The zipper merge -- new to me

Or Mark Graham ....

 

But that's not the zipper merge, it just limits the open lane. Truckers (and others) started that many years ago, tired of seeing people speed down the lane to the point where they put on their blinkers and Barged in. Impatient, but super-educated people decided that they could have their cake and zipper it too. So the term Zipper Merge was created to differentiate rude people from those that think on a higher level. I do get that in a perfect world, zipper merge would do pretty well. But nobody's ever been honest about what it's for and why it came to be. Super clogged roads due to construction have been the bane of everyone for decades, including state workers and planners. So a plan to nationally make people more civil went out, with clever CGI-generated cartoon videos showing that rainbows and unicorns do in fact exist. Like roundabouts, the zipper merge was actually designed to slow traffic down ahead of these one-lane areas. They already knew that people would speed down the open lane and demand their right to slide right in. Brake lights ensued, tempers flared, and traffic ground to a standstill as people "merged in". My method has always been to slow down a bit, allow for some of those in the open lane to merge, and keep traffic moving. I don't get mad (usually), until the really rude people come in numbers. At some point, I only allow room for one car to slide in, the rest can go to he!! if they're that rude.

Our state started this in earnest last year. It became such a joke I wanted to get a cam to show how badly it worked. It wasn't for lack of practice doing this odd thing, it's because many of the people touting zipper merges are just as rude and arrogant as those of us that laugh at it.

 

Ah, sorry, decided to delete my comment.

 

Truckers have so many more miles of experience than everyone else that they know the more space you make in front of your truck, regardless of how many idiots abuse that gesutre, makes traffic go smoother and gets them to where they're going faster.

Meanwhile there's so many idiots that think their ego is weak if anyone uses the space in front of their car. These ego trippers are the ones who create traffic jams and they're so busy thinking about themselves that they don't even know how much hassle they create for everyone else.

 

The bigger the city you're driving in the more likely you'll have to resort to this... In smaller towns it's way less of a challenge... And of course in a big city during rush hour you can get out of the lane that's ending early and then watch all the cars in the ending lane fly past you, but that can get discouraging if you merge too soon...

 

Yep I totally understand trucker's frustrations with cagers! I tow a camper trailer with my Tundra so I keep a safe distance with vehicles in front of me but, of course, I can't count the number of times I've had folks cut me off and even have to hit their brakes causing me to really have to bear down hard to get my rig to slow/stop. (I haven't hit anybody, thank the Lord, but came way too close for comfort.) Now, when I plan our RV trips, I avoid cities during the morning and afternoon rush hours (or avoid the city altogether.)

 

Yep any decent road trip has to avoid the big city during peak traffic times. For me when driving to California, it's all about the first two hours to get past Portland that defines when the rest of the trip happens.

 

That varies nearly as much among truckers as among the other drivers. Sure, the old time experienced truck drivers are often extremely good, and I see many of them being patient, careful, leaving plenty of space, and even holding off their necessary lumbering-whale maneuvers until after noticing that I've signaled and starting changing lanes early to give them more space. But mixed in with them are also the same type of impatient, tailgating, bat-out-of-hades drivers as among ordinary passenger vehicles.

The industry now has very high turnover, I'm seeing estimates of 90-95% per year. It seems that schools are pumping out new replacement drivers as fast as they can with just enough training to pass a CDL test, so there are plenty of novice truckers out there too. The majority of I-90 closures over nearby Snoqualmie Pass this winter have been from jackknifed trucks blocking all lanes during poor weather and traction conditions. While cars crash too, they usually don't block the road.

These new truckers just don't have the same skills as an older trucker I first noticed coming around a corner, head-on in my lane on a winding mountain road, in severe weather and very poor traction where all reasonable drivers were going well below speed limit. I was already in collision avoidance and maximum-available-braking mode before noticing that he was also dodging a little white sports car (initially not noticed in the all-white snowscape) still spinning out in front of him, later learned to have just passed him and lost control in the merge at the end of the passing lane on that side. And an oncoming SUV suddenly emerged from behind the trailer, crossed over in front of me, and embedded itself very deep into the roadside snow.

Considering all the emergency maneuvering he had to do with very poor traction, I was impressed that he succeeded without jackknifing his tractor-trailer or leaving the road. We did slightly pass each other before coming to full stops, but I think both of us relaxed the brakes a bit to maintain steering control and directional stability after finding enough room to avoid collision. No vehicles struck each other, but the other vehicles required tows.

Many of today's truckers could not have done that.