Road rant inspired by the funny picture thread.

[jamil]

I'm not sure who the *******s are out there, the ones who try to jump ahead and cut in line or the ones who refuse to let them.

HOWEVER...

I know that when there is a long line in the right lane and in the left lane is a semi, intentionally going slowly and keeping pace with another in the right lane, creating a rolling roadblock, the traffic moves smoothly, with everyone coming up behind the semis merging in slowly, over time. This works until the right lane semi slows to let the left lane guy merge in and suddenly, the left lane a half-mile back behind him who now see a clear lane decide to start jumping ahead again.

Take from that anecdotal evidence whatever you wish, but I see that pattern repeated regularly.

Blessings,
Bill

The pattern I see repeated regularly is slower overall traffic. I've been behind the "regulators", and I've been in front of them. The traffic in front does move smother for awhile, but doesn't really stay that way because in a single file of cars, no one can go faster than the slowest car. There's still an accordion affect. And I've been behind the "regulators" and they are essentially a rolling bottleneck. Semi's can't keep the pace for more than a few cars because all drivers don't drive the same speed. All drivers don't have the same reaction times. Soon the "regulator" is himself caught in the accordion. I've seen it so many times I just laugh and shake my head and turn the music up, because it's going to be awhile.

 

[churchmouse]

I don't know. I'm reading your accounts of drivers, and, I thought traffic was horrible in Louisville. Sheesh. Indianapolis must be the ******* driver capital of the Midwest.

Chicago over flow.
Hispanics that are driving for the 1st time.

 

[jamil]

I've described how I do it. I know we don't use zipper merging in Indiana. But I believe that it impacts fewer people overall to do it. I don't want to hold you up. I'm sure you don't want to be sitting in that traffic jam any longer than me. So I'm not using that lane to be an *******. I'm using it because I think I'm impacting traffic less.

then pull in behind me. If you are in front, you're holding me up.

No. Really. I'm not holding you up. The dawdler I merged in front of is. I'm gone. He's still reading his email.

 

[jamil]

Chicago over flow.
Hispanics that are driving for the 1st time.

I used to live in Rockford and I drove in Chicago a lot. Definitely a different driving ethos there.

 

[Brandon]

No. Really. I'm not holding you up. The dawdler I merged in front of is. I'm gone. He's still reading his email.

 

[jamil]

He might get going if you beep at him.

 

[actaeon277]

I used to live in Rockford and I drove in Chicago a lot. Definitely a different driving ethos there.

Well that extends into NWI

 

[eric001]

I just took a trip to MN and back, with lots of construction zones and congested areas scattered all the way across the route. In my recent experience, each state crossed had some d-bags that just HAD to be rude. Many more showed up in city driving, but not as many as I expected being used to Indy drivers. Very few did the zipper thing, as most merged sooner than later and were pretty polite about the whole thing. Note that I totally avoided the Chicago area, as going through there would boil my blood. Going through Illinois itself is bad enough, and most of the rudeness I dealt with on the trip was in Illinois. So Indy isn't exactly the politeness capital of the driving world, but it's far from the worst place to drive. For the record, two of the rudest drivers I saw on the whole trip were a jackwagon in an older dually pickup truck being an ass cutting folks off and hopping lanes, and some twerp driving a Prius who was obviously overwhelmed by their own smugness and rude as hell, trying to act like they owned the whole road.

And with regards to the idea that running up the merging lane doesn't affect those already in line... consider the simple saying "you don't get something for nothing" and apply it to the zipper idea. Yes, there are always those slower to start up in every line of cars...but if one or more cars pop into that empty space in front of them, how exactly does that NOT slow down the rest of that entire lane? If I start out in the through-pass lane say 20 cars behind a bus and 15 people merge in front of that bus and the cars between me and it, how am *I* not slowed down by that bunch of mergers now going through the constriction zone ahead of me? Simply put, for every vehicle merging in front of me, I am delayed incrementally more by their insertion into the line.

