[quote]malonetd wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
Using both lanes to the merge point and then the zipper merge is the most efficient way to get traffic through.
Too bad zipper merges rarely happen in real life.[/quote]
I do it every day on the way home with little problems but sadly there are too many people that do not understand how to do it and exhibit road rage/selfishness and try to block people.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
lookedpast wrote:
The tapered line of cones does not signal a merge point. They signal the beginning of the construction zone. It is placed there for the safety of the workers. Merging should take place well in advance of the cones.
Additionally, merging early decreases the total time for which it takes the entire queue to pass through the construction zone. If the queue has to stop to let late mergers in it takes longer for everyone to get through.
Using both lanes to the merge point and then the zipper merge is the most efficient way to get traffic through.
Late mergers do not cause traffic stoppage.[/quote]
http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/
Using the simulation:
-Select Lane Closing
-Keep Main Inflow set at 1400 veh/hr
-Set Imposed Speed Limit to about 60 km/hr (Set this to what you want but 60 makes this easier to view.)
Notice how far in advance the vehicles merge over to avoid the closed lane. Also that the traffic flow does not slow.
-Now set Main Inflow about 1950-2000 veh/hr. (19000-2000 veh/hr. is a base number when modeling interstate traffic.)
Notice that when a late merger jumps into the open thru lane how it sends a ?shockwave? through the queue. Initially the shockwave does not cause vehicles to stop, but after a few shockwaves vehicle stoppage occurs later in the queue.
[quote]malonetd wrote:
simon-hecubus wrote:
That’s why, when I do all my last-minute (or second!) cut-ins, I make sure I do it in front of a big truck…
Am I understanding this correctly? You like to put the entire freeway in danger by forcing a large truck to suddenly change its speed?[/quote]
Big trucks are always going slowly at crowded merge points. They always leave room in front of them.
Late merge does not mean racing at high speeds until the merge point.
[quote]lookedpast wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
lookedpast wrote:
The tapered line of cones does not signal a merge point. They signal the beginning of the construction zone. It is placed there for the safety of the workers. Merging should take place well in advance of the cones.
Additionally, merging early decreases the total time for which it takes the entire queue to pass through the construction zone. If the queue has to stop to let late mergers in it takes longer for everyone to get through.
Using both lanes to the merge point and then the zipper merge is the most efficient way to get traffic through.
Late mergers do not cause traffic stoppage.
http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/
Using the simulation:
-Select Lane Closing
-Keep Main Inflow set at 1400 veh/hr
-Set Imposed Speed Limit to about 60 km/hr (Set this to what you want but 60 makes this easier to view.)
Notice how far in advance the vehicles merge over to avoid the closed lane. Also that the traffic flow does not slow.
-Now set Main Inflow about 1950-2000 veh/hr. (19000-2000 veh/hr. is a base number when modeling interstate traffic.)
Notice that when a late merger jumps into the open thru lane how it sends a ?shockwave? through the queue. Initially the shockwave does not cause vehicles to stop, but after a few shockwaves vehicle stoppage occurs later in the queue.
[/quote]
Cool site, I will have to play with it.
The traffic density that allows traffic to pass through a lane closure without needing to slow down is far less than the situations I have been focusing on.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Cool site, I will have to play with it.
The traffic density that allows traffic to pass through a lane closure without needing to slow down is far less than the situations I have been focusing on.[/quote]
I gotcha now. In small situations I agree that late merging is not likely to cause stoppages.
Like I said 1900+ veh/hr is usually for interstate. (In Louisiana anyway.) 1400-1900 would a major highway.
[quote]lookedpast wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
Cool site, I will have to play with it.
The traffic density that allows traffic to pass through a lane closure without needing to slow down is far less than the situations I have been focusing on.
I gotcha now. In small situations I agree that late merging is not likely to cause stoppages.
Like I said 1900+ veh/hr is usually for interstate. (In Louisiana anyway.) 1400-1900 would a major highway.
