Did you know that there’s actually a type of scientist that studies the flow of traffic and its interaction with pedestrians? They’re called traffic scientists, and unfortunately there isn’t a fancy word for them, like trafficologist. They study traffic flow, and it’s actually far more interesting than you would think.
For instance, every time a driver slows down or speeds up, it creates ripples, which affect the flow of traffic around them. Since all the cars are moving in one direction, a lot of people behind the driver will be affected as well.
But the main thing I wanted to talk to you about today is merging methods. Merging is when 2 lanes on a highway or a major road merge together, mostly due to construction on one of the lanes. When a merge occurs, drivers often immediately start the struggle to merge onto the main lane, because you would eventually need to merge anyway and sooner is better than later. And this is true… to some degree. But merging this way can be dangerous. It can lead to road rage, aggressive driving, and potentially car accidents.
A better way to merge is the zipper merge. Following the zipper merge, a driver doesn’t start trying to get onto the main lane when he sees a merge. Instead, he drives right up to the merge. The cars on the main lane take turns going with the cars on the lane being merged, in an orderly manner, one after the other, hence the name zipper merge. This would not be easy to implement. For one thing, the zipper merge is hard to moderate because there are always those drivers who are in a rush and go first without consideration. For another, old habits can be hard to shake off.
But the zipper merge is theoretically effective. Don’t believe me? The Germans have a word just for it. German speakers call the zipper merge “ ”. I know;. They do love long words. But the zipper merge IS effective, and might help lighten up traffic.’