Traffic Merging: The Zipper Method

[DBMaster]

^Haven't driven there since the late 90's. I am guessing several may chime in and claim that their state is the worst.

I am not sure why I expect better. Something I used to see only occasionally I now see multiple times daily - people driving with turn signals left on for miles on the highway. If your attention span is that short then moving out of the left lane is going to be far too much of a brain exercise for you.

 

[supton]

I have yet to figure that one out too. How do you not notice a blinking light and clicking? Maybe they are deaf and the light burned out?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: supton
How do you not notice a blinking light

Some people just don't look at their instrument cluster very often.

Quote:
and clicking?

Easy not to hear it if your stereo is blasting.

 

[DBMaster]

My 2012 Mazda3 has two settings for the turn signal accessible through the computer display. The volume can be set high or low. High is annoyingly loud and low can barely be heard. I believe that in 2013 Mazda added a medium setting which, as Goldilocks might say, could be just right.

My point here is that for lane changes you just hold the lever down and aren't supposed to lock it. I occasionally go past these folks and about half the time they are holding a phone to an ear chatting away. I wonder what excuse the other half have.

Makes me very nervous and I avoid getting too close. That moron in the left lane with the left blinker on will often change lanes to the right with the left blinker still going. Instead of sitting by the side of the road clocking speeds why aren't the police pulling over idiots who are clearly a danger?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
My point here is that for lane changes you just hold the lever down and aren't supposed to lock it.

Many new cars now have this auto off feature (specifically for lane changes) - when you tap the signal stalk lightly, the turn signals will blink three times and then turn themselves off. It takes some getting used to, but it kind of works.

One might argue that 3 blinks is too short, but I think it's sufficient to grab other drivers' attention.

My pet peeve is that if people signal lane changes in the first place, they do it too late. Since it's all about communicating your intent, you need to signal first, then make the move. But instead, you'll see many people signal only when they're already changing lanes. At that point signalling is kind of useless - I'm already seeing that you're physically moving from one lane to another.

 

[GMBoy]

This will never work in the USA because we still have dummys trying to merge until the highway at 40mph when cars are zipping by at 65-80mph. I will let you in or move over a lane if you are trying to merge but if you are poking along at 40 you are a hazard to everyone and making it hard for those behind to have a chance to get in.

 

[99Saturn]

Quote:
NYS DMV
As you enter a work zone, signs with flashing arrow panels or that warn "lane closed ahead" mean you should merge your vehicle into the proper lane as soon as safely practical. Don't zoom to the end of the closed lane and try to force your way into the other lane. If you move to the appropriate lane at first notice, your driving is more likely to be calm, efficient, and safe.

Source: NYS DMV - DRIVING SAFELY IN WORK ZONE

Not saying the above is "correct" I just never remember learning to use the zipper method.

I see "zippering" around here once it is backed up, and works fine. The biggest abuses I see are situations where a road splits or an off ramp is on the right and backs up, so some will go as far as possible in the left lane and then cut in when they see a chance to cut someone off.

 

[DBMaster]

Pete and GMBoy, agreed. My favorite is when the turn signal blinks less than a full blink as the lane change is being completed - why bother. Of course, it's a game around here, changing lanes. If traffic is relatively heavy, signalling your intent can create the intent in the person already in the lane into which you want to merge (behind you) speeding up to prevent you from getting in front of them. And, yes, those morons topping the entrance ramp at 40 mph are even more of a pet peeve than those other morons who choose to use the right lane for passing when they know a line of cars is entering ahead. It seems as though they claim as a right to be able to change lanes right in front of cars in the middle lane regardless of their speed. So, at every major on-ramp you end up with all three lanes backed up. If more distance was left between cars and drivers would clear the right lane, as feasible, we could move along a lot more smoothly.

