Comment

Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

Pushing people to seek a detour is the only effective way of actually reducing the effects of a traffic jam.

We all zipper merged back when we were traveling close to full speed. We would continue through the closure at nearly full speed, except some jackass has decided to run up to the end and come to a complete stop before attempting to merge.

Now, we all have to zipper merge at 5mph instead of full speed, because some jackass couldn’t figure out how to do it at the right time.

Anybody who has played Factorio should be able to recognize the problem. If the lane is obstructed anywhere, the capacity of the roadway is the capacity of the remaining open lanes. Filling the closed lane before the obstruction maximizes the duration of the traffic jam.

Ideally, zipper merging should start immediately after the last exit before the obstruction. It should be used to push as many people as possible to exit and seek a detour. The lane should be effectively closed from the exit before to the exit after the obstruction.

source

Sort:hotnew top

WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The article actually mentions zipper merging isn’t as effective at full speed.

People utilizing the closing lane up to the end frees up space at the rear, which allows more people who can take advantage of an exit shortly beforehand to actually do so.

Your stated ideal of closing the lane from the prior exit onwards isn’t practical if said exit isn’t within a reasonably short range. Never mind you’d definitely increase the number of people needlessly exiting and causing further problems on several other local roads, thereby expending the impact rather than reducing it.

Your premise also seems to be built upon the notion of stopped traffic rather than just a forced merging into fewer (or one) lanes where traffic still can flow reasonably well once past the merge point.

I’m assuming Factorio is a factory simulation, and that would involve mechanical & physical concerns, but that’s much more consistent than the wide variety of human responses and actions in such situations.
source
- Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  #1 is simply false. All merging is more effective at full speed.
  
  #2 demonstrates a lack of comprehension. With the right lane closed ahead, the slowed traffic in the left lane indicates the effects of the obstruction ahead, and informs drivers that they should exit.
  
  If the left lane isn’t backed up, the effects of the obstruction are not severe, and there is no need to exit.
  
  Allowing both lanes to back up introduces the worst delay, and doubles the number of vehicles needlessly exposed to that delay.
  
  #3 correctly identifies that the load is spread among more routes, but fails to comprehend that those other routes are normally underutilized and have considerable excess capacity available to ameliorate the problem. Diverting excess traffic to routes with excess capacity is a solution, not a problem.
  
  #4, stopped traffic is inevitable with zipper merging immediately before the obstruction. Anyone with more than a million miles of highway experience can corroborate that assertion.
  
  source
  - WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today ⁨36⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
    To prevent further troll responses, I’ve got an unexpected few minutes so I’ll try to reply.
    
    Once again you’re ignoring context. Zipper merging is not significantly more effective at reducing any sort of backup at full speed than other methods. You are essentially saying the same thing I did — whether you just weren’t keeping the full context in mind, or you treated it separately just so you could be argumentative is something only you can say.
    
    Once again, ignoring context. I was obviously referring to what those PAST the exit could do to help those behind them. The traffic is needlessly stopped by the inconsistent response to the merge - if both lanes kept going at a slightly reduced speed (mainly for safety) and spaced themselves appropriately, then they could easily merge without stopping. Once again, you’re seemingly basing your argument upon the concept of a stoppage — the very thing zipper merging is designed to avoid.
    
    Wow, what a fucking assumption. Even if those other routes were that underutilized (exceedingly unlikely), they won’t be for long with the amount of traffic you’d quickly fill them with. They would likely be “underutilized” for a reason, or people would be using them - especially the locals would would actually benefit the most from taking that exit.
    
    It’s “inevitable” mainly because of the inconsistent response of those involved. Once the motoring public at large understands the method and utilizes it, the only way it doesn’t minimize the likelihood of a stoppage is of the roadway is at full capacity already - not impossible, but it’d be bad planning by traffic control to have required that merge at times when that would be the case, which is a different problem entirely.
    
    Now, with this troll-induced (not you) response complete, I’m done with this.
    
    source
  - WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I actually have that 1MM+ as a professional driver - you’re wrong, but too stubborn to admit it. I’m done. Gnite.
    
    source
    LurkingLuddite@piefed.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    lol You’re wrong and too stupid to understand, and too stupid to understand how bad a shitty appeal to authority is. Fucking sad.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments