[Sleeper Sport]

I used to think the right thing to do when a lane ends was to get over ASAP, but it turns out that's wrong! The right way to do it is to zipper merge; stay in your lane, staged between two cars in the next lane until the lane ends and merge at the last possible second. All the research says that is the best method (although, I also have difficulty letting people in 6SMS- too many years of that person deciding that now that they're in front of ME the appropriate speed to travel is 10 MPH slower than I was going before...) Both lanes should slow down at a comparable rate, and no one loses their place in line.

Where that breaks down is actually when people slow down early, waiting patiently (usually with a blinker on, so, yay?!?) for a gap 600+ yards before the lane ends. Inevitably, the guy behind them guns it as soon as the lane clears, races up to the front and shoves in as far ahead as they can get!

I used to be that guy (the one with the blinker) pissed off as people raced past me, but now I just hold my line. Of course, when the lane ends and some dude runs down the shoulder or whatever to get a few cars further? Well, I might deke the wheel on him as he gets close, and see if I can shock him into putting himself into the wall.:devil

 

[RRWorker96]

I know I'm more of an A*hole when not in the SS since I don't worry about body damage as much. Then again, my other vehicle is a lifted 4x4 with more steel and skid plates than some armored cars. People don't mess with me in it since people equate lifted 4x4s to gun ownership for some reason.

Or any 4X4 pickup with one of those itty bitty NRA decals on the rear window for that matter!

 

[Smirnoff67]

Until I retire, and the main reason I can't wait, no more driving a company vehicle on service calls.
I currently drive a new Nissan MV200, slowest vehicle on the planet.... So when I drive the SS it feels like a rocket.

In Miami just too many people, not enough roads, and a lot people here that should not be driving.

My pet peeve, drivers in the left lane driving way below the speed limit.......

And merge lanes, way too many drivers take advantage.

Bravo! Good for you Brother! I want to retire so bad it hurts. Someday soon I hope!!!!!! I hope you have the time of your life beginning in 59 days!!!

 

[drivingGiggles]

I used to think the right thing to do when a lane ends was to get over ASAP, but it turns out that's wrong! The right way to do it is to zipper merge; stay in your lane, staged between two cars in the next lane until the lane ends and merge at the last possible second. All the research says that is the best method (although, I also have difficulty letting people in 6SMS- too many years of that person deciding that now that they're in front of ME the appropriate speed to travel is 10 MPH slower than I was going before...) Both lanes should slow down at a comparable rate, and no one loses their place in line.

Where that breaks down is actually when people slow down early, waiting patiently (usually with a blinker on, so, yay?!?) for a gap 600+ yards before the lane ends. Inevitably, the guy behind them guns it as soon as the lane clears, races up to the front and shoves in as far ahead as they can get!

I used to be that guy (the one with the blinker) pissed off as people raced past me, but now I just hold my line. Of course, when the lane ends and some dude runs down the shoulder or whatever to get a few cars further? Well, I might deke the wheel on him as he gets close, and see if I can shock him into putting himself into the wall.:devil

I do this on the main road to my house. It goes from 7 lanes down to 2 right after an intersection. I usually try to be a jerk and get in the furthest merge lane, beat everyone up and over the hill, and pull into my neighborhood before most traffic has reached the top of the hill.

If I'm not at the front of the light this doesn't work sadly. I usually just pace myself and merge towards the end like a zipper so that more people can make it through the light. Most of the time everyone is cool, but just this week a big ole F150 had a giant (3-4 car) gap in front of him. I passed him but stayed over because I didn't want to seem like I'm just cutting him off. He gets a little upset and zooms up next to me while I'm merging cutting the center double yellows. I just let him by and continue at the 10 mph pace up the hill behind him.

Here in Oklahoma I assume everyone his high on meth and loaded so I don't want to piss them off and be far away if they are. :grin. I'm probably the a$$ everyone hates. :devil

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[tanisdwninit]

This has been a good thread for me, one that is working to change my ways. Typing that I am also one that just took a 850 mile road trip where only two people passed me and one of them was a cop. And I confess, I did teach a few people on the freeway with both kinds of reinforcement when passing them.

In the situation OP describes I also agree if one goes off the line harder then there is no competition with the Honda, what I usually do in the situation described. If not and I see said Honda gaining its a split decision, either mostly wide open to not allow the pass at all, or just concede, no in between. As also already typed road rage is real and especially with how loud newer SS's are, I have personally pissed off more than one non stable person who has followed and leaned in for what could have been a gun but wasn't, but could be the next time.

