Minnesotans and the zipper merge
6/11/2016
Barbara Garn
Administrator
Stuck in traffic trying to get to your game?
Wired has an article titled "Nice Minnesotans Don't Get Cruelly Efficient Zipper Merge" --
One study after another proves the “zipper merge” is the best way to move cars from two lanes into one. Except in Minnesota, where people might be a bit too polite. ...
It might seem rude, but it’s far more efficient in congested traffic. So efficient that the Germans, who of course practice it almost flawlessly, have a name for it: Reißverschlusssystem, or “zipper system.”
But Minnesota isn’t full of famously efficient Germans. It’s full of famously courteous Minnesotans, who don’t want to make anyone mad. The backups got so bad that the state’s Department of Transportation is teaching 3.3 million people how to merge. ...
One sad driver wrote on a recent DOT survey, “Seems that the choice is to either sit in line like a lemming, or do the zipper merge and endure the wrath of those who have been sitting in the line.”
Another wrote, “Maybe it just feels wrong? I feel guilty about passing all those people and merging at the end.”
Full story at the link: https://www.wired.com/2016/06/nice-minnesotans-dont-get-cruelly-efficient-zipper-merge/
6/11/2016
Russ Orbidan
They also don't get slower traffic stays in the right lanes. They cruise the speed limit or even lower in the left lane which in Germany is only used for passing.
6/13/2016
John Bergman
The real problem is people don't understand fluid dynamics. When merging from 2 lanes to 1 lane, everyone slows down, but that is exactly the wrong thing to do. If one lane is going to carry the traffic that was in 2 lanes, then everyone has to double their speed. So next time you see a merge, step on the gas, not the brake!
6/15/2016
Rob Jones
The biggest two issues I have with the zipper merge are:
1. Even when the lane has ended and you have given space, the driver continues to drive down the shoulder looking to get one more car ahead.
2. Drivers who try to use the zipper merge from a flow lane. Perfect example of this is 35W NB to DT Mpls/94 West exit. DO NOT STOP IN YOUR LANE to jam in!!!!!!!