Alas, we are talking about human beings; stupid, selfish, illogical human beings.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
There is a book entitled "Traffic" in which this very point is made.
To use all available lanes as long as possible actually maximizes road capacity thereby reducing congestion.
The problem is that most drivers are competitive and not cooperative.
Most drivers prefer the you're not getting in front of me method.


X2.

Getting a mass of traffic to move efficiently requires cooperation, but a large number of people are unwilling to be cooperative. "It's all about me, and I have to be first no matter how slow I drive because I am the most important." Many people are not interested in driving efficiently, they want to "win" stupid little traffic battles.

Merging efficiently could happen if (1) the people already on the roadway are considerate of people trying to merge and don't ride their quarter panel in an effort to block them, and (2) if the people merging use the ramp/merging lane as an opportunity to build speed to match the traffic on the roadway, rather than trying to merge on to a 55-65 MPH road at 35 MPH.

Slow mergers and "don't nobody get in front of me" lane hogs are too common for there to be any hope of efficient driving.

There are few laws on the books for plain bad driving, and those that do exist (ie slower traffic keep right) are hardly ever enforced. There is little incentive for poor drivers to improve.

One thing I have noticed too is that when I try to be a courteous driver, people just don't know what to do with it. Half the time when I deliberately give someone room to get over, they seem confused and want to wait for me to give them 10 car lengths of room to get over. I don't know if they are totally unaware of the dimensions of their vehicle or what the problem is.

 

[datech]

"Roadrunner," the IBM supercomputer that experts say "comes closest to replicating a human's ability to drive in rush-hour traffic, "weighs 227 metric tons and requires a diet of about 3 megawatts."

By contrast, they explain, the brain regularly handles rush-hour driving on 20 watts -- same power consumption as a Nintendo -- and its 4.5 kilos fit into a handbag"


Yet people compromise their safety by texting, etc. Putting their brains on overload.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: datech
"Roadrunner," the IBM supercomputer that experts say "comes closest to replicating a human's ability to drive in rush-hour traffic, "weighs 227 metric tons and requires a diet of about 3 megawatts."

By contrast, they explain, the brain regularly handles rush-hour driving on 20 watts -- same power consumption as a Nintendo -- and its 4.5 kilos fit into a handbag"


Yet people compromise their safety by texting, etc. Putting their brains on overload.


http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/de-Borchgrave/2014/05/28/Cranial-knowledge/1821401283996/

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/ibm-unveils-a-new-brain-simulator

I got curious about this, and had to look it up. Appears to be legit. But I have to quibble: If the brain is so good at parallel processing info, is it not capable of adding one more subtask to what must be a list dozen long? Most deal just fine with adding clutch/shifting, or even a wonky pedal / bad idle / other maladies too.

[Yes I know exactly why humans can't. Just playing a bit of devil's adovcate here. I find playing chess much harder than rush hour traffic, guess I'm not a very bright computer.]

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: GMBoy
This will never work in the USA because we still have dummys trying to merge until the highway at 40mph when cars are zipping by at 65-80mph. I will let you in or move over a lane if you are trying to merge but if you are poking along at 40 you are a hazard to everyone and making it hard for those behind to have a chance to get in.

small correction, make it a 25mph (yes 25 mph merge into 65-75 mph oncoming traffic)
on top of it, i had 1/4 of a mile free and clear in front of me, but it had to merge 2 yards in front of me. i was with a loaded to the gills minivan. glad for good brakes.....

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
One thing I have noticed too is that when I try to be a courteous driver, people just don't know what to do with it. Half the time when I deliberately give someone room to get over, they seem confused and want to wait for me to give them 10 car lengths of room to get over. I don't know if they are totally unaware of the dimensions of their vehicle or what the problem is.


+1,000

 

[DBMaster]

Driving is (to quote Liam Neeson) a particular set of skills. In fact, you NASCAR and Formula 1 fans know that it can be a sport.

How many sports do you know of that require almost all adults in this country to participate? That's driving. With the number of people in areas like mine increasing in double digit percentages every year and the average intelligence of the human animal stagnant there is a simple truth to be faced.