Something I used to do quite often that I am working on not doing as much is teaching them. When advancing in the fast lane and they dont move over, go around at WOT (negative reinforcement). When advancing in the fast lane and they do move over, WOT by them (positive reinforcement). Most got out of my way driving a gen 5 camaro, many move when I drive my C5, hardly any do driving the SS.

Finally I have found if I obey all traffic laws and play no games with anyone, nobody has had the need to commit road rage towards me.

 

[iratollah]

I read an article in the WSJ a while back where they studied traffic flow and it turns out merges actually work best if all lanes queue up and 'zipper' together at the merge point. In an effort to avoid looking for things to be negative about I choose to believe the study so when the a-holds blow past in the far right lane I think how generous they are for doing their part to improve traffic ;-)

This is the correct answer. When the highway dept adds an extra lane at a stop light only to have it merge 100yds later, it actually does improve traffic flow. The zipper merge works astonishingly well, but only if users understand the concept. Unfortunately, there's always a self-entitled driver that won't wait their turn or will bust a kidney if someone pulls in front of them, thus slowing their commute by 6 seconds.

That said, if someone in the merge lane is trying to force their way out of turn, effem, I'll speed up an then slow to let the car in front of them merge. When it's a beater or clueless King of Road in a big pickup, I'll let them in 'cuz they're coming over anyway. In Texas, most of the concealed carry course is really anger management. If you're carrying, you certainly can't escalate driver disagreement. Plus, I believe in karma: if I'm courteous to other drivers they'll be courteous to me. That isn't working out so well. Especially torqued when waiting in line at an intersection, someone wants to pull into line from the gas station or strip center drive. I let them in, and they can't be bothered to wave thanks.

With an LS3, it's almost impossible to avoid being a butthole and some other vehicles simply beg for the treatment. I'll do it for sport, but lately don't care to expend the energy of getting angry. To what end? And one more car in front of me when there's 1000 in front of them ain't gonna make much difference. Left-lane-lemmings on open interstate are fair game, they deserve whatever a strong motor can hand them.

 

[36thEVACVet]

I had to laugh at any mention of "the rules of the road". There is no Drivers Ed in school anymore. The rules are "assumptions" for most drivers these days.

My wife has several friends that have told her: 1) If your lane is ending the other cars HAVE TO let you in. 2) if you are in the merge lane, you don't need to look at traffic...if they can see you they have to let you merge.

Being a surviving motorcycle rider for over 50 years, I am the ultimate defensive driver. I watch out and yield, by brake or throttle, to all like the OPs CR-V driver, and idiots like my wife's friends.

 

[iratollah]

mg:You won't believe this major newspaper's appalling endorsement of cutting into line at the last moment on freeway interchanges. Less appalling is that the idiot editorial staff at the Houston Comical newspaper published this incitement to dangerous driving. Just when one thinks those clowns couldn't any more irresponsible, they manage to reach new lows. :blink:
Worst part is self-entitled dilettante of a writer thinks he's describing the zipper merge. No, he's just outing himself as a selfish jerkwad. :stac:

Comments section varies between "right on bro" to "I hope you die".
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lo.../local/gray-matters/article/how-i-learned-to-love-the-zipper-merge-12731664.php

Oh, the author is the Health Reporter. WTH?!?! :kboom:

 

[Smirnoff67]

You won't believe this major newspaper's appalling endorsement of cutting into line at the last moment on freeway interchanges. Less appalling is that the idiot editorial staff at the Houston Comical newspaper published this incitement to dangerous driving. Just when one thinks those clowns couldn't any more irresponsible, they manage to reach new lows.

Worst part is self-entitled dilettante of a writer thinks he's describing the zipper merge. No, he's just outing himself as a selfish jerkwad.

Comments section varies between "right on bro" to "I hope you die".
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lo.../local/gray-matters/article/how-i-learned-to-love-the-zipper-merge-12731664.php

Oh, the author is the Health Reporter. WTH?!?!

And people wonder why I don't read the newspapers...ugh...what a dope that guy is. All we need to do now is retrain the already horrible drivers and teach them how a zipper works.....only way to accomplish that would be via text message and social media...going to bed, had enough for today.

 

[NC Michael]

Wow, lots of great replies (yes, I read them all)! Thanks everyone.

