Since this is a solution that requires "everyone" to change their behavior, my guess would be that it'd be more productive (and faster?) just to wait for self-driving cars to be prevalent enough that they "set the tone" for what constitutes normal driving in these situations.
Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
31–40 of 209 posts
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#32In practice zipper merging works amazingly well. MNDOT has used signage to tell drivers to maintain speed and stay in their lanes for the past few years of construction in the northern Twin Cities. You wouldn't believe how much faster traffic moves when these simple reminders are posted. The problem is that without the signs (and enforcement) drivers in the Twin Cities Metro regularly shoot to seal any gap that may a…
>'I have driven in many states and never has the mentality that you cannot, MUST NOT, let someone ahead of you been as bad as it is here. Minnesota Nice, indeed.'
We don't rule the lists anymore [1], but I'll put the horrible traffic and drivers of the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) up against anyone in a gridlocked struggle for the title of worst.
Though, I've routinely been told by people more traveled than myself that we hardly rate on an international scale.
1: http://www.weather.com/news/commuter-conditions/worst-traffi...
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#33As a driver in the UK, I don't understand what exactly the difference between a merge and an overtake is. It is quite common here for roads to change from 2 lanes to 1 lane. There's no signage telling you to merge. There's no rules telling you what to do. You just operate by the same logic as an overtake, and you'll find that, quite naturally, everybody 'zip merges'. Perhaps the reason for the inefficiency is having…
The difference is localized. The UK is much smaller, and therefore has less regional tastes about merging. In the Midwest and Eastern seaboards of the US you have polite and diverse people respectively. In California, you have experienced drivers. California works like the zipper merge already, and the rest of the US is flummoxed by what to do - depending on where you are.
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#34Late merging works fine in Seattle, and in my experience the lane that's closed moves substantially faster than the open lane because Seattle drivers will actually let you merge in. That's not how I recalled it working when I lived in Texas though. In Texas if you got caught in the closed lane you were pretty much stuck there for a while, while the guys in the open lane whizzed by too fast for anybody in the slower (…
...and in my experience the lane that's closed moves substantially faster than the open lane because Seattle drivers will actually let you merge in.
I think that's actually because more people are early-merging than late-merging. So you have more car volume in the open lane than the soon-to-be-closed lane leading up to the merge. Definitely a way better situation everyone early-merging, but sounds like there's still room for improvement: ideally both lanes should move at about the same speed.
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#35That 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:
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______________________/_____________________Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#36Want faster and safer traffic merging?
> Part of DMV road test should cover highway and emergency (road block) situations. > Utilize responsive testing (how fast person reacts to something). Could be an in-house application. > Older drivers should have extra testing once they hit certain age. > Re-test drivers every 10 years. > Driving and doing your make up? Reading a book/iPad? Eating chipotle? License suspension. Bye bye.
In general every situation where I had to steer out of the way was caused by an older person who should NOT be driving.
Zipper merging on New York roads? Fuhgeddaboudit.
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#37In practice zipper merging works amazingly well. MNDOT has used signage to tell drivers to maintain speed and stay in their lanes for the past few years of construction in the northern Twin Cities. You wouldn't believe how much faster traffic moves when these simple reminders are posted. The problem is that without the signs (and enforcement) drivers in the Twin Cities Metro regularly shoot to seal any gap that may a…
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.
You nailed it.
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#38In practice zipper merging works amazingly well. MNDOT has used signage to tell drivers to maintain speed and stay in their lanes for the past few years of construction in the northern Twin Cities. You wouldn't believe how much faster traffic moves when these simple reminders are posted. The problem is that without the signs (and enforcement) drivers in the Twin Cities Metro regularly shoot to seal any gap that may a…
>'I have driven in many states and never has the mentality that you cannot, MUST NOT, let someone ahead of you been as bad as it is here. Minnesota Nice, indeed.' We don't rule the lists anymore [1], but I'll put the horrible traffic and drivers of the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) up against anyone in a gridlocked struggle for the title of worst. Though, I've routinely been told by people more traveled than myself th…
Grew up driving in DC/MD/VA. I think PA/NJ/DE is much worse.
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#39Want faster and safer traffic merging? > Part of DMV road test should cover highway and emergency (road block) situations. > Utilize responsive testing (how fast person reacts to something). Could be an in-house application. > Older drivers should have extra testing once they hit certain age. > Re-test drivers every 10 years. > Driving and doing your make up? Reading a book/iPad? Eating chipotle? License suspension.…
> In general every situation where I had to steer out of the way was caused by an older person who should NOT be driving.
Do you have any statistics about driving accidents? Because all the stats I've seen show that older drivers are safer better drivers than young people, and this is especially true when comparing to young males under the age of 26.
Re: Washington, Minnesota officially endorse a “safer, faster” traffic merge
#40Zipper merging works great as long as everyone on both sides is willing to alternate (or if strong enforcement requires them to do so). Otherwise, letting "late mergers" scream past fifty "early mergers" often creates a situation worse than simple early merge. There's plenty of blame to go around. * The vast majority of the people blasting down the late-merge lane clearly have no interest in alternating or merging in…
Zipper merging is the optimal solution. People early merge because they think it is the optimal/moral/better/'done my part' solution.
If everyone knew about zipper merging there would be no early mergers (and 'late mergers' don't exist within the context of zipper merging).