Again, just to be clear, I absolutely will and do let folks merge when they're polite, use signals, and try to do so in a responsible manner. Those popping out of line to get ahead and/or those who scream past to merge at the very last second are in my opinion not being polite or responsible. They're being asshats. They cause unexpected mashing of brakes and bumpers all because they can't overcome their greediness to waste their precious time like everybody else has to do. They usually get no sympathy from me, and I'll gladly run them out of lane rather than let them in (I've got a truck and am not afraid to hold my lane)...kind of the corollary to the Golden Rule: I'll be happy to treat you with at least as much disrespect as you try to show to me. Having watched many hours of traffic back-ups, I think a lot of the slow-downs are made significantly worse by those folks trying to merge at the last minute--they cause the accordion to get worse, not better, as the mashing of brakes works its way back up the line from their sudden and often rude merging.

 

[jbombelli]

No. Really. I'm not holding you up. The dawdler I merged in front of is. I'm gone. He's still reading his email.

You mean the guy you cut off and caused to hit his brakes causing a ripple effect through a quarter mile of traffic?

No. Really. You're causing everyone behind you added time. Every single time. That you refuse to accept it in your rush to justify cutting off everyone else, whose time OBVIOUSLY isn't worth as much as YOURS, doesn't change that.

 

[jamil]

The most annoying drivers I've encountered I think were in Mississippi. Not so much rude. Just annoying. They'd look right at you and then pull out in front of you. I thought that was very rude at first until it was explained to me. When you make eye contact, they know you see them. It's kinda like giving them permission to pull out in front of you. Dangerous as hell, but it's their culture.

The rudest I've encountered may have been Detroit. Chicago, yes. My BIL is from Chicago. He explained the driving ethos, but coming from him it didn't help me think much better of it. He's kind of an ******* himself.

 

[TopDog]

If the traffic "zippers" together 1/2 mile before the restriction versus 10 ft, it still zippers together and you're still limited by the construction zone traffic limit. There'd still be stopped or slowed traffic because of the merging and lowered speed limit. It's not like we'll all be cruising along at 65mph, then zip together at the construction zone and continue to cruise. No, if the traffic is sufficient it'll stop and backup as everybody adjusts.

If you're the only guy/gal that is not getting over until the last minute and then wondering why everyone else is being the ***-hole, it's entirely possible that it's not everyone else that are the ***-holes.

^^^^^^^^^^^
This is the reality.



Sorry people but I have a problem with that. It's just ****ing wrong.
The math says "zipper merging" is more efficient, faster. [/QUOTE]

I think you are wrong, show me the math.

 

[jamil]

You mean the guy you cut off and caused to hit his brakes causing a ripple effect through a quarter mile of traffic?

No. Really. You're causing everyone behind you added time. Every single time. That you refuse to accept it in your rush to justify cutting off everyone else, whose time OBVIOUSLY isn't worth as much as YOURS, doesn't change that.

You can think that if you want, but to think that you'll need to want to think the worst of me. Whatevs. I've seen the people who stop in the closing lane and then cut people off. They help cause the accordion affect. I'm not cutting people off. No one has to hit their breaks on my account. They're already on their breaks before I merge. And they're still on them after I merge. Have you not seen these people? They're staring down at their phones, not paying attention, the traffic has started to move, and they're still sitting there. I guess waiting for you to beep at them. Meanwhile, I'm gone.

 

[bwframe]

The pattern I see repeated regularly is slower overall traffic. I've been behind the "regulators", and I've been in front of them. The traffic in front does move smother for awhile, but doesn't really stay that way because in a single file of cars, no one can go faster than the slowest car. There's still an accordion affect. And I've been behind the "regulators" and they are essentially a rolling bottleneck. Semi's can't keep the pace for more than a few cars because all drivers don't drive the same speed. All drivers don't have the same reaction times. Soon the "regulator" is himself caught in the accordion. I've seen it so many times I just laugh and shake my head and turn the music up, because it's going to be awhile.

