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Why Traffic Scientists Want You to Cut People Off
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2021
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In Germany we learn this in driving school.
Which absolutely doesn't mean people are doing it correctly here all the time...
The slower traffic is, the more likely it is to work. On a free-flowing highway people are liable to merge early. In a traffic jam or that two-to-one-lane merge close to my house almost everyone does it perfectly.
I learned it in my driving school here in the US
Another reason I adore driving in Germany, it just works
Just like the Rettungsgasse 😂
@@frederickm9823 yeah, but that is somewhat recent. But now that it set up in people minds, it suddenly happens like magic when the first few people start to form the
Rettungsgasse, suddenly everyone starts slowly moving into position.
"The most efficient way to reduce traffic is for all cars to drive at a constant speed at a fixed distance from the car in front of them"... Like a train.
I have a felling Adam Something will make a video about this.
@@duailibi2 🤣😂
Discovered that channel last week. At a certain moment I’m just waiting for the moment the train comes along as the most efficient way of transport.
@@jannetteberends8730 i agree with everything that dude says. Dubai sucks, America fucked itself and Europe is the best place in the world.
The most efficient way to solve traffic is to not have any traffic
@@duailibi2 It's already a quote from his video about self driving cars.
Honestly as a german, for the first port of the video I was "wtf, you abviously don't go into the left lane early, you have to do Reißverschluss, everyone knows that from driving school"
I like that word, it's a fun word.
Reißverschluss
As a Dutchie I thought this too, though we didnt get mentioned because the word "ritsen" is far too short to be interesting
While you guys have driving school we have a multiple choice test and once you pass then someone who's also bad at driving approves your technique on a simple 15 min drive. It's honestly hell on the road for anyone with half a brain, but there's no other form of transportation so we just have to deal with it.
@@skyeplaysgames4598 the word is though half as interesting and thus it would have been more apt to be mentioned here. Sam dropped the ball on this one
@@racecarrik sounds like riding a bicycle.
Personally, having a "main" lane and a "merging" lane is the problem. use the cones on both sides of the merge so that the zipper isn't wonky, then no-one has right of way at the merge point and a decision has to be made, the easiest of which is to alternate.
Interesting idea, but I don't think people are smart enough to not follow painted lines to some extent.
Singapore has this non-priority merging, but only on the ramps themselves, not the actual ramp-to-highway merge.
I remember reading a reddit comment years ago where this guy mentioned that he's only ever been a part of one proper zipper merge where everyone did it properly, and it was the most beautiful thing he's seen in his entire life.
Miracles are rare but they’re a beaut to behold when they happen.
So...he's German? The only place I've ever seen it work is Germany. Everywhere else you're just being an asshole by doing this.
@@2011blueman Occasionally, here in Minnesota we get it to work. Traffic signs have been pounding it into us for the past 10 years. Don't get me wrong, for the most part, we're just as terrible as everywhere else, but every once in awhile it works out.
We definitely have fewer traffic vigilantes for zipper merging now.
I see this work out literally every single day here in California, though I will admit my part of California isn't anything like the rest of the state.
Works perfectly here in Sweden as well. You are taught the theory behind it as part of your drivers license education.
The problem with this is that it assumes people are good at merging lanes
EXACTLY
Exactly.
it works fine in europe cause we have signs telling you to zippe rmerge
In Europe it isn't a big problem
@@ridingweeb4801 Don't know in what european country you live in where this works cause at least here in Italy every zipper merge is a disaster.
The most important point about the zipper merge - and where it tends to break down - is that everyone on the destination line has to yield to EXACTLY 1 other car. In particular, it suffers from too scared drivers who either merge early or yield to more than 1 merging car.
Btw, the complicated German term, Reissverschlussverfahren, is just the literal translation of "Zipper merge". Zipper = Reissverschluss.
It also breaks down because everyone is always have the mindset of ME FIRST ME FIRST. This is also the same reason when people are trying to exit out of places there also so much congestion, people on the road don't leave a space for cars to exit when traffic is at complete stop. Reason why signs are add to not block intersection and yet people still do it.
It more literally translates to "rip closure technique" lol.
@@MannyBrum Well, A "zipper" is a "Reissverschluss" 😉. The thing on the clothes.
In dutch it's "ritsen" which means "zip up". Which is exactly like shiwn
@@m__42 yeah, but "Verfahren" doesn't translate to "merge" but to "procedure" so the LITERAL translation is zipper procedure not zipper merge😉
My idea is that the signage should not tell which lane is closed ahead. I actually saw this happen, although accidentally, when the crews either forgot to put a sign up, or it got knocked down. No one driving knew which lane to be in so both were used. It was a beautiful thing!
Another idea is to use orange cones to divide the two lanes so drivers can't merge until it's time.
That second idea could create a major problem if anyone ever has to change lanes for normal reasons.
Traveled to China once in the 90’s. Merging accomplished by board with a length of nails sticking out.
@marscaleb why would you want to change to the right for it to remerge again on the left, cos it's closed ahead right? Maybe if you want to puke or to stop for your passenger to leave at the spot...
@@rokzcoban4394 Emergencies happen. Cars break down, debris flies into lanes, deer jump into traffic... Stuff happens, man...
@@rokzcoban4394 sometimes they put the merge point right after an exit
The Reißverschlussverfahren is quite nice, still a lot of drivers ignore it 😄
Is that really the name? Why is German so comical to English speakers lmao
Reißverschlussverfahren*
@@CaptainApathetic yes it is. I think why its so comical to english speakers is our use of compound words.
@@CaptainApathetic it’s really just many words put into one, it shouldn’t be that hard
@@CaptainApathetic Reißverschluss = zipper
The thing is, it’s NOT cutting anybody off
If you decide to merge ASAP and sit in a giant line while there is a completely open lane right next to you, that’s your prerogative. But you shouldn’t get mad at everyone else for using their brains and using the rest of the road.
I’ve been the victim of road rage for zipper merging, and the aggressor was a commercial driver in an 18-wheeler! Here in America even high level commercial licenses holders have no idea how to drive a road-going vehicle.
I find that I merge as late as I feel I can get away with, without totally pissing people off, because personally nothing in everyday driving is more beautiful than a long series of perfectly executed zipper merges ... And it honestly angers me when people don't just default to the zipper.
