put a lot of effort into it!
I remember seeing some channel say that zipper merging was the "future of transportation and it had no flaws whatsoever" and all I could think was 'what if someone didn't play nice?'
Zipper merging is actually legally required in Poland. But not since a very long time, and some people still act like they don't know what it is.
Laughs in NZ where merging like a zip is a mandatory part of driving
I dont remember being taught to wait until the lane ends tho
Zipper merges only work when everyone knows how to do them. I've seen them work, not surprisingly in Minnesota.
You may always preempt the zipper merge by being assertive occupying the ending lane without passing the intuitive spot and then merging at merge point unless the car behind you in the lane that you're merging into is savage.
@@junkgum I've found that a black Suburban with blacked out windows makes most people move out of the way.
@@AeroGuy07 An old beat up pickup works even better. It shows the driver just doesn't care anymore and you'd best give it a wide berth. Sigh, I miss that old truck, my Buick just doesn't inspire the same fear.
I would love to start doing this, but I just got into a car accident a couple days ago because an angry driver intentionally rammed into me. And all I did was honk at him for cutting me off without a turn signal leaving inches between us. I can’t imagine if someone thought I actually cut a mile long line. My life may genuinely be in danger
I call bs
@@yazmeliayzol2895 I’ll send you my dashcam footage if you want lol
I’m so impressed with the quality of the new website! It looks amazing.
"rice-fair-sh-lose-fair-far-ran"
rice as in the food
fair as in playing fair
sh as in sh*t
lose as in to lose a game
far as in far away
ran as in ran away
Get's you pretty close to Reißverschlussverfahren.
no
i'd say it's not perfect but gets really very close to it, and this at least seems very inutivtive for english speaking people so i i'd say this guide/hint is quite for good for that
Here in germany it works most of the time. But there are still some people who will change lane to early because they're afraid to be left out and a few others will just ignore you and still drive ahead. In the end it's a law that everybody has to follow, if you're too afraid and change early it's your own fault.
Zipper merges are my favorite car phenomena. elegant and beautiful when done right. you feel a sense of "dope, saved 10 seconds" but also the greater sense of "highway vibing"
This is my new favorite RUclips video. I am an avid fan of the zipper merge and do not understand why more people don't comprehend it.
Sam at 2:30 you call that blue car an Acura, but that’s actually a Suzuki SX4. Smh
Thank you. There is no way Acura would produce a boxy thing like that. The TSX Wagon was sleek, even for a wagon.
Tho I must admit I am hyped for the 2023 Integra.
I was looking for this comment haha!
Bruh you car about the difference between cars smh
I'm a big proponent of zipper merging when the lane ends, but I fear people use it as an excuse to ride exit lanes until the very last second, and force exiting traffic to slow down while they try and merge in front of people who probably hate their guts.
This. There’s a particularly bad example of it on my commute home, where signs indicate that a particular lane will become an exit-only lane a full two miles before the exit. And yet, every 4th or 5th car in that lane is merging back onto the interstate AFTER the ramp splits, which causes the rightmost continuing lane to back up horribly, simply encouraging even more people to use the exit lane to pass.
@Androctonus84 There's also a bad case of the reverse on the Eisenhower in Chicago, where 80% of cars exit at a certain point, and there are 2 clearly marked exit only lanes for this, but so many people just force their way into the exit lanes right before they split off, causing a permanent back up for like half a mile
also zipper merging only works at slower busier times. The most infuriating thing is in motorways where you are travelling too fast for a zipper merge and have clear instructions to merge lanes earlier so cars can go into gaps etc and they speed ahead at 70 instead of the 40 or so everyone else is doing then swing in at the last moment often forcing the car behind them to hit the brakes etc etc.
thats....zipper merging...how else would you do it lol. merging in 10 feet vs over 1 mile is always going to be worse. you can merge at higher speeds with more distance. simple logic. yes some poor people who dont know the road etc wont be able to but then every asshole uses that excuse to cut
@richard roberson There's a reason why those lanes are exit only lanes, you're not allowed to cross after a certain point. The difference here is that I assume there are 2-4 open lanes, in which case the added benefit of adding the exit lane for a stretch is minimal and almost certainly outweighed by the inefficiency of zipper merging at the last second. That's in contrast to when there are only 2 lanes and 1 is closed, where the benefit of using both outweighs the fact people will have to slow down to zipper merge.
if traffic is stalled beyond the merge, this makes more sense. but because humans are so terrible at zipper merging smoothly last moment, an early merger keeps traffic flowing at a fast pace (and then it's the one person who refuses to merge until the last moment, after braking at the cones, that forces traffic to slow)
No... no it doesn't... you're completely wrong... it seems that way from the individual perspective but in actuality merging early always, I say again, ALWAYS slows traffic... you can't see the miles of traffic further back being increased because it's BEHIND YOU... GWB
I love how zipper merge has a doubling meaning
Wait, aren't you reversing the terms "inner and outer" when talking about the double left in Fort Collins? The right lane is on the outside of the curve!
