The zipper method means you merge at the merge point. Everyone should use both lanes right up to the merge sign. The through traffic lane folks have the obligation to let cars from the merging lane take turns coming in.
On our travels over the past decade we've seen it work very well where people actually do it.
I have 2 cousins who retired from the state police. They both told me to never gesture for another vehicle to do something. Reason_ It could be construed as I'm assuming liability for the other drivers subsequent action.
It works a lot better if (1) people in the through traffic lane actually leave a little room for the people in the merging lane to merge and (2) if the people in the merge lane move over one at a time, instead of 15 cars trying to take advantage of a two-car space.
I agree, it does work in some locations. On the Massachusetts Turnpike, not so much.On our travels over the past decade we've seen it work very well where people actually do it.
No, I wouldn't cut in front of you at the grocery store. But if you offered to let me go first, I'd thank you and go. That's the way the zipper merge is supposed to work. You open up a little space in front of you and let the guy to your side move over in front of you.
Or at the very least pull as far to the left in your lane as possible to make room for others to get around you on the right.
It also helps if the merging car tries to match the speed of the traffic it's pulling into.
Let me get this straight; you're saying I should leave double the safe following distance from the car in front of me so someone can merge into my lane. That means much less occupied roadway and the cars behind me must also slow down to allow double the safe following distance.
What was I thinking???
Common courtesy goes both ways. I wouldn't call it courteous for a driver to move from the thru lane to speed up, exceeding the speed limit and then pass the law abiding drivers and then cut somebody off to get back in the lane he was in to save 20 seconds.What was I thinking???
That isn't even close to what this discussion is about though
It's exactly what this discussion is about. I usually leave space at the first sign, as I get closer to the closure, the space gets smaller and smaller. If you haven't merged buy now, don't expect me to let you in.
Yeah, it's kinda lost on many that the point of the sign is so that people will read it and follow the instructions. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