Same here. There seems to always be someone lacking to smoothly get in front of without causing a fuss
And for a brief moment, it was as if we were fighter pilots.
Completing the Kessel Run.
With one cohesive move.
Flawlessly.
'Reißverschlussverfahren' literally means zipper procedure and is pronounced: rice-fer-shloess-fer-fahren
(fer like in to confer, shlooss like shoes but with an L and fahren like in Fahrenheit).
Some German words are so long because they are actually compound words. You could also write "Reißverschluss-Verfahren". Even "Reiß-Verschluss" itself is a compound word.
Why do Germans hate spaces
@@donaldfrankcheadlejr.1244 I think the idea with compound words is that they represent a single concept so they should be a single word without spaces.
But honestly it's just normal to us and as a bonus it even saves a little bit of space.
As an English speaker, there is still no way in hell I am getting the U and Rs right in that word. HChchHrice fohrh shleuuess fochrrh igiveup. French has basically the same problem.
But as an American, I can take comfort that most foreigners will never get my Rs right either.
Except that most people pronounce Fahrenheit as fairen-hite and not fawren-hite, as it should be
@@zackd519 in the south its fayr yen hyte
Luckily we bigfoots don't have to worry about traffic out here in the wilderness
Yet...
They're back.
My favorite profile on TH-cam!!
Σ(°ロ°)
Majestic creatures
The problem with the zipper merge is that many drivers simply will not allow the other guy to merge when it's the other guy's turn. I usually merge a bit early so I won't be the victim of non-zipper-types, and then try to apply the zipper, but, as with all traffic efficiency measures, unless everyone is playing the game by the same rules, it simply doesn't work.
if "the other guy" already broke the zipper by speeding to the front while the people that were in front of him zippered already(a zipper moves!!!) it's not "his turn"
@@Pyrrho66 I completely agree. Once the zipper starts, everyone needs to alternate into place. But some people steadfastly ride the bumper of the guy in front of them -- irrespective of how much empty lane exists -- as if being one car further back will cause Earth to stop turning. The "optics" of flying to the front make other drivers think the flyer, even though he might be technically correct, is trying to cheat and cut line. So they don't want to let him in. It's like a marching band that's supposed to be on the 50 yard line in a nice neat row, and is dead straight but a few inches short of that mark, and one marcher is right on the 50, sticking out like a sore thumb. He's technically in the right spot, but to everyone watching, he is the one who looks wrong.
@@rangersmith4652 we are immediate friends…I was a band kid, and drum corp kid, growing up. You learn real fast that being “right” is reliant on everyone around you, that it’s subjective. The picture created is more important than the dot on a piece of paper.
At minimum, the name needs to change to like, “compression merge”, where you compress from each lane as the cones push you, and not zipper cause a zipper moves while the jacket/road stays still. Lol
@@Pyrrho66 That would be a better name. I was a drum major in high school and later a marching contest judge. Nothing worse than one kid who's "right" amongst a see of kids who are looking great while being wrong. It's the same for a person on a limited access highway desperately clinging to the speed limit when everyone else is going 10 over. He's in the way and causing a hazard, even though he's technically (legally) right.
That one thing is what makes a lot of what they are saying about the merge incorrect. You sir are right.
I got rick rolled.
Me too lol
Dang, you Rick rolled me with that website. Well done!
Amazing work by HAI
luckily for me, i got an ad
@@Iimitbreak_. unluckily for me, i have YT premium ;-;
how are u guys getting rick rolled bruh i got chinese porn
@@happyspearr haha what?
Let's appreciate the fact the Sam actually got the domain, and set up the site with actual instructions providing information about the zipper merge. I highly encourage you guys to check it out, the page layout and especially the animation on the zipper merge is top-notch!
I really learnt a lot if I'm that page 10/10
oh dang, very informative!
Once I'm done throwing bricks at Sam, I'm gonna see if I have any left for you.
I agree. It was very informative.
Super well put together!
One thing nobody ever seems to mention is where you should be driving if you are in the lane that is about to have to merge. If you keep your car located at a gap in the cars in the next lane and maintain that spot, maintaining the same speed at the merge, then it sets up the most smooth merge.
I'm a highway engineer, by the way.
Most of this occurs in stop and go traffic caused by sphincters who are too entitled to let anyone merge so the whole positioning and constant speed thing isn't exactly relevant.
@@yazmeliayzol2895 I'm sure as hell not going to let somebody fly up and cut me off. They might want to sit in the next lane and make eye contact and ask to merge. Otherwise, I think they are the entitled assholes that I'm not letting in.
Imagine you're Jennifer Harms, watching this, and he freaking name drops you OUT OF NOWHERE.
In Germany, you get honked at and are considered "cutting off" when you are *not* zipper merging.
Also, Reißverschlussverfahren is pronounced [ˌʁaɪsfɐʃlʊsfɐˈfaːrən], for the lads who don't think of IPA as a hipster beer
Can confirm this, Germans know how to do this and also how to leave room for emergency vehicles!
Plus, it's in the law that you must follow the zipper merge whenever two lanes come together like that.
Yeah, totally can pronounce that now, thanks!
In Belgium too... There are even traffic lights. It took me some time to understand why other drivers were upset
whats wrong with IPA?
3:16
Did we just get rickrolled? That was the most subtly genius thing ever.
Yepp, seems like it, hillarious! 😂 I wonder if he is the one owning it!
@@mahnas92 seems like it, WHOIS data says it's a Hover domain and it was registered on the 18-08-2021. Good job Sam! haha
Lol
Sam, round of applause. That may have been the best rickroll I’ve ever seen.
Fucking gold! Sam’s a legend! 😂
That's the best rickroll I've ever seen. Well done Sam!
Glad I was too lazy to search for it.
I wasn't gg
@@th3s4lm0n Yes. I went to the link.
+
agree. I felt so stupid xD
4:29 The most efficient way to fix traffic is to build more public transit and safe cycling lanes and intersections while also making it possible to build more denser neighborhoods
I've grown to accept the zipper merge. What gets me is 1) when tailgaters refuse to wait their turn and instead, force/bully their way in and 2) When people cut across a gore point in a LATE lane change (remember, gore points are where lanes split, not merge, so zipper merging wouldn't apply here).