I'm not much for the self-appointed 18 wheel traffic cops. Intimidation with your large truck/load is still intimidation.

 

[CampingJosh]

There is always an accordion. There is always a snoozer or a dawdler in the accordion. Always.

It's my experience that the accordion effect is caused by the drivers who fail to merge early. Yes, everyone has to drive the 40 MPH that the slowest driver chooses, but nobody has to slam on the brakes and come to a complete stop that causes the accordion.

40 MPH and everyone moving together beats you zipping in front of the line and causing the accordion.

 

[CTS]

If we're talking about maximizing the number of vehicles that can get past a given point per minute or hour or whatever, the zipper method or late merge does no good. It counts on people carefully choreographing their driving and I don't know anywhere that actually happens. It's usually a majority of people just trying to get along in a frustrating situation with a few people that think their time is more valuable than everybody else playing the system and suckers that leave too much room between themselves and the car in front of them or the tendency to avoid body damage when that speedster forces him/herself back in line.

You would be wrong. It doesn't take careful choreography, it takes a sign. GREAT video by the MN DOT here:

[video=youtube;ZcPby71TNC0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcPby71TNC0[/video]

Personally I'm glad for the people who get in gigantically long lines instead of zipper merging, because I drive right past them every single time and get let in up near the front, saving me a lot of time and decreasing the stress on my car. If everyone did it as shown in the video, the same way that our top poster here is referring to, traffic would go more quickly. Feel free to argue the opposite, but you're wrong and there's a LOT of evidence to the contrary. Sadly it's one of those things that aren't "common sense obvious" so a lot of people don't get it.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Do you "zipper proponents" also think that it's more efficient to drive in the far left (faster) lane until the last possible moment that you need to exit on the right? Because it seems like you're using the same logic.

 

[churchmouse]

Do you "zipper proponents" also think that it's more efficient to drive in the far left (faster) lane until the last possible moment that you need to exit on the right? Because it seems like you're using the same logic.

If "Everyone" used logic and common sense this thread would not exist.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

If "Everyone" used logic and common sense this thread would not exist.

Heck, if that were the case, half of the internet wouldn't exist!

 

[rob63]

Do you "zipper proponents" also think that it's more efficient to drive in the far left (faster) lane until the last possible moment that you need to exit on the right? Because it seems like you're using the same logic.

No. FWIW, I merge early because that is the custom here, but I also acknowledge that Jamil is correct that the "zipper" method would work better.

Here is another way of thinking about it. Everyone seems to agree that the basic problem is that there are some @sshats that zoom past everybody else that have already merged and force their way in, causing people to slam on their brakes. What would be the most effective way to combat that? Is there any chance we will ever get rid of the @sshats? I don't think so. How about if everyone did the "zipper" method as shown in the video? How is the @sshat going to zoom past everyone? There is no open lane for them to try to force there way in, that is the point of the "zipper" method. Merging early invites @sshat behavior, merging late would prevent it if everybody did it.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

No. FWIW, I merge early because that is the custom here, but I also acknowledge that Jamil is correct that the "zipper" method would work better.

Here is another way of thinking about it. Everyone seems to agree that the basic problem is that there are some @sshats that zoom past everybody else that have already merged and force their way in, causing people to slam on their brakes. What would be the most effective way to combat that? Is there any chance we will ever get rid of the @sshats? I don't think so. How about if everyone did the "zipper" method as shown in the video? How is the @sshat going to zoom past everyone? There is no open lane for them to try to force there way in, that is the point of the "zipper" method. Merging early invites @sshat behavior, merging late would prevent it if everybody did it.

It sounds good in theory, but unfortunately we don't live in a theoretical world (at least here in Indiana). In the Indiana reality, if everyone merged early, there would be no accordion effect.