So you've probably seen this:
This is my star-laced rant.
Sorry people but I have a problem with that. It's just ****ing wrong.
The math says "zipper merging" is more efficient, faster. Merging early limits the overall road capacity. Even if everyone got in the same lane early, now the one lane carries all the traffic. More traffic per lane makes the the accordion affect much more likely much earlier than it would have anyway. It's more efficient to use all lanes until near the end, then alternate merging in, like a zipper.
However, what makes "zipper merging" not work is the driving moral majority who project their road ethos onto everyone else. They get all pissed off at the lane zippers and then won't let them in. STOP THAT! Those people aren't bad people for using all the lanes available until they're not available. They're just being smart about it.
But you guys who get all pissed off are ****ing up traffic even worse. Not letting people in causes them to have to stop. Stopped traffic makes everyone slower. Especially when the stopped car has to start again to jump in when someone finally lets them in. This causes the traffic behind them to go even slower. It's a closed loop cycle of slow-**** accordion action with no happy ending. Now you're pissed, they're pissed, everyone's pissed.
How about not getting pissed? Just be polite. Let people in before they have to stop. Then EVERYONE goes faster. And to the people merging in, please get yer ****ing head out of the phone and pay some ****ing attention. Don't stop unless you have to. Merge yer ass in when you have a safe opening, before you have to stop. Don't wait for an emailed invitation. Don't dawdle and make the guy letting you in have to stop too.
And sometimes there is a proper time to say "**** you" to people who want to merge in. Like when you know they want to take an exit that is backed up. So they merge into your lane to get 3 cars ahead of where they were before they jumped in front of you. And then want to merge back into the exiting lane. And since they're dickheads, no one wants to let them back in. So now I have to wait behind them until they can merge back. So now they're backing up two lanes. Yeah **** them.
And while we're at this rant, you guys that try to regulate the speed of people behind you in a traffic jam by slowing to keep 20 car lengths open in front of you. STOP THAT! In a traffic jam, when you leave a large space like that in front of you, that's wasted road space. Close the gap. Not too close. But you don't need a damn football field of open space in front of you. Let other drivers occupy some of that space.
/rant
This is my star-laced rant.
Sorry people but I have a problem with that. It's just ****ing wrong.
The math says "zipper merging" is more efficient, faster. Merging early limits the overall road capacity. Even if everyone got in the same lane early, now the one lane carries all the traffic. More traffic per lane makes the the accordion affect much more likely much earlier than it would have anyway. It's more efficient to use all lanes until near the end, then alternate merging in, like a zipper.
However, what makes "zipper merging" not work is the driving moral majority who project their road ethos onto everyone else. They get all pissed off at the lane zippers and then won't let them in. STOP THAT! Those people aren't bad people for using all the lanes available until they're not available. They're just being smart about it.
But you guys who get all pissed off are ****ing up traffic even worse. Not letting people in causes them to have to stop. Stopped traffic makes everyone slower. Especially when the stopped car has to start again to jump in when someone finally lets them in. This causes the traffic behind them to go even slower. It's a closed loop cycle of slow-**** accordion action with no happy ending. Now you're pissed, they're pissed, everyone's pissed.
How about not getting pissed? Just be polite. Let people in before they have to stop. Then EVERYONE goes faster. And to the people merging in, please get yer ****ing head out of the phone and pay some ****ing attention. Don't stop unless you have to. Merge yer ass in when you have a safe opening, before you have to stop. Don't wait for an emailed invitation. Don't dawdle and make the guy letting you in have to stop too.
And sometimes there is a proper time to say "**** you" to people who want to merge in. Like when you know they want to take an exit that is backed up. So they merge into your lane to get 3 cars ahead of where they were before they jumped in front of you. And then want to merge back into the exiting lane. And since they're dickheads, no one wants to let them back in. So now I have to wait behind them until they can merge back. So now they're backing up two lanes. Yeah **** them.
And while we're at this rant, you guys that try to regulate the speed of people behind you in a traffic jam by slowing to keep 20 car lengths open in front of you. STOP THAT! In a traffic jam, when you leave a large space like that in front of you, that's wasted road space. Close the gap. Not too close. But you don't need a damn football field of open space in front of you. Let other drivers occupy some of that space.
/rant