I want to be on board with zipper merges but until everyone is on board, it's pointless. I genuinely hope it is more often taught as THE way to merge in these situations.
Yeah if you still have most drivers not doing this, I imagine the zipper method will actually make matters worse lol
Even if everyone is on board, people are still executing it extremely inefficiently. Its very common in Germany but it almost never works well. People constantly stop and excelerate instead of keeping a slow but steady speed. Its not gonna be faster until self driving cars are the majority of all drivers.
if you are the only one you can just drive until the merge point without morale problems
It’s like equality of outcome, not possible.
I see the big problem is that drivers are only taught in the USA to do what you need to do to get your license (lets say at 16),then never get educated by any state agency except the newspaper which no one takes anymore until you drive for 70-80 years.
I passed that intersection everyday for years. Crazy to see your own city in an HAI video!
Username is legal name
Pfp is real picture
Comments: this shit
How to doxx yourself 101
*unless thats a fake name and fakepfp
@@amistrophy that implies that someone actually gives enough of a shit to dox this person. Just not worth the effort. The world need not be such a scary place.
@@Washington715 true
I bet its easier than you'd think and someone would do it for the funny though
I always got super salty at people in that intersection who used the inner turn lane
Zipper merges work when both lanes cooperate. A common problem, perhaps not in Germany, is that the people who merge late often form their own traffic jam, obviating the advantage.
On the other hand, we have semi trucks in the US that are horrible at acceleration and often have large unused gaps in front that can be filled with merging traffic. Within reason, obviously. Don't "cut off" the truck like a jerk.
You don't need to cooperate because no driver is deliibately going to crash into another driver. If someone merges in front of you, you adjust your speed.
@@jakel8627 But there are different ways to do that. Drivers filling both lanes and cooperating makes the whole thing go faster than some cramming in at the last minute and other people fighting them
it's great that even 1 year after the video was posted you're keeping the website working
4:30 actually the most efficient way to reduce traffic is to not drive cars
Important / underrated comment. The US needs better public transit.
agreed, Cars are space-ineffecient, every governments needs to better allocate and use the money on public transportation.
*BINGO.* There is literally no other way to reduce traffic. None whatsoever.
This is the most logical solution. But there is so much money involved with car dependency; car manufacturers, oil companies, big box retail stores, shopping centres/malls, not to mention all those living in sprawling suburbs. Countries like the Netherlands are a good example to the rest of the world, hopefully the UK will be like them soon.
@@philipr.7893 Great idea! I definitely want other drivers to use public transportation.
Construction: it's nice when there is clear signage to zipper merge, repeated a couple times up to the merge; there's no confusion and assuming almost everyone is paying attention to the signage, spite or revenge not really a thing. I've seen those types of merges a few times during highway construction into (or out of) Vancouver, BC when I visit
We have "when queueing use both lanes" signs
I had a car try passing on the left lane of the highway once right before the lanes merged for construction, all the while there had been signs for miles saying the left lane would be ending...
@@OrangeC7 That car was doing the correct thing. Use all available lanes until the merge point. Not move out of the lane that's ending three miles before the merge point because you don't want to seem like an asshole, and you like staring at an empty lane you could be utilising for three miles. The only exception would be if traffic is very thin so that the extra lane isn't needed at all and there is no slowdown near the merge point. Even then you should probably keep using all lanes until a couple hundred metres before the merge point, then, if your lane is ending, slow down a little and slot in between the cars on the lane that isn't ending.
@@mariusdufour9186 Except, not really. What SHOULD happen is everyone in both lanes maintains the same pace, both lanes leave about 3 car lengths between the cars in front of them and everything works. However, as we both know the lane that remains leaves about 6" of gap in front of them, and the car that runs up all the way to the end in the lane that ends tries to jam into a space that doesn't exist and everything gets messed up.
No one pays attention to signage
This made me think of a time ages ago (late '80s) when I-75 South was under construction near my town on the border of Michigan and Ohio. I think they were adding a lane on the left. There was a point where it went from 2 lanes down to 1. That area gets a LOT of big-rig truck traffic, and apparently those drivers got tired of people cutting the line so they started driving side-by-side until the choke point. Car drivers started passing them on the shoulder, so the truckers would have a third truck drive on the shoulder. I can't say that it helped speed up traffic, probably the opposite, but I thought it was funny.
One time when I was on a road with one of two lanes closed a few kilometres ahead, the driver in front of me just positioned their huge fuel truck over the line dividing both lanes, in an attempt to reduce the road to one lane capacity right there.
The problem with:
Constant speed is that it can not always be implemented.
Zip Merge, you have to create some alert on how the zip merge will work.
Or people can just be an iota less entitled...
To be honest the best way to reduce traffic is by designing city's to reduce traffic. Making more and easier public transport or make stores walk able/cycle able.
You think Americans would walk?
@@dylan__dog YES
@@dylan__dog Fewer younger Americans can afford to buy decent cars so yeah I bet a lot of people would rather walk and take public transportation, if it didn't suck.
@@dylan__dog I want nothing more than to be able to walk or bike. Driving sucks, my car is expensive and largely unused, and I need more casual exercise in my life. I will continue to drive though, because my
Zipper merging is realistically only useful in highways or parking lots leaving major events like concerts anyway. Nobody is trusting that they can merge in 300ft of road when they could have just picked the correct lane in the first place. The actual solution to that intersection he showed would be to have the main road keep going and have a + not 2 Ts if you cared about throughput.
As far as walkable cities, 100% and make it better by having high speed rail between cities with the stations served by good public transit like a subway or bus stop so you could not need a car to visit another city and shop and return safely.
As someone in traffic engineering, watching people successfully zipper merge is a thing of beauty (as beautiful as inherently ugly driving can be)
@Mind Blown True, NYC drivers do it there, I’m a driver from NYC too. However, i feel drivers there do it because they have a natural tendency to fill up any empty space. Like when approaching a stop light on a road with multiple lanes, drivers in other places tend to line up even when the other lanes are empty, New Yorkers will switch lanes and fill up the empty lanes and move to the front.