A hazard with the zipper merge is that it leaves everything to the last moment. As illustrated in the video, that makes things riskier.
My company required yearly driver safety training (including check ride). They spent a lot of time saying to look far ahead, to shift lanes early if there's construction ahead.
Yeah, but if both lanes are full, and they are moving slowly, it's not a real issue...
I've never seen a risky zipper merge unless someone was raging over another car being in front of them. When volume is heavy a slow down is inevitable making it safe to merge. When it's high speed that is plenty of space, unless of course you have the road rager purposely making things dangeroua
Well they are wrong... obviously you should look as far ahead as possible and plan your maneuver but the implementation shouldn't be done early... all that does from a company perspective is theoretically insulate their drivers from being at fault if they short merged and ended up hitting the vehicle they were trying to follow... musta had a lot of moe rons dare... knot amen..? The risk level is the exact same... so whatever company it was was just wasting money for insurance reasons...
The reißverschlussverfahren is taught in our trafficschool. Also ir makes more sense to use it since you can drive by the waiting cars until the last point
One possible solution is to force the one-and-one spacing of cars from both lanes by merging partially slowly as you get to the merge point.
That way, the cars in the lane that continues _have_ to make space for cars (because they're partially merging early) and the merge happens in an orderly fashion, with nobody "cutting in front".
If I understand your idea correctly I think it's brilliant... force both lanes to half merge before diverting traffic into the chosen lane... there is no one lane that continues... and if people are still being entitled sphincters just add quick cycle traffic signals...
the band Prairie Clamor from Minnesota has a song called Zipper Merge... written in spite of the people who don't know about it. great song, greater message
I still don't get the math of this. Hasn't it been proven that just creating more lanes of roads isn't effectice at all? Like that big multilane highway in houston that did nothing to decrease traffic. So how does using more lanes for longer decrease the amount of traffic? Won't it just move the bottleneck to a different spot?
I would like an answer to this too
I THINK the idea is that it lessens the length of the bottleneck overall, but I'm not sure.
I really think this is some engineers pipe dreams
@@js46644 Ok I did some more research on this, reading papers and such, and while the zipper merge does have a noticable effect of safety, it has a barely noticable effect on travel time.
For example, a study researching the before and after travel times of a road that implimented the zipper merge found travel times went from 1 min 29.5 seconds to 1 min 28.5 seconds. So the zipper merge saved ONLY 1 SECOND on average. Another study found a decrease from 1 min 17.6 to 1 min 14.2 seconds. So a decreased travel time of 3.4 seconds. Anyone who thinks saving less than 5 seconds by using this technique is a significant difference is crazy.
So yeah, zipper merge does next to nothing for efficancy. I would bet the time it does save is just drivers being more cognisant of the road due to having to think more for this new technique.
@@ethohalfslabI wonder what time savings it would provide if the drivers in the study actually knew how to use it properly. I'm giving you +20 pts for researching
@@js46644 Most likely nothing. The ideal zipper merge has enough space between the cars in the lane being merged into to allow another car into there, but since there is that much space anyway, and that you evidently _can_ fit in there safely, simply driving closer in the lane would have the same rate of cars through the bottleneck. The major difference is whether there are _other_ lanes and roads being affected by the traffic jam going as far back as it does. For instance, with zipper merging, you can half the distance that the traffic jam goes back, which might be enough to let another junction be free for cars going another way.
With all the road work around here, especially on the highway. This video is very fitting right now.
The issue with the zipper merge is that if you’re in the lane that stays open and other drivers use the second lane until the end, what ends up happening is they ALL try to cut in front of YOU. It’s not 1 car enters and then it moves forward and the next car enters, it’s “oh you let him in so if I squeeze my hood in here you’ll have to let me in too!”, and then the lane that stays open is entirely stopped and everyone who merged early or was simply in the correct lane to begin with is punished for yielding to the start of what could’ve been a perfectly fair zipper merge, until the mergers take advantage.
That’s where defensive driving comes in. Spatial awareness where you need to be able to anticipate driver maneuvers.
If you have a massive distance between yourself and the car in front of you, make a mental note to expect a car to change lanes into your lane in front of you.
Maintain speed or coast in respect to the maneuver occurring in front of you. If you know that car might cut in front of you. Start slowing down by coasting and let the vehicle enter.
Don’t let it be a personal ego trip should one feel offended of getting in front.