Roadworks queue jumpers

[retro]

I don't know if this is a thing outside of the UK but it annoys me so much. Recently I saw it happen so many times because of roadworks on the roundabout at the bottom of our estate.

These roadworks caused two dual carriageway entrances to be filtered down to one lane causing the inevitable bottleneck effect in either direction. (Then some nights it was closed altogether which was another frustration altogether)

Most people would accept it as a necessary evil at the time as the work being done was definitely going to be an improvement to the roundabout, so they took the hit on increased travel times and filtered into the one lane early (about half a mile before the cones in some instances).

Then you'd get the impatient ones. Driving past half a mile worth of slow cars before trying to bully their way into the one lane just as the cones are starting. The regular ones of course would try to help out and drive in the empty lane at the same speed as the rest of the traffic to slow down the queue jumpers but even then they'd find themselves bullied by flashing headlights, revving engines and aggressive manouevring of the cars behind to try to squeeze past. I tried to do it once myself but found myself practically pushed off the road by the car behind so I stopped doing it.

I really wanted to challenge every single one of those.

...and then I found my friend complaining that she was beeped while trying to squeeze in.

"How dare they beep me? Roadworks are like supermarket queues aren't they? You go to the quickest lane."

I thought she said she was queuing and was beeped at by someone pushing in, but then realised she was the one pushing in! She couldn't understand why I took the side of the driver that beeped her.

...and she still can't understand why she's in the wrong.

[IT Grunt]

Oh this happens /all the time/ over here in the States. People forcing their way in, but the worst offenders drive up along the shoulder to where the arrow sign is indicating to merge to the open lane and then sit there, edging in, forcing people to stop to avoid hitting them. People join in and now you have a queue of cars /off the road/, trying to force their way in to supposedly save time. How are you saving time when all you're doing is creating a huge bottleneck and /wasting/ it?

[retro]

Exactly. This only causes the traffic to slow down.

I find that once you're into the roadworks, it's quite quick, but merging is what slows you down.

(By the way - kudos on the avatar pic, huge Trek fan here too)

[Kal]

It's one of those weird times where driving etiquette is actually wrong. Turns out the traffic moves noticeably faster if both lanes are used right up to the cones (15% increase in flow speeds and up to 50% less tailback) rather than forcing an early single-lane road.
I tend to keep in the other lane myself until 100 yards before the merge, although don't go too fast or I feel like I'm taunting the other drivers. :P

Edit: citation for the figures. http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...nt-a-snap.html

[Seanette]

In my area, "drivers" have a scary tendency to deliberately speed up to cut off attempts to change lanes, so I do any lane changes I know I'm going to need as early as I can, to have maximum time to do so without getting slammed into by some aggressively insane jackass.

[Geek King]

Edit: citation for the figures. http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...nt-a-snap.html

A couple of problems I see with the article:

--It quotes studies on the "zipper method" being a better flow without linking those studies. Those studies do not appear to be available on the websites of the three agencies cited. Science geek disapproves.

--Author seems to expect that motorists will actually take their turns. This has not been my experience. I see enough issues with people failing the "first in, first out" rules of a 4-way stop.

--And a philosophical question: If I merge before the last moment, am I not still zippering? What is the sound of one DOT worker napping in the truck? If an orange barrel was set up in the woods, would it still be annoying?

Quick Edit: I should note that I have no problem with the zipper merge, and generally follow it even though I get over early. Better to let someone in than risk they decide to gun it and force their way in.

[IT Grunt]

--Author seems to expect that motorists will actually take their turns. This has not been my experience. I see enough issues with people failing the "first in, first out" rules of a 4-way stop.

Precisely. This is one of those times where you are literally saying 'Etiquette? What is this etiquette you speak of?' because it just goes out the window. I'm another who once I see signs indicating a lane is closed, I move into the open lane and stay there, because while you have people who are forcing their way in, you also have folks who are already in the lane who refuse to let anyone in front of them when they're trying to merge before getting to the construction.

For example, from my old workplace the entrance ramp onto the interstate goes straight up a hill, and at the top it ends. So you have to merge in or you're on the shoulder. Well, on the down side of said hill there was construction and the right lane was closed. Left lane of course was full of people merged to go through it. Having just come up the ramp, I tried to merge in, and this one guy had some space in front of him. So I go to merge in, and he zooms up so I can't. Okaaay... car ahead of him moves forward, space opens up again, I go to merge, and he zooms up. Finally I had little choice but to drive down a ways and find someone who would let me in.

