How to Zipper Merge

The best was to Zipper Merge and keep traffic moving.

[eeshandas]

If you are in India, you have to do the followings to merge -
1. Stop in the closed lane
2. Use indicator + hand signal
3. Wave your hand furiously otherwise people don't take you seriously.
4. Merge

[Northernblades]

Zipper merging required the educated, co-operation, of educated drivers, who are all working together to insure the flow of traffic.
This can not happen in the USA
IN the USA, They have laws in place that actively ENCOURAGE, Enable, and PROTECT drivers who are "pinching" "pacing" and " blocking"
You can not have a law, that 100% protects the person "in lane" while expecting a zipper merge to work.

If there is an open and safe space, I am taking it, RIGHT NOW.
I am not going to wait until the last possible moment, and HOPE, the guy I "SHOULD" be pulling in front of, to get all Butt-hurt, and intentionally pinch me out.

[VoodooV]

All nice in theory, in fact the only place I've seen zipper merge work right is in slow bumper to bumper traffic where you pretty much have to zipper merge or there is literally no traffic in one lane. But in regular light to moderate traffic where people are going significantly faster, it doesn't work. It depends on EVERYONE being nice and taking turns...well that's simply not EVER going to happen, so it's just a plan to fail. It directly conflicts with the precedent that it's on the merger to be responsible and find a safe spot to merge, instead, zipper merge tells them that they are ENTITLED to merge, which is a recipe for disaster. Video even says "merge...WHEN ITS SAFE TO DO SO" that doesn't mean push your way through as if you own the road.

[AdamWood]

My Tesla on Full Self Driving does zipper merges, and it does them scarily well.

[David-jwkm]

This works in New Zealand and always has. We are taught this at driving school. I've worked around the world and the only thing stopping this rule is the idiots below who just do what they want and blame everyone else

[DuffMan]

In traffic flow simulations (and reality) aggressive merging causes unnecessary breaking and creates traffic shockwaves that persist for miles.

Waiting till the last minute to merge means you arent looking for the best opportunity/gap but instead using an arbitrary marker to trigger your merge. This method, when ised in normal flowing traffic situations, will ensure a true bottleneck forms.

Zipper merge should not be recommended unless traffic is already at a crawl.

[ThisIsHowIseeIt-imo]

In a perfect world, this works. When you get to the front it always becomes a contest on who will proceed.
So I get over and all the entitled go to the left lane.
Yep. So fair.
What needs to happen is two lanes of traffic with a traffic light.
The traffic light indicates right lane goes.
Traffic light stops right lane, and now it's the left turns lane to go.
So easy the solution

[RamadaArtist]

The biggest problem with zipper merges is that people think you're supposed to do them when you aren't on the highway. If you have two regular lanes of traffic where people can be turning off of either side, waiting until the last moment to zipper merge will obstruct turning traffic. This only works if two lanes of straight traffic are merging into a single lane of straight traffic, not when a turning lane has construction in it.

[Indigolden]

Except at least half of the drivers (usually bro dudes in trucks) won’t let you in “their” lane.

[Swidhelm]

The problem comes when people race up to lane termination to try and get ahead, instead slowing the shit out of the traffic.

[MrShanegoldman]

It doesn't work that way, there is never enough room to let me in.

[dalemccord]

This video is hilarious = yeah traffic magically keeps perfect spacing in order to perform this move flawlessly every time. *major sarcasm alert. - The actual best way is for you to take up both lanes, safely, as soon as you know about the merge - to prevent a bottle neck at the last seconds, and other wise people behind you should follow suit to keep the ignorant in line.

[nancydolman]

Yeah, that doesn't work in reality 😅😅