Driving is a set of skills, talent, and focus in which the majority perform poorly. So, I have to count myself among the insane when I think there is anything on this planet that's going to make it better aside from removing the driver from the equation.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: datech
"Roadrunner," the IBM supercomputer that experts say "comes closest to replicating a human's ability to drive in rush-hour traffic, "weighs 227 metric tons and requires a diet of about 3 megawatts."

By contrast, they explain, the brain regularly handles rush-hour driving on 20 watts -- same power consumption as a Nintendo -- and its 4.5 kilos fit into a handbag"


Yet people compromise their safety by texting, etc. Putting their brains on overload.


http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/de-Borchgrave/2014/05/28/Cranial-knowledge/1821401283996/

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/ibm-unveils-a-new-brain-simulator

I got curious about this, and had to look it up. Appears to be legit. But I have to quibble: If the brain is so good at parallel processing info, is it not capable of adding one more subtask to what must be a list dozen long? Most deal just fine with adding clutch/shifting, or even a wonky pedal / bad idle / other maladies too.

[Yes I know exactly why humans can't. Just playing a bit of devil's adovcate here. I find playing chess much harder than rush hour traffic, guess I'm not a very bright computer.]



Sure the brain is capable of processing a multitude of tasks all at once and it can be quite good at it. Think race car drivers that have to concentrate on posting fast and consistent laps, while monitoring engine parameters, preserve the engine/transmission, tires and fuel as much as possible, change brake bias, ignition timing, differential setting and be mindful of the opponents and their placement on the track. What kind of computer would handle all these variables even if we disregarded size limitations?

But unlike a computer, we have a free will and can choose what tasks to concentrate on. It just happens that the majority of drivers would rather risk their lives, than concentrate on driving.
Also, unlike computers, we have personalities, instincts and feelings that can interfere with logical choices.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Texas drivers are really horrible when it comes to lane discipline. I have driven nowhere else where the left lane is abused as much.


Worse than MA?


No, its about the same. I drive I95 in the northeast (Providence area) several times a year, and left-lane hogs up there are as bad as feral hogs down here (for non-Texans: Texas 130 had a big problem with people hitting feral hogs crossing the road at night when it first opened...).

People down here got used to fairly empty highways, and picking a lane based on how smooth it is, or maybe how far till your next exit used to be a reasonable thing to do. Not anymore, but old habits die hard and a lot of people will camp out in the left lane to avoid having to change lanes frequently. Very, very annoying. Even more annoying is speed-governed big-rigs trying to pass each other with a 1.5 mph speed differential... at 70 and 71.5 mph... on an 85 mph toll road. THAT is pure evil on the part of the truck drivers, and is one of the rare instances where big rig drivers routinely do something as rude as car drivers.

 

[GMBoy]

I always say if I were to win big with the powerball I would pay for a customer service message commercial across all networks teaching the "left lane is for passing only" rule!! Add to it now, how to merge!

 

[DBMaster]

Think bigger, GMBoy. I would purchase a helicopter and learn to fly it so I could avoid sharing the roads with people as much as possible. For the rest of the time I would just keep a driver on call so I could focus on other things besides to poor driving.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I'd just move to a nice secluded place in the woods and not have to worry about driving during rush hour again.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
I'd just move to a nice secluded place in the woods and not have to worry about driving during rush hour again.


This, too. What was once a great American pastime has been ruined for me. But, to be fair, it's more the number of people on the roads and the general population shifts and density increases. I was visiting New York City recently with the GF, who had never been, and people there walk the way they drive around here. Many are messing with phones, of course.

We suffer from the diametrically opposing forces of our lives. On one hand, technology and commerce have encouraged an instant gratification mentality. This has led to a loss of patience and civility when we have to wait for something. The pitfalls of this lifestyle are many and could encompass several more threads - aside from this one that we hijacked.