So add people who refuse to let people legitimately merge to the folks who are forcing their way in at the merge point and it's just a recipe for disaster.

[It's me]

It's one of those weird times where driving etiquette is actually wrong. Turns out the traffic moves noticeably faster if both lanes are used right up to the cones (15% increase in flow speeds and up to 50% less tailback) rather than forcing an early single-lane road.
I tend to keep in the other lane myself until 100 yards before the merge, although don't go too fast or I feel like I'm taunting the other drivers. :P

Edit: citation for the figures. http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...nt-a-snap.html

There is a book about traffic... lot of good insight into the psychology of driving, along with stuff about merging, congestion, etc. Including zippering (or is the right word zipping? But zippering is more fun to say!)

http://tomvanderbilt.com/traffic/the-book/

[Kal]

--Author seems to expect that motorists will actually take their turns. This has not been my experience. I see enough issues with people failing the "first in, first out" rules of a 4-way stop. .

To be honest, I've mostly seen drivers being polite and letting people in (although this is probably weird, even for the UK).
I still hold to the point that if people stuck in both lanes until the cones then the annoyingly speedy, pushy people wouldn't be able to do that as they'd be in a line of more sensible drivers. This would then make the left lane drivers less annoyed as there's a more obvious turn-taking routine taking place.

[Ophbalance]

This behavior is why the interstate that I drive on went from 3 lanes to 2 for a major merge. They found that the impatient idiot lot would run up the right most merge lane, and instead of folks being able to merge, everyone was being backed up for miles. And since everyone was backed up for miles it encouraged even more impatient idiots to do the same thing. It was quite the feedback loop. And you'd think, though, that the folks that drove t his stretch every damn DAY would learn that trying to jump the queue just slows everyone down... but nope.

[wolfie]

And you'd think, though, that the folks that drove t his stretch every damn DAY would learn that trying to jump the queue just slows everyone down... but nope.

They know, and don't care, because of a more significant phenomenon: if they jump the queue, THEY get where they're going faster than if they follow the unwritten rule.

As an aside, I find that German cars tend to do this more than cars from other countries. The "Butthead Manning Wheel" and "Another Uncouth Driver Inside" tend to be the worst.

[retro]

To be honest if everyone kept to their lanes until the cones, then merging would probably be easier and I always let people in under those circumstances (people joining the motorway, etc).

[Jetfire]

All summer long, the Westmorland Bridge was under reconstruction in my city. It's the bridge that feeds into the centre of the city, so the Southbound traffic was squeezed from 2 lanes down to 1. (with 3 roads feeding into those 2 lanes squeezing to 1).

The backlog was incredible, with the times taking hour+. Often times the second lane was half empty until a bunch of people would decide to go through anyway; when that happened it did tend to speed up. (Granted part of the reason that worked was because the second lane could basically become a merge lane for traffic from Maple street).

So personally, I do believe that we should use the full lanes up until the merge point since it does seem to improve traffic flow. As a similar example, at one point during the construction, they were able to reopen one of the on ramps of the bridge. That ramp doesn't have any merge lane on the bridge itself so traffic using it has to stop and merge in. When I was driving, taking that ramp was probably the fastest way across; few people seemed to realize it was open but when I went up to it, they'd let me on right away.

As a final side note, I did see the Zipper action work fairly well as well. Maple Street at the end before it hits the Ring Road (which leads to the bridge) has 2 side streets that pull in traffic from either side. While it was somewhat slow, people did treat it as a Zipper, so we would see Left road turns on, Middle road goes throuhg, Right road goes through, repeat. It worked quite smoothly and the only real slowdown was because traffic couldn't get onward out to the Ring Road and the bridge.

[VComps]

The issue is that by merging early, you're effectively increasing the length of the one lane section. Drivers should be encouraged to use as much of the lame as possible before it narrows.

[Casino Jockey]

theres a section on my morning commute were this happens. one is a point where a major road starts for people in the left most lane (keep in mind i'm in australia - so this is the kerb most lane). i will get into the leftmost lane at least 1.5 miles before i need to bear left.

i sit in the left lane which has a tendency to be slower than the other 2 lanes. it's stop start. i will get around 1/2 a mile from the peel off and all of a sudden some impatient idiot in the centre lane sticks his left indicator on to try and get in the left lane - the same lane i have been sitting in for upwards of 20 mins some mornings going nowhere.

i might come across as an arse but i don't let them in.