I have seen drivers do the zipper merge from time-to-time over the past 30 years, and it seems to me that it is done less now than 20 and 30 years ago, when bottlenecks were not so frequently encountered. It does seem that more drivers are less becoming less willing to let someone merge into a lane (ahead of them).
However, in some cases the fault for the broken zipper merges does not lie entirely with people who are in the lane that others are trying to merge into. It has been my experience that when drivers get a lot of warning about the disappearance of the lane and have opportunities to merge, a lot of merging happens long before a lane ends (such as the exit-only lane for south 46th street on southbound 35W). However, some drivers opt to take the disappearing lane in heavy traffic if it is fairly free of traffic, which make it possible to drive faster and pass a lot of cars, then attempt to merge back in as they run out of road. It is one thing to expect everyone in a thru lane to allow one car from a disappearing lane to merge in front of them (the zipper merge), but it is another thing to expect all of the drivers in a thru lane to each let several cars cut immediately in front of them over a fairly short distance. -Doug Mann, King Field REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
