Traffic Cop Wrote:
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> If we’re talking about merging onto a highway,
> and traffic is moving at-speed;
> (1) use the acceleration lane to get your car up
> to the same speed as traffic - so you’re
> traveling at the exact speed as the cars you’re
> merging in with.
> (2) move into their lane closer to the car in
> front of you than the one behind you.
> VOILA!
>
> Maybe you’re talking about a bottleneck in
> bumper-to-bumper traffic. 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 - just
> do it. If you’re in the lane that is ending,
> drive all the way up to the top and get in line.
> Everyone takes a turn. 1 2 1 2 1 2. If you try
> to get in early and stop the flow of traffic while
> you cut someone off, you screw it up.
Yes, this is exactly right. Another name for the proper technique is the "Zipper merge".
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/ Read any traffic science study and they talk about "road capacity" and wasting empty road space. Think about it from the stand point of maximum road capacity. When cars merge early instead of going all the way to the end of the merge lane, they are wasting that empty road space and thereby reducing the overall road capacity.