[/quote]
1900+ veh/hr? I bet in the DC Metro Area we have 5 - 10 times that. Then see how well the textbook driving examples pan out. It takes an hour to get one mile on a nightly basis, simply because of volume.
this year in massachusetts there was a “left lane closed 2 miles” situation on I-91 for a few months. then it became “right lane closed 2 miles” for another few months. i went through there many, many times.
at rush hour traffic would queue the full 2 miles, and maybe a 1/2 mile on the closed lane side. always there were state troopers at the merge point, and sometimes hanging @ the halfway point. their focus was to maintain traffic flow by spanking cars who blocked the lane or refused to let the lanes merge. 1 car 1 car.
i’m astounded at the backward thinking of those who believe that impeding traffic can be rationalized into policing for the common good. that blocking traffic somehow makes traffic flow faster. you’re probably the same folks who believe that drinking hot coffee in a heat wave somehow cools you down.
Matching speed with a car in the lane next to you constitutes creating a “rolling roadblock,” and is illegal in many jurisdictions. If the person behind you wants to go faster, go to a slower lane and let them pass.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
I have driven in America, Canada and Europe.
People make mistakes in city driving in all of these places, but only in America have I seen blatantly stupid highway driving as described by people in this thread.
It is illegal to try to impede other drivers. Just because they may be assholes and may be breaking a traffic law does not give you the right to break laws to get back at them.
The fact that so many here don’t know they are breaking the law does not surprise me. The US needs to do a far better job of educating drivers and weeding out the bad ones.[/quote]
Are you done lecturing us on how to drive? Since we drive LEGALLY until someone fucks with us, how about going on a lecture circuit for all the BAD drivers out there? You’d get to stop being a chemical engineer and sniffing all those fumes.
[quote]tme wrote:
Driving around looking for a chance to be an asshole to other drivers is sociopathic behavior, and people who do that deserve whatever they get. Whether that’s a ticket or a brick or bullet through the windshield.
[/quote]
I suggest you do this often and begin immediately.
I do not look for trouble but I, unlike you, do not run and hide from it.
[quote]lookedpast wrote:
http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/
Using the simulation:
-Select Lane Closing
-Keep Main Inflow set at 1400 veh/hr
-Set Imposed Speed Limit to about 60 km/hr (Set this to what you want but 60 makes this easier to view.)
Notice how far in advance the vehicles merge over to avoid the closed lane. Also that the traffic flow does not slow.
-Now set Main Inflow about 1950-2000 veh/hr. (19000-2000 veh/hr. is a base number when modeling interstate traffic.)
Notice that when a late merger jumps into the open thru lane how it sends a ?shockwave? through the queue. Initially the shockwave does not cause vehicles to stop, but after a few shockwaves vehicle stoppage occurs later in the queue.[/quote]
In your simulation, is there a place for me to adjust the “head-up-the-ass” factor?
How about the “skiddish, hit-the-brakes-for-no-fucking-reason” factor?
If it weren’t for these factors, I wouldn’t feel so strongly compelled to cut in front of the morons, halfwits, and nimrods.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Big trucks are always going slowly at crowded merge points. They always leave room in front of them.[/quote]
True, but depending on how much room is left after a car merges in front of them, they may have to slow down even more to re-create that space cushion.
I just hate people driving like idiots around trucks. It gives truck drivers a bad name when something goes wrong and, because of the size of their vehicle, they can’t avoid or maneuver out of the situation.
[quote]
Late merge does not mean racing at high speeds until the merge point.[/quote]
I agree and understand what you are saying in this thread. Too bad many other drivers don’t. This includes the mergers and the merge blockers.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Are you done lecturing us on how to drive? Since we drive LEGALLY until someone fucks with us, how about going on a lecture circuit for all the BAD drivers out there? You’d get to stop being a chemical engineer and sniffing all those fumes.
[/quote]
You are the one that fucks with people when they pass you. You are not driving legally. I’ll bet you also leave your left turn signal on for 20 miles at a time.
I can’t stand it when people just sit in the fast lane. I only pass in the fast lane and move over when I’m done, and I just get out of the way when someone clearly wants to go faster than I do. It’s satisfying when people do the same for me. People who want to speed will speed, but blocking them makes them weave through traffic, and that’s a great way to cause accidents.
