"Use Both Lanes Until Merge Point"
You've seen it. Road construction with a lane closed and traffic needs to merge from two lanes into one. Construction companies are now posting signs for traffic to "Use Both Lanes" up to the merg...
Forum Discussion
fj12ryder wrote:toedtoes wrote:
A roadway is not a queue. There is no "cutting in line".
Do you all get mad because someone passes you on a hiking trail or sidewalk? The road is no different.
Again there is no donut for the first 50 people to pass the merge point.
Are you being held up by people cutting in front of you on a hiking trail or sidewalk? Not a very good comparison. Do you also let people get by you at the grocery store checkout? Or the movie theater queue? How about if you have three things, and they guy wanting around you has a whole basket full? I'm sure you'll let them through, that would be the courteous thing to do.
Except for the possibility of blocking streets behind the merge point, why does it matter where the "zipper" point it? Seems to me it could be at the merge sign and then everyone will be traveling at the same speed when arriving at the single lane. The issue is that the passing people have ignored the "Merge Here" thinking they will be in line further along, and bypass a lot of waiting in line. They get to the end of their lane, and try to merge then, but people have to slow down or stop because these people have bypassed the merge point and have to create their own merge point, thus slowing everything down.
A hiking trail or sidewalk is exactly the same thing - it is a limited amount of space to get from one point to another and those points may be different for each person. As long as you are moving forward, you will reach your end point regardless of how many people are on the trail or sidewalk.
With vehicles, the issue is that everyone tailgates so that others can't merge in. By blocking others from merging, whether "here" or "there", YOU are impeding the flow of traffic. When you won't let that other car merge at 10, 20, 45 mph, you force the next guy to have to stop to let the other car in. And that makes YOU the cause of the problem.
Again, roadways are not queues (lines). You don't "take your place in line" and never waver until you all reach the same endpoint for a common goal. Vehicles enter and exit at multiple different points, they merge between between lanes, the drive at varying speeds.
When you don't let a vehicle merge, you are going against the rules of the road. You are playing "god" and decreeing how everyone else behaves. For what? So you can pat yourself on the back and say "there, I showed him!" . Wow! That's sexy!