My takeaway: I didn't do anything that most of us wouldn't have done, but next time I should just accelerate with authority and leave her behind in my dust. Result: safer move, message sent, more fun. A win-win.

:smile

 

[chodanics]

I used to think the right thing to do when a lane ends was to get over ASAP, but it turns out that's wrong! The right way to do it is to zipper merge; stay in your lane, staged between two cars in the next lane until the lane ends and merge at the last possible second. All the research says that is the best method (although, I also have difficulty letting people in 6SMS- too many years of that person deciding that now that they're in front of ME the appropriate speed to travel is 10 MPH slower than I was going before...) Both lanes should slow down at a comparable rate, and no one loses their place in line.

Around here the merge lane ends when there is no more room on the shoulder which only adds to the aggravation. It does seem like most people zipper merge when there is a person involved (construction crew etc, even a simple flashing arrow.). But when there is a standard merge area / lane ends the behavior here is ridiculous. And completely agree with the 10mph slower. That goes for taking an empty lane at a red light too, double if its the left lane.

 

[speedrye]

The concept of a zipper merge is so foreign in NC. After all, we're NASCAR country, if you've got room for the pass, you make it. If you don't have room, that's okay too:

Alabama's song Five O'Clock 500 comes to mind as well...

 

[Sleeper Sport]

mg:You won't believe this major newspaper's appalling endorsement of cutting into line at the last moment on freeway interchanges. Less appalling is that the idiot editorial staff at the Houston Comical newspaper published this incitement to dangerous driving. Just when one thinks those clowns couldn't any more irresponsible, they manage to reach new lows. :blink:
Worst part is self-entitled dilettante of a writer thinks he's describing the zipper merge. No, he's just outing himself as a selfish jerkwad.

Seems about right for a guy who "navigates a Kia"... Someone should tell him that while a man's gotta have a code, it's probably OK to do without, because I'm not convinced he is one. Also, his 'code' is stupid and wrong- but completely expected of some (supposed) guy who sits in his cellphone booth making direction suggestions now and again between tweets and status updates.

 

[oitdmser]

Playing devil’s advocate here. With a straight-up two-lanes-become-one situation, Multiple traffic analysis studies have shown that zipper-merging one-left-one-right at the last possible moment is the most efficient from a throughout perspective. Merging early and leaving a long unused lane is shown to be wasteful. Just because YOU merged earlier doesn’t mean everybody else should.

That said, we have a two lane road here where the right lane goes through and the left becomes a turn lane. Same thing happens as the OP. I’m always torn: I hate having people cutting, but merging late is more efficient. In my case, it’s not a true merge, so I make sure there’s not enough room for them to cut me off. Problem solved.

 

[goldbug]

Playing devil’s advocate here. With a straight-up two-lanes-become-one situation, Multiple traffic analysis studies have shown that zipper-merging one-left-one-right at the last possible moment is the most efficient from a throughout perspective. Merging early and leaving a long unused lane is shown to be wasteful. Just because YOU merged earlier doesn’t mean everybody else should.

Personally, I try to zipper merge as much as possible, and position myself in traffic so it is "natural" for other drivers....


HOWEVER...


If I see a driver dart into the "ending" lane at the last moment to gain a couple "positions", I do what I can to ensure their failure (stopping short of extreme aggression).


My recent "a-hole moment": Near my house the road narrows from 2 northbound lanes to 1 lane, with the right line terminating. Often people (including myself) take advantage of an empty right lane and stop light to skip past a long line of cars in the left lane. The other day a driver in a smaller BMW CUV/SUV thing decided that she was much too important to remain in line where she was, so she decided to dip into the right lane to gain maybe 2 car lengths... trying to jam her vehicle back into line in front of me. It didn't happen--my car sped up and remained near the bumper of the car in front of me.


Was that an a-hole move? Perhaps... but when I saw her behind me, prominently presenting her middle finger (repeatedly)... I doubled down on the jerksauce:


Since the road was now one lane, and there was a decent gap behind her (due to here RACEKAR antics), I noticed that for some reason my car couldn't accelerate through second gear--it seemed to be stuck at 20mph (road is 45mph). I then blew her a kiss and waved, to let her know I appreciated her gestures.
I could tell by her reaction this displeased her.