Oh, and the hand wave absolves all driving sins in my mind. If you cut me off but give me the wave, it’s all good.
If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb, in your own conscience now?
-Henry V: IV.i.77-80
William Shakespeare
[quote]veruvius wrote:
Oh, and the hand wave absolves all driving sins in my mind. If you cut me off but give me the wave, it’s all good.[/quote]
Haha this is so true. On the flip side of the coin, if I let somebody in, in a situation where I obviously could’ve gone, I expect a hand wave. If not, I feel like I should be able to rescind my letting of them in.
Another note, why do people think that being in a car gives them the right to be the traffic police? If somebody wants to drive like an idiot, let them drive like an idiot! I drive fast as shit, usually when I’m on the interstate I drive between 90 and 110mph. That’s how fast I like to go. I don’t drive especially aggressively, I usually stay in the left lane to pass and move over to the right.
But if I’m driving in the right lane at say, 90mph and I come up to a guy driving say, 80mph, I expect that guy to move if there’s not a ton of traffic that would really slow him down in the right lane (ie, he is passing too).
Usually I’ll come up to somebody, get on their ass a little and then back off. If they don’t move over, I’ll get on their ass again so they notice me and then back off again. At that point if they don’t move over, they’re either:
a.) an unobservent driver who doesn’t belong on the road
b.) an inconsiderate asshole who doesn’t belong on the road
Face it, you people aren’t the police, it isn’t your job to enforce the rules of the road. If somebody is driving like a douche (the speed up to turn right especially, I hate that too), then yeah, you have a right to be pissed at them. But if you’re tormenting somebody to compensate for your small genitalia and general suckiness at life, well then that’s just sad.
One thing that is slightly related that drives me nuts is people waiting for parking spots. I never have and never will wait for someone to get in their car and drive away for me to take their spot. (This applies mostly to parking lots, I have occasionally done this for street parking and other extreme situations.)
Even worse is when the person waiting is blocking the entire lane and the person they are waiting for has an entire shopping cart and 3 kids to load up first.
On the flip side, if I see someone waiting for me to leave, I will just sit there until they pull away, unless I was just about to drive off anyway. That’s just good timing on their part.
I have also left malls and grocery stores and grabbed my keys and gone to the first couple cars in the row and pretended it was mine just to see other drivers stop and wait.
People need to just park and walk, lazy asses.
One time I clipped this jackass who was riding his bike. He mumbled something about measuring my distance blah blah blah… I just told him if he is going to wear a helmet, he better be an experienced rider. What an idiot!
That made me chuckle. Hopefully people understand it.
[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
veruvius wrote:
Oh, and the hand wave absolves all driving sins in my mind. If you cut me off but give me the wave, it’s all good.
Haha this is so true. On the flip side of the coin, if I let somebody in, in a situation where I obviously could’ve gone, I expect a hand wave. If not, I feel like I should be able to rescind my letting of them in.
Another note, why do people think that being in a car gives them the right to be the traffic police? If somebody wants to drive like an idiot, let them drive like an idiot! I drive fast as shit, usually when I’m on the interstate I drive between 90 and 110mph. That’s how fast I like to go. I don’t drive especially aggressively, I usually stay in the left lane to pass and move over to the right.
But if I’m driving in the right lane at say, 90mph and I come up to a guy driving say, 80mph, I expect that guy to move if there’s not a ton of traffic that would really slow him down in the right lane (ie, he is passing too).
Usually I’ll come up to somebody, get on their ass a little and then back off. If they don’t move over, I’ll get on their ass again so they notice me and then back off again. At that point if they don’t move over, they’re either:
a.) an unobservent driver who doesn’t belong on the road
b.) an inconsiderate asshole who doesn’t belong on the road
[/quote]
yes…i can be cruising in the rightmost lane @ say 85 and come up on someone doing 70 in the left lane. i used to pull to the left(behind them) and make them move over as it’s wicked dangerous passing on the right especially when you come up on people fast.
but now so many people think that the left lane is just for whatever and they think you’re a dick for tailgaiting them and take more than their sweet ass time to move over , that i now pass people in the right lane if need be.
also my windows are tinted so i use the single brake tap to say “thank you”.