Let me axe you all a question

[TimC]

Dude I met with today has a New Ford GT 40, he was able to get on the taxi way at the muni airport the other day, 190 MPH... Saw the video, it was cool and no need to turn left, left or right, right....

 

Of course, but this is the Huddle where all the filthy disgusting hippies drive shamefully slow vehicles like the Honda Odyssey, Accord and Prius while driving to their Why I Hate America rallies.

[westvirginia]

+1

 

 

I never let those f'ers in. Tosspot says we have to. Well, TP, I have news for you - some of us don't and we're prepared to collide to prove it.

 

Damn straight, but the guy who took me up on it ran off and the description the GA DOT had for the license number didn't match the little POS pine green civic the cucksocker was driving.

[SEC=UGA]

Damn straight, but the guy who took me up on it ran off and the description the GA DOT had for the license number didn't match the little POS pine green civic the cucksocker was driving.

 

Gotta love Messicans

[Furd]

Dude I met with today has a New Ford GT 40

 

It must have been a "continuation" model made by another manufacturer.

 

Fords stopped making the GT40 in 1969. It discontinued the GT (a modern "version" of the GT40) in 2006.

[SEC=UGA]

It must have been a "continuation" model made by another manufacturer.

 

Fords