Magically, my car regained power once she had been thoroughly delayed and the rest of the traffic caught up. :grin

 

[Brad02ss]

I'm now thinking about this thread as I drive around, and there are a few spots I drive through daily where my lane is often a little backed up and people will intentionally go into the other lane just looking to cut off somebody in my lane. This morning there was a truck next to me looking to get over after intentionally passing everyone else who was politely in line, and sure enough I sped up enough to keep him from cutting in front of me.
I think my general thoughts are there's a good chance I'm going to be going faster than them once things get flowing a little down the road, since this typically happens leading to an onramp to the interstate. You might slow me down, but I won't slow you down, so just get behind me.
Its very popular around to jump in front of other drivers just to go whatever speed you feel like going, often merging onto the interstate just to jump all the way to left lane and then sit there at or under the speed limit, and to **** with everybody else. Yea, F You. If you want to jump in front of me then do 90, have at it, more power to you.

 

[RRWorker96]

Like some others have said, being nice just makes you frustrated in traffic. Every time I’m nice to somebody and let them in when I shouldn’t have, they screw me. 98 out of 100 times they turn into cadet Hooks from police academy when she was doing her high speed driver training. It just pays dividends to accelerate briskly if you are at the front of the line and can do that. You’re ahead of the crowd that way and nobody really cares. I always let them hear the turbo spool up in my Duramax as I leave, or, if in the SS, I can’t remember how to take it out of perf. mode, so they get to hear that as I leave. I really don’t think these cars are as loud as some make them out to be, I think it’s more a placebo effect from listening to the kazoo tube from the drivers seat.

 

[Snaker]

Coming into work this morning, I go through a traffic light intersection with two lanes going in my direction: once we're through the rather large intersection, the left lane ends after about 100 yards as the road becomes an on-ramp for the highway (65 MPH limit).

I'm in the right lane. The lane that doesn't end. The one with the right of way. Everyone knows this. If you're driving through this intersection at 6:30 AM, you're a local and you know this. The Honda pulls up next to me. The light is still red.

It's a CRV. 140 horsepower of Japanese efficiency, wrapped up in a cheap imitation mini-SUV because they couldn't afford a proper Suburban. :eek I jest.

The light turns green. I get the jump, and I proceed forward through the intersection at my usual mature adult pace. The CRV starts to grow in my left side mirror, and I can hear the mighty inline 4 roaring, so I give it (the Impalabu) a bit more gas. Why should I yield? I have the right of way.

So now we're doing probably 40 or 50, neck and neck it is, because I... well, this is where I fear that I may have been exhibiting a-hold tendencies. Obviously I could have easily smoked them, and as I hear the fevered pitch of the straining little I-wish-I-was-a-real-car next to me, I give it a smidgen more gas to inch in front of the mighty Honda. Their lane is ending, so they have no choice but to fall back, at which point she lays on the horn to give me a meager "meeeeeeeeeeeeep" to display her displeasure with me, my car, my children and anyone I've ever known.

And she stays on the horn, bleeping at me for about a 1/4 mile until she rockets past me at 71 MPH, probably giving me the finger (I don't want to make eye contact) as she falls into the lane, and then has to slam on the brakes because she wasn't paying any attention to how fast traffic was moving.

I found her to be rather amusing, I must confess, with that angry horn that I could barely hear through the window glass. But later I thought, really, should I have done that? Must I be such a pr*ck? Can't I just let these people be, even though 9 times out of 10 if I let them get in front of me, they end up going slower than I'd like? Or should I have just romped down on the throttle and left in her my dust, leaving no doubt that I have a more powerful car and have obvious insecurities about certain body parts?

Road rage is a real thing these days, and with so many people immediately flying off the handle and doing stupid things on the road, I really should be dialing back this kind of behavior.

FWIW, apropos of nothing, I'm not the only one who does this and it's been done to me on the occasional time when I'm in the left lane. Although, when it happens to me, you know I don't lose. :grin

What thinks the community?

You're only an a$$ hole for letting the Honda think it had a chance.

 

[W88fixer]

Don't understand the 7 responders at the time I'm posting saying "Can't we just get along?" Sorry, that's lame, the rude are just empowered by giving way to their refusal to obey traffic laws.

Their attitude is that their lane is their's and your lane is negotiable and if you do something that impedes their rudely violating your right of way, you're a creep. No. Don

 

[Thetuk33]

People in Georgia love to sit in the passing lane not passing. I have become expert in passing on the right as close to the offending A-hole as possible. Then roaring away. I am that guy. I make no apologies.