Yes, that’s most efficient, but you know what hurts efficiency?
Assholes running up an empty lane just to expect to be let into a lane that’s ALREADY full.
That’s not zipper merging. That’s being an asshole cutting in line. It ONLY slows down the queue that, sure, should have formed at the end of the closed lane in an ideal world.
Though that fact doesn’t make them a zipper merger. They’re still an asshole further slowing traffic.
The vast majority of situations where people are making faces at the assholes sitting at the end of the closed lane is when traffic is already over-dense and going slow.
In those situations, which are often, racing to the end of the closing lane is just being a line-cutting shithead, and has nothing to do with zipper merging. At that point, they’re literally only butting in on through-traffic.
It does NOT reduce backups. You cannot magically increase throughput by cramming in before the bottleneck. It can reduce how physically long a backup gets, which can keep backups from growing off of the highway. Though you still cannot magically add throughput by cramming in ahead of a bottleneck. Ever. Period.
Just like most of the people in this comment section that assume it’s totally fine to rush to the front of an already full lane.
There is a reason on-ramps have their own traffic lights in dense cities to control how many try to get on at once, and it’s because all these assholes think rushing up just to slow down and cram in is magically zipper merging.
Judging by these comments, most of the assholes running to the front of an already full queue are saying, “just zipper merge! Every other driver is the asshole, not me cutting in line!”
Spoilers: You are the traffic you deserve.
The ONLY thing occupying both lanes to capacity does is kinda sorta sometimes reduce how physically long the backup is. Though if there is more traffic than the reduced lanes can handle, it WILL back up, and flying to the end of a lane that’s disappearing and merging into already full traffic only makes you a line-cutting asshole slowing more people down.
No, it costs you, and everyone already behind you three seconds. Guess which person has more people behind them in these scenarios?
It is pretentious, because this is not a discussion about zipper merging in a vacuum. There’s a comic about someone leering at someone trying to push in.
Do you think there’s time to make faces at someone in properly flowing traffic where people aren’t trying to get right next to each other?
The queue is not the lane closing. The queue is the through-traffic. The people racing to the front of an already full queue ARE NOT ZIPPER MERGING. They’re cutting in line.
The point of a zipper merge is to do it cleanly without affecting others’ speeds as much as possible. Flying to the front of a line is not matching speed, and it’s not merging cleanly.
No it is not. Ever. You cannot magically add throughput by cramming in ahead of the bottleneck. That ONLY increases density, which DEMONSTRABLY reduces speeds.
Guess what happens when speed goes down? Throughput also goes down! You cannot magically add throughput by filling space beyond what is reasonable for the speeds you want to go. That’s not how humans work.
Literally, no it is not. Nowhere does it say you have to get to the end before merging. THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT is to MATCH TRAFFIC SPEEDS AND MAKE ROOM to reduce interruptions. NOT to fill up all available space where ever you find it.
If you fly to the front past a bunch of stopped cars, you ARE NOT MATCHING SPEEDS. Those assholes are not zipper merging. Period.
The people who merge early are not utilizing all space, but THROUGHPUT IS ABOUT LANES AND SPEED. When one lane is disappearing, you CANNOT MAGICALLY ADD THROUGHPUT by cramming in before the bottleneck. Period. Ever.
And it shows exactly what I’m talking about. When people are more interested in filling lanes than merging efficiently when one is disappearing, they reduce the throughput of traffic over all.
Depends on what you mean by “the front”. Too many people do not know how to look thousands of feet down the road. Probably why so many merge too early.
The assholes that also do not know how to look thousands of feet down the road fly to the end and cram in, which does nothing but further reduce throughput because it slows the lane people need to merge into.
No.
Throughput is determined by number of through-lanes and the speed at which traffic is moving. Period. Completely.
Filling the merge lane when traffic is already slow does nothing but drive density up, which slows traffic further.
Sure, YOU might save some time by passing a bunch of cars, but it DOES NOT IMPROVE THROUGHPUT.
Zipper merging is about NOT having an area of abrupt speed change. It is not about using up a lane that is going away. Period. Ever.
It’s the same as an on-ramp: If you’re speeding up just to slam on your brakes to merge, that’s not zipper merging!
OK people, this is not a hard concept but apparently I have to spell it out: It’s the same as an on-ramp.
If you’re racing up an on-ramp just to slam on your brakes and merge with a highway that’s already slow… you are part of the problem! Period. Full stop. Fuck you.
“Fill the lane”? Why? It’s going away. Again: same as an on-ramp. If you’re speeding up past what the traffic is already going, you’re not practicing a zipper merge!
I hate to break it to you, but you have to merge before the lane closes. If it’s 20 feet or 200 feet, you’re still merging before the lane is closed.
Guess how fast you eat up hundreds of feet at highway speeds? In seconds.
If you want traffic to stay at highway speeds, you ALWAYS merge before you HAVE to leave your lane.
It’s the same principle with on ramps. The people racing up an on-ramp just to wedge into slower traffic are helping no one.
There is no zipper merging if traffic is already stopped.
That’s just taking turns at that point.
Not really. The traffic has to squeeze through the same number of lanes at some point. That’s the whole damn point everyone is missing who’s defending these assholes.
You’re not helping by increasing traffic density beyond comfortable levels. Period. Ever.
That’s why rolling stops happen on freeways even without traffic accidents or lane closures. Density determines the speed people feel safe going. That is never bumper to bumper at highway speeds.
Not even the psychos in San Jose and LA go highway speeds when it’s as dense as these last-second merging assholes make it.
Good luck getting humans to do that, though. Bumper to bumper only makes people slow down due to discomfort, so cramming to the front and increasing density to bumper to bumper will only slow traffic further.
It’s the same reason rolling stops happen on highways even without traffic accidents or lane closures. When density gets too high, people will slow down, and the assholes thinking bumper to bumper at the last second is zipper merging are indeed assholes slowing traffic down.
Should take place? Sure. Does it have to happen there? No.
The entire point is, if traffic is already slow, running up the closed lane to cram into already too full through-traffic IS NOT ZIPPER MERGING. It’s being an asshole further slowing traffic.