121–130 of 209 posts
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Option 1 sounds great in theory, but given that most merges are the result of temporary lane closures, completely impractical (since road work usually goes one lane at a time)
How is it any more impractical than how temporary lane closures are currently done? It can still be done with cones or barrels and the end result is exactly the same.
They want to make it more common. Pretty sure everywhere in EU everyone late merge. In west USA at least, I only see early merges.
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Speaking about educating drivers, I wish we could just kill that mentality once and for all. It drives me crazy when someone obviously beats me to a stop sign, then waves me through as though they're doing me a favor. No my friend, you're just making it slower for both of us by not following the established rules of the road. Thankfully my city is replacing as many stop signs as possible with traffic circles, where y…
> Thankfully my city is replacing as many stop signs as possible with traffic circles, where you'd have to be a complete idiot to yield to someone who got there after you. In Seattle, we have traffic circles in many of our residential neighborhoods. People still do this here. Another common thing is people taking lefts by just driving on the left side of the circle (I've had people honk at me for taking lefts the cor…
That video explanation made no sense to me. Basically the "interface" presented to the drivers has not changed, so why would drivers deviate from how they currently merge? Because the government said so? I don't see this working. However there are two solutions that could promote zipper merging: (1) Force both lanes to the center before moving that center lane to the side that is available ahead: ____________________…
In New Zealand we just have signs like this all over the place: http://i.imgur.com/AtaDOGX.jpg
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I live in the Twin Cities and "Minnesota nice" means merging incredibly early when a lane is posted as closed. As a transplant I can always count on getting and extra 1/2 - 1 mile ahead by staying in the closed lane. It is getting better, but still 40% of the time the car at the end of the zipper merge is NOT happy to see you, and thinks they are letting you in. Signage is helping at the big construction areas.
The whole point of zipper merging is to minimize speed differences between lanes for maximum efficiency and maximum safety. The proper way to execute a late zipper merge is to match speeds and merge at the end. You are not correctly zipper merging if you are passing other cars before merging at the end.
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In New Zealand we just have signs like this all over the place: http://i.imgur.com/AtaDOGX.jpg
Its pedantic, but I think this is sublty different than what is being dicussed here. All over the US, there are situations where 2 lanes converge to 1 and drivers "take turns" merging. But I think the scenario that is being discussed is a little different, where there is 1 "working" lane and one "closed" lane, the thought process of drivers in the lane that they know is 'closed' up ahead is to merge early. I wonder i…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Thankfully my city is replacing as many stop signs as possible with traffic circles, where you'd have to be a complete idiot to yield to someone who got there after you. In Seattle, we have traffic circles in many of our residential neighborhoods. People still do this here. Another common thing is people taking lefts by just driving on the left side of the circle (I've had people honk at me for taking lefts the cor…
we have a couple around here near campus. The problem is shockingly few people know how to behave in a traffic circle.
Tell them this: imagine a big circular road. Then imagine other roads joining it with T junctions. Then imagine the road is one-way. Finally just shrink the road in your head.
That's all it is!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole point of zipper merging is to minimize speed differences between lanes for maximum efficiency and maximum safety. The proper way to execute a late zipper merge is to match speeds and merge at the end. You are not correctly zipper merging if you are passing other cars before merging at the end.
He is helping to correct traffic. Everybody else is messing up the zipper merging by not filling in both lanes equally.
As a driver in the Twin Cities area, I can back the stereotype that Minnesotans don't know how to zipper. It speaks so truly of the Minnesota condition. People begin often merge far too early, and get offended when folks like myself "budge" at the front of the line. Learn to zipper, darn it! Edit: This TPT parody, How to Talk Minnesotan, shows how to drive in Minnesota (scrub to 11:58): http://video.tpt.org/video/236…
People think they are being nice. Education can work very quickly and efficiently on such people by showing them they aren't being nice after all. I live in the US in a "nice driver" area with a number of traffic circles. On a fairly routine basis I come up to a traffic circle and stop because there is someone in it coming towards me, but then they try to "helpfully" stop and wave me in, slowing down themselves, ever…
Edit: or perhaps we should fault inattentive driving on the truck driver. Still sad.
That video explanation made no sense to me. Basically the "interface" presented to the drivers has not changed, so why would drivers deviate from how they currently merge? Because the government said so? I don't see this working. However there are two solutions that could promote zipper merging: (1) Force both lanes to the center before moving that center lane to the side that is available ahead: ____________________…
Good thinking. Apparently your option 2 was implemented (and considered an innovation) around where I live. Here's a picture from 2007: http://www.strassen.nrw.de/_down/pi-070322-03.jpg I don't know if they're still doing it. (Late merging has long been the default in Europe and is taught in driver's ed. However people seem to do it more reliably when reminded of the practice.)
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