You can tell when drivers "get it" as they already stagger their positions in the two lanes. Everyone knows where they are going to be. Like a choreographed dance. It is indeed beautiful.
Hello, traffic engineer. Tell me, is there hope for humanity, or are younger still traffic engineers blindly accepting the teachings of their forerunners, who bear so much direct responsibility for climate change?
Unless you're not in the U.S. Maybe traffic engineers are smarter wherever you're from.
@@TheRealE.B.
🤨
It's like seeing a double rainbow.
The problem with the zipper merge is that for a safe vehicle movement, you need time to move over safely and sufficient space between the cars such that you're not causing a tailgating issue when transferring lanes. This rarely happens in the real world.
It does work in places where people don’t behave like assholes.
Like when merging on an Autobahn, you have the french try to force themselves (without right of way) immediately on the highway while all the others use the full length of the merging lane and at that point, traffic has already sped and adapted to a car with its blinker on to merge on the highway. The congestion happens in the beginning due to the french drivers.
@@DengMam part of the point I'm making is that even if people aren't acting like assholes, in most situations it's technically an unsafe movement because you're entering a space where you're too close to the vehicle in front of you and too close to the vehicle behind you because everyone in theory is already safely spaced for the current traffic in their lane. I could see cops watching the merge zone and ticketing huge numbers of people for unsafe movements.
@@ianbelletti6241 This. Any merge by its nature will decrease the distance between cars, necessitating a slowdown. You can't magically increase the throughput of a merged lane by doing a zipper.
You must drive a BMW huh Ian? The person in front is entirely incapable of causing a tailgate incident. GWB
I think your argument actually supports the zipper merge. All vehicles should be slowing down at the pinch point and therefore safer.
5:06 "graphic design is my passion" -vinesauce joel
You made the point yourself; 100% the reason I don't often zipper merge is that I fear being prevented from having a safe opportunity to merge. It may be slower but it's far safer to already be in the correct lane.
But what you can be is the guy who lets people safely merge once you're at the zone and a car is there before you.
Just don't be like me, though, where I let a car merge and then fight the insolent buffoon behind that one who thinks I'm letting them in, too.
I mean, what does this fool think this is?! A two-for-one sale?!?
If your front bumper is ahead of their front bumper, it's their responsibility not to hit you. You just have to force your way in sometimes.
What If you don't know which lane is closed? You'd use both!
Jesus loves you
Lmfao... 'correct' lane... GWB... you are the problem so you don't get to complain about traffic jams... just the notion of correct lane in this context shows how entitled you are...
We have the same concept in the Netherlands. It’s called “ritsen”, which translates to “to zip”. In involves two more steps, so the procedure goes like this:
1. The merging lane slows down to match the speed of the other lane
2. The cars in the other lane create some space for the mergers
3. The two lanes merge, like a zipper
Of course, this tends to fail a lot due to people merging way too soon and spite.
I suspect the only way to actually zipper merge in many places would be to have someone directing traffic at the merge point forcing the zipper.
Of course this also puts someone in the danger zone of standing at the merge point surounded by road raging drivers so its unlikely to happen.
These are allll over the place in the Netherlands. In a city called Eindhoven there is a street that has then after the street light. So multiple lanes before and after the light but then they merge to a single lane again. It used to be a better before they rearranged it to this configuration.
Where 'part 1' is key.
First you set up the merge the way you would normally do. (which is *not* blowing past everyone, triggering spite)
However hold off the actual merge until the corresponding sign (at the end), which makes it easier to arrange the 'fair'-split. And solves the 'backup reaches the previous intersection' issue.
Unfortunately it's true that even if people manage to do the setup _politely_,
it is unfortunately pretty common, especially for people who insist on driving ('cough' reason self-driving cars aren't as common as they should be 'cough'), not to think too far behind them / assuming they know better, thus not seeing any reason why they shouldn't do the thing that's already set up.
@@user-jn4sw3iw4h Finally someone that understands! Hello fellow Dutchman with traffic insight.
If you are on the merging lane and you match your speed, you force everyone behind you to do the same. When the last moment merge folks in front of you are gone, the whole thing gets moving efficiently, so that you benefit too.
That’s why there are signs on the freeway near my house that say:
“USE ALL LANES DURING BACKUPS”
its interesting that CIties Skylines (a videogame) taught me that a long time ago, cause for some reason the ai refuses to spread over multiple lanes and I always ended up with the whole city stuck because of one street where all cars piled up on a single lane
3:15 Honestly, I expected to find a boring government page, but it's actually surprisingly informative and well made.
i learned so much from that link
true, i agree
@chuharry5360 r/wooosh
I'm surprised it actually looks so good, great site 👍🏽
The best government page I ever visited :P
The question is, why are those lanes closed if they're never actually doing any work on them?
@@Avendesora And I'm guessing they are too lazy to open them up during the day.
Let the tar dry up gents.
@@kylerivera3470 Yeah, because you have to put thick ass steel plate over the roadway, which you need a crane to properly lift. Those plates are also only rated for 30ish miles max if not recessed into the road, which means they would also have to pour temporary asphalt. Large sections are required to be welded together so they don't make a gap that your wheels can fall into. No way to do that every night for a large roadway.
@@henryzhang7873 So basically, since the road work is only partially done it isn't safe to drive on until they're finished? Still doesn't explain why they can't work on it during the day.
@@kylerivera3470 You can't drive on wet cement or asphalt, and roads are built in layers. You don't want to work on it during the day because often they will have people stop traffic for large machinery like the compacting rollers, excavators, dumptrucks etc. When you see those people holding stop signs at construction sites, it is because they have heavy machinery on the main roadway. Often what they will do in that case is split the oncoming side (2 lanes to 1 in each direction), which gives them a buffer lane, but only leaves 1 lane each direction for traffic. Not an issue at night, but bad during the day.
The Reißverschlussverfahren is great, but doesn’t work most of time. I crash almost every time, because of some idiots that think I’m the idiot. But when you see it work out as it’s supposed to, it’s soooo satisfying 🍻🇩🇪
I live in Fort Collins, Colorado and can actually say a lot of intersections coming off of the interstate onto smaller roads have zipper merge lanes and it’s so convenient. Most of the on ramps to the interstate now have this as well.
As a city's skylines player, I can relate.
it is so much fun to watch skyline lets plays. Kids complain about idiots not using 3 out of 4 lines, but in the same game, their tube only goes clockwise - which explains why people to not use their tube system. I really love those systemic games, as it allows people to learn and articulate highly complex system, their interconnection and why both city planners and drivers can be total morons - but that using both perspectives and some simple tweaks resolves the issue.
any amount of time i save by zipper merging isn't worth the stress of relying on other drivers to let me merge
How is that too much stress?
If you have a car beside you blocking your merge, simply accelerate or decelerate to switch your position.
@@moochoopr9551 Doesn't work in NYC or LA. That method relies on the next person deciding to let you merge and not a single person would ever let you do that.
The best method is to drive like you failed elementary school twice so the guy you're merging in front of is too scared to try and mess with you.
ah yes, the stress of worrying your merge will turn into a game of chicken.
As a commuter in LA, it's not so much counting on people to wave you through, and more like moving into a gap so that they're forced to let you through once you get a foothold (tirehold?). There's usually enough space to fit, even on the 405 in rush hour traffic. I like to imagine it's a social contract most natives sign on to--we're all stuck here anyway, why get angry? If someone wants to be an asshole and tailgate the guy in front so that you can't merge, the next gap comes in a few seconds, so no worries.
The ones that cause me consternation are usually overly careful drivers, because they think they need gobs of space in front or behind them to merge. "I'm giving you progressively more space, why won't you merge!" Whereas Mr. speedy will gladly take the small gap I give, and we all move on.
3:16 this video should've been sponsored by Hover
I can't believe he just bought a domain to rickroll us
My problem is: There will be times where the entire left lane does not concede to the merging traffic, I've seen as many as 6 cars in a row speed up way above the speed limit to prevent the right lane from merging in. Leaving the right lane stopped waiting until its safe to merge.
A simpler solution to the Fort Collins problem might be a dual right turn, given that there appear to be two lanes of traffic that want to go south.
As an Engineer who would love to do the design. I agree!!!
@@AaronErfman How would you handle the bike lane at the dual right?
You would need signing before the left turn to prevent through traffic on Horsetooth being trapped in the rightmost right turn lane and forced onto Lemay.
You might also need tight-of-way.
I think the biggest problem with a dual right turn is that people who are making a right turn in an intersection too often go straight into the second lane, without signaling, as they round the corner. Even though that's technically illegal even when there's only one right turn lane; driver's education in this country is terrible. I witnessed another city, coincidentally near Fort Collins, get rid of such a dual right turn because of that.
@@jakurdadov6375 The bike lane would go inside of the dual right turn lanes. I imagine the extra right of way required would be the biggest hurdle.
Yes, the design would need to be done without any trap lanes. I'm strongly against those. Maybe traffic counts would show only one lane is needed through this section.
It also looks like there are different roadway sections on either side of the West Lemay. There's already a roadway shift due to a larger median on the East. This area is definitely in need of some redesign and not just a single intersection.
The dolphin joke absolutely rolled me for some reason. How has noone done that joke before?
I think it was a missed chance for "those are flipper experts"
My driving school literally taught me to look ahead for signs and obstructions and to lane change as soon as possible. Not to mention the only thing the zipper merge has got me is an 18 wheeler in the rear lol
Well then that driving school should lose it credentials...
Zipper merging is actually legally required in Poland. But not since a very long time, and some people still act like they don't know what it is.
For zipper merge to work, you might need the traffic, in the lane being merged to, to keep at a distance twice as their normal distance. Otherwise, every merge requires the driver in the merged lane to break, which cause every car behind him to break (and hence traffic jam, by the evident chain reaction)
Thats how its supposed to work. If the lane to our right is merging with ours, we're supposed to leave enough space for a car to get in. Fragile egos cause a lot of problems, including traffic
Brake.
In other words people would need to stop tailgating, which would be safer and allow for better traffic flow in the first place.
Also, school bus drivers are trained to stop such that you can see where the back tires of the car infront of you touch the ground, everyone should do this and recognize that this should be the absolute limit of approach to vehicles infront of themselves. It makes everything safer and give room to maneuver in an emergency (like if the car behind you loses control on blackice and you need to move are be rearended, my mom had this exact scenario happen to her and the other car stopped exactly where she had been)
You should always be double the length from the car befor you and behind, that’s why people have so many sudden accidents because they never distanced themselves enough to stop in time 😂
have you seen japan zipper merge line?
i envy japan.
Zipper merge seems like a inadequate software solution to a bad hardware problem.
Better designed road layouts are needed.
Or fewer cars on the road, which is the one and only solution to traffic congestion.
notice how it says length of traffic build up, not delay. the line may be shorter but the cars move faster when merging earlier
1:38 this is actually pretty misleading on the narrator’s part: the study literally says a few sentences later that “While the zipper merge produces a safer merging situation and a shorter backup, It did not reduce travel time.”
However, zipper merge does not help with an existing traffic jam. That is because a late merge requires spacing out the already jammed up lane, that means a lot of braking and waiting and reacceleration. Thus it is sometimes better to merge early, when there is enough space between you and other drivers
That's the thing I've never understood about how the zipper merge is supposed to work so much better. You're supposed to have adequate space in front. With the zipper merge, you immediately have to slow down because you removed that adequate space so you need to create it again, which causes a back up regardless. Merging early, you can find somewhere that already has adequate space, or at least closer to adequate space. Though, in cases where there's no adequate space, I suppose the zipper merge could be more effective.
Thats the whole point that this video skipped, Active Vrs Stopped. The cars in a traffic jam have already zipper merged before the red sports car forces its way in.
Then drivers need to start creating space between them and the car in front of them, before they get to the merging area. Basically start reducing speed (not pressing the brakes, just release gas) as you arrive to create space, and start letting the other drivers in who do the same thing, so that no one has to break, and everyone can merge. Of course it always works in theory, but it can be implemented. I always do it when in traffic.
This is wrong. It only needs to be spread out right before the merge. As long as drivers cooperate it's really not a problem when you get used to it.
@@lordhosk the entire point is that you don't want to "zipper merge" before you have to, as that leaves a lane empty. If that lane was full, the line of cars would be shorter. Everyone wins.
The car that passes everyone and then merges is slowing everyone down, not speeding them up. Everyone else already zipper merged (in most cases, not the weird intersection).
They merged too early slowing down traffic overall, they're the one who's slowing everything down.
They zipper merged too early. Use all the available road, then merge.
As a commercial driver I can tell you the zipper merges causes more accidents than it solves. Accidents are more frequent as vehicles interact. A zipper merges increases the interaction and slows down traffic. This causes more people to slow down and look causing rear end accidents in the middle of the closed lane shutting down traffic.
Merge early and maintain freeway speed, it works for Nebraska. States that require drivers to merge long before the merge point and maintain freeway speed have less accidents as people are not slowing down to watch the road construction and cars are not slamming on their brakes every 30 seconds.
It only takes one texter to cause an accident at a zipper merge.
Sure, zipper merge would be ideal, but truthfully, WHO IS GONNA DO THIS?!?! People are too selfish and “entitled “ to wait their turn or allow others to “ cut in front “of them. One such “jerk” caused us to be involved in a 3 car pile up because he felt entitled to pull up and cut in front of us. Two times on I-40 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in only one month’s time this happened to us. The “entitled driver kept driving leaving 3 totaled cars blocking the highway😡🤬
That was one of the smartest rickrolls I have ever seen
It's also important to note that just because someone flies up to the front and zipper-merges, does not mean they do it safely. When zipper merging, you still need to find an opening that is safe to get in. Every single video I've seen demonstrating this merge always has that perfect scenario with a gap they can fit in. In practice, that gap doesn't exist and drivers get to the end of the merge, slow down to about 20 mph, and have to merge with traffic going at 40 mph, and now you have a huge line of people hitting their brakes and causing a traffic snake. I would be all for zipper merges if computers drove cars. Until that happens, I will get over when I see the gap in traffic, safely, and without creating traffic snakes. It's like the engineers running the computer simulations never actually drive in traffic.
As you near the merge point, you'd line up your car slightly behind the car at the other lane that you'd follow at the merging point. If you do it right, you shouldn't need to stop (maybe just slow down a little.
@@rap3208 2 things
1) This comment was over a year ago
2) True, but people don't drive that way. If they did, it would be great.
Also I have noticed, that people are not courteous, and won't let you merge in. This entire zipper merging breaks down when no one will be civilized and allow you to go ahead in.
@Klydesdale2010 I'm civilized. I arrive at my appointments early. Similarly, I merge with the early-merging traffic -- not incidentally, using the very same zipper technique!
@@DerpedOutTroll They do at zipper merges. At Houston where H6 exits from I5, people have learned to do the zipper merges. Of course there are always those guys who doesn't know the zipper merge or they just don't care to follow at all.
Anyway, if those at the back of the ignorant driver follows zipper merge, the zipper merge goes right back without breaking stride. You guys seem to think that if one guy breaks the zipper merge, everything goes haywire, it doesn't work that way - you just let the guy break it and then continue as if nothing happened.
Going north on 270 and you don't want to deal with someone not letting you in, so you go to the middle lane waaaaay before Clarksburg where it goes down to 2 lanes before the weigh station.
imagine people getting road rage because you AREN'T cutting them off?
A good way to do the zipper merge is to hang out in the ending lane, but maintain your position and don't pass. The road will lose some capacity but not as much as if you merged early, but the car on the priority lane is more likely to let you in, and cars behind you will follow your example and zipper merge as well
and you still get to have the dopamine that the traffic vigilantes feel because you also get to spite people behind you by forcing them to not "cut" in front of the "line". win-win for everyone.
@@douglasshouganai2516 Yep this is me, read about this maybe 15 years ago and that has been my default. On highways as well if you do this along side a semi truck they will always let you in cause they know what you are doing.
What is a priority lane? Nobody has priority over me.
It's funny like you do the right thing and then all the other people are like oh shit that's how we're supposed to do it 😂
People behind will just drive around on the shoulder when they see a big enough opening ahead
3:19 Hmmm... I wonder who changed the link to a rickroll...
But... they're suppose to MERGE not CUT you off lol.
If they made me use my breaks when they were "merging" then they cut me off.
zipper merges usually never work because most drivers are stupid, greedy or don't feel like doing the right thing. If a computer was doing it, sure it probably would work fine, but drivers who don't want to let someone over, who don't want to merge properly, who don't want to be considerate.. are 95% of drivers on the road. So it will never work properly.
I prefer the other approach: The most efficient way to reduce traffic are, better public transport + walkable cities.
Even with excellent (superb) public transport, walk ability and a lot of bicycles you still have a lot of congestion. But many people get by quicker and you have more options instead of a car. Welcome to most cities in the Netherlands
Still, for the remaining car traffic, taking humans out of the equation is the most efficient
This also applies to merging onto a congested highway. Go all the way to when the merge lane ends, then zipper in. Otherwise, the merge lane clogs up all the way to traffic lights. I live in an... aggressive... city, where most people know this and will honk and rage against early mergers.
In that case, one has to judge the speed of the cars on the freeway before they get to the end of the ramp. A lot of drivers will get into the left lane to allow merging traffic. I have a problem where the entrance ramp becomes an exit ramp for another road. Why do people have to get in front of you as you are trying to merge on the freeway, when they are using the same lane to exit the freeway. Let me get out of the lane then you have an empty space to get in the lane.
The problem with waiting to merge until the lane ends on congested highways is that the end of the merge lane typically coincides with the point where traffic flow is beginning to pick back up and people merging there just grinds it to a halt again.
@@MikeDCWeld yep. If there is an opening before the end, and you can match the speed and seemlessly merge, go ahead and do so. If you wait until the end, there may not be an opening, which will then require traffic to slow down at that point to make space. In theory zipper is a good idea, but it doesn't seem to work that well in the real world unless traffic has slowed to a crawl already.
Yup. In traffic, use the whole onramp to merge. Its not the asshole thing to do. That long ramp gives everyone enough time to match speeds and make a gap for you to move into, without having to slow down or speed up traffic too much. Constant speed is the goal.
That sounds unsafe. Though i live in a city where on-ramps never get clogged. Here you match the speed of the highway and then find a space and merge as early as possible so you have more room in case there's issues. If you fail to merge then you have to stop, and then do the much more difficult and rare maneuver of merging with 60 mph traffic while you're stationary. That is the only way an on-ramp could get clogged here, someone falling to get on and then being stuck unable to get a big enough gap.
Given the consequences of failure, you have to keep your chances of success as high as possible, merge early.
Jeep drivers: "We already knew that. That's why we've been constantly cutting people off for decades."
Its amazing how in the example of the "right" way there was a whole car length gap between cars.
WOW In Italy we absolutely hate those that seem to be skipping the line, so it's like you're an asshole if you do the zip merger. Never though of it
Interesting to know there are significant cultural differences within Europe. Rules should be hamonized, but as a motorist, I do notice there are subtle differences from country to country.
Here in germany it works most of the time. But there are still some people who will change lane to early because they're afraid to be left out and a few others will just ignore you and still drive ahead. In the end it's a law that everybody has to follow, if you're too afraid and change early it's your own fault.
The idea of the zipper merge actually seeing widespread use is quite possibly the most unrealistic hope anyone could have
The problem with zipper merging is that people typically leave a few inches in front of their car as opposed to enough space for a car to merge
In Belgium it’s part of the traffic code, basically mandating this procedure in law and levying fines if not done, although I haven’t heard anybody getting fined in practice. A big benefit is that many (if not most) drivers follow exactly that procedure and it’s become quite normal, so it’s not so likely that somebody will block you… you’re following the law after all.
In Turkey, they instead prevent zipper merging by altering the road geometry to force one of the lanes to the other.
Me, from a left-driving country: 2:04 *confused screaming*
I like how the "traffic vigilantes," are the ones in the wrong - not the people in this closing right lane who hug the car in front of them and cut off the car with the right of way at the front. Here's something the programmers haven't thought of yet: you know the self driving vehicle is going to yield to you. It's programmed to do so. So as soon as you get slightly in front of it, you can cut it off. People will learn this quickly, and humans will be cutting off self driving vehicles left and right.
Says a Tesla driver who likes to be an entitled sphincter and not let people merge by the sounds of things... GWB...
What I really appreciate about this video is the recognition that zipper merging might be optimal in theory but in practice they often don't work and just end up with n lanes backed up.
What do you mean? You think using a single lane is somehow better than using two lanes? The zipper merge is all there is. There is no alternative except causing more congestion. It's not an abstract theory. It's proven most efficient every single day. What the hell are you talking about? If you don't zipper merge, you are causing congestion.
dothezippermerge.org definitely has some good information for those wanting to learn more. Sam has put a lot of effort into it!
This always makes me so angry when there's traffic in my city. There is a section in my city where there is a big merging zone, and there is a merging lane to help. But everybody wants to merge so much sooner and traffic comes to a standstill because nobody wants to let anybody in, and the entire merging lane is just empty in front of them.
good. put a metered entrance on and keep em on the city streets or BETTER YET in their stupid driveways. if the highway is full its full. slowing it down makes it even worse
The amount of people who either don't know about the zipper merge or see the people in the less used lane as cheating the system and don't let you in, is astounding. Had a situation, where there was kilometer or even more of traffic in one lane and maybe 2-3 cars in the other one. I, of course, went in the less used lane and tried to merge. One dude almost crashed into me in order not to let me in.
The worst are drivers that go bumper to bumper on the highway during traffic jam. You’re worsening the problem by not keeping enough space so that everyone can slowly get to a higher speed.
The *proper* solution here is a 2-lane right turn back on to SB LeMay, so no one would have to merge at all.
Traffic Engineering. It's *engineering*. Not guess work.
That or make the middle lane straight/right turn.
You wouldn't get a job anywhere in California.
Real ones watched the first upload
Zipper merges are my favorite car phenomena. elegant and beautiful when done right. you feel a sense of "dope, saved 10 seconds" but also the greater sense of "highway vibing"
Here's the problem, though: The example given, about that series of intersections with the traffic light, only applies to places where there's a series of intersections, where one intersection can get fowled up because of a backed up merge further down the road. In situations like that, the importance of "using the whole road" makes sense. You want the first intersection to have 2 lanes going through it simultaneously because intersecting traffic has to be stopped while you let cars through. It has nothing to do with the efficiency of the cars that have to merge, and everything to do with the unrelated cars that have to stop while they go through.
This example doesn't apply to a highway without regular intersections where opposing traffic has to wait. When you simply have 2 lanes reducing to 1, regardless of whether the cars merge at the last moment, or a mile before it, the same number of cars must go through the same bottleneck. And so long as all the cars merge into one lane at roughly the same place, then as soon as the merge is completed, traffic should be able to speed back up.
The only thing that matters is that everyone merges at more or less the same place. If that is at the last moment, then that's fine. If it's a mile early, that's fine too. The problem is when you have a bunch of people merging a mile early, and a few people merging at the last minute. That's when you get a situation where even after everyone merges, they still have to go slow because you've got a few selfish people who skipped the line merging up ahead, slowing everyone down. If not for the people zipping up to the head of the line and cutting in, the entire line would be moving faster.
And again, if everyone did it, there'd be no problem. And if no one did it, there'd be no problem. But in a situation where almost everyone is merging early, then choosing to be different does make you an asshole, despite what this video says.
Zipper merges only work when everyone knows how to do them. I've seen them work, not surprisingly in Minnesota.
You may always preempt the zipper merge by being assertive occupying the ending lane without passing the intuitive spot and then merging at merge point unless the car behind you in the lane that you're merging into is savage.
@@junkgum I've found that a black Suburban with blacked out windows makes most people move out of the way.
@@AeroGuy07 An old beat up pickup works even better. It shows the driver just doesn't care anymore and you'd best give it a wide berth. Sigh, I miss that old truck, my Buick just doesn't inspire the same fear.
I still don't get the math of this. Hasn't it been proven that just creating more lanes of roads isn't effectice at all? Like that big multilane highway in houston that did nothing to decrease traffic. So how does using more lanes for longer decrease the amount of traffic? Won't it just move the bottleneck to a different spot?
I would like an answer to this too
I THINK the idea is that it lessens the length of the bottleneck overall, but I'm not sure.
I really think this is some engineers pipe dreams
@@js46644 Ok I did some more research on this, reading papers and such, and while the zipper merge does have a noticable effect of safety, it has a barely noticable effect on travel time.
For example, a study researching the before and after travel times of a road that implimented the zipper merge found travel times went from 1 min 29.5 seconds to 1 min 28.5 seconds. So the zipper merge saved ONLY 1 SECOND on average. Another study found a decrease from 1 min 17.6 to 1 min 14.2 seconds. So a decreased travel time of 3.4 seconds. Anyone who thinks saving less than 5 seconds by using this technique is a significant difference is crazy.
So yeah, zipper merge does next to nothing for efficancy. I would bet the time it does save is just drivers being more cognisant of the road due to having to think more for this new technique.
@@ethohalfslabI wonder what time savings it would provide if the drivers in the study actually knew how to use it properly. I'm giving you +20 pts for researching
@@js46644 Most likely nothing. The ideal zipper merge has enough space between the cars in the lane being merged into to allow another car into there, but since there is that much space anyway, and that you evidently _can_ fit in there safely, simply driving closer in the lane would have the same rate of cars through the bottleneck. The major difference is whether there are _other_ lanes and roads being affected by the traffic jam going as far back as it does. For instance, with zipper merging, you can half the distance that the traffic jam goes back, which might be enough to let another junction be free for cars going another way.
This just delays the inevitable. Get in the through lane when you have an opportunity and just stay; trying to go around people to do a last second zipper merge and putting your safety on a naive trust of basic decency is not only inviting an accident, but it's just kicking the can down the road. There's no getting around the math of merging down a lane.
This is a microcosm of one of the myriad of issues with how laws are made; people sit at desks and look at math and find what looks good on paper, not considering the prevalence of destructively selfish, impatient, self-righteous, and self-entitled human nature.
I love how zipper merge has a doubling meaning
Once again I love watching Americans be confused about basic traffic concepts that have existed in Europe for decades.
Sam at 2:30 you call that blue car an Acura, but that’s actually a Suzuki SX4. Smh
Thank you. There is no way Acura would produce a boxy thing like that. The TSX Wagon was sleek, even for a wagon.
Tho I must admit I am hyped for the 2023 Integra.
I was looking for this comment haha!
Bruh you car about the difference between cars smh
Best way to encourage a proper zipper merge is to match speed with the lane you'll be merging into when the merge is announced. That's where you're going to be when it happens. You get to know who's going to be in front and behind you. They know you're there and what's about to happen and it should be pretty smooth. You're also blocking the guy that would race to the front actually cut someone off and cause a brake chain.
It is the people racing to the front of the blocked lane that cause the traffic jam.
@@swinde if there's an empty lane for them to race to the front of you're doing it wrong
@@gwartard
There is almost never an empty line to the front because of the cheaters. If the blocked lane was clear the open lane would be able to go through at the speed limit. A single lane going at the speed limit is more efficient than two lanes going 0.5 mph at the front and totally stopped just a few cars back while the ones at the front battle it out to go next.
@@swinde did you ignore the video and jump straight to the comment section?
@@gwartard
I watched the entire video but most of my opinion on 58 years of driving and noticing when these mergers work and when they don't.
One example is from a US highway that had to close one lane for repairs. These closures were during the rush hour. The first couple of days there was a long traffic jam with people doing the slow zipper merge at the choke point. During the rush hour many of these people are on the road at the same times during weekdays. After a few days people began to get in the open lane earlier and traffic flowed smoothly at speed. I will conceded that if the traffic is already congested daily with both lanes open, the slow zipper at the end will occur no matter what you do. It is always slowed more by the people that are uncooperative at the merge spot.
Zipper merges would be a good idea in a world where people don't suck nearly 100% of the time. Unfortunately we live in reality.
It's think its amazing whenever americans (re)discover the Reißverschlussverfahren and think that it is something absolutely revolutionary while it's standard practice in pretty much every western european country.
wait… you guys don’t do this where you’re from? we literally have signs here on a lot of the freeway merging signs that say to merge like a zipper 🤔
All merging is zipper merging though. The debate is where you do it. And the right answer is well ahead of the actual closed lane so as not to be a jerk who cuts the line.
@@User31129 Wrong - if everyone drove as far as they could before merging, it wouldn't be possible to be a jerk that cuts the line because they couldn't get ahead. You also reduce the tail backs of the side that you're merging onto, meaning potentially reducing congestion at previous junctions
@@JAYG6390 I dunno man, either everyone has to follow the rules or no one will. It's like a roundabout. One fool turning left from the outside lane will cause chaos if you don't see it coming. Unless everyone is driving in the right lane until the last 100 feet or so, it's not going to work.
@@User31129 Right - the problem is that too many people don't do what they should which leads to them then complaining that people are abusing the fairness of it, when in reality what people are doing is making a big gap in the queue then complaining that people are filling it up. Its no different to queues in a supermarket. you pick a line, and wait your turn. the only difference is that at the end, they funnel to one person instead of two. Would you join the queue that has 100 people, or the one with two. If its 100, you'd complain about anyone going in the one with two abusing the fact that they've gone in the one with two, when if people had all queued in a more uniform manner, its not possible to abuse (or at least its far more difficult)
@@User31129 The Rule is to merge as late as possible. That is how you avoid a bigger traffic jam.
if traffic is stalled beyond the merge, this makes more sense. but because humans are so terrible at zipper merging smoothly last moment, an early merger keeps traffic flowing at a fast pace (and then it's the one person who refuses to merge until the last moment, after braking at the cones, that forces traffic to slow)
No... no it doesn't... you're completely wrong... it seems that way from the individual perspective but in actuality merging early always, I say again, ALWAYS slows traffic... you can't see the miles of traffic further back being increased because it's BEHIND YOU... GWB
Here in Canada zipper merging is highly encouraged, and common place, except when Brampton drivers, Toronto drivers, Windsor drivers, or basically any Ontario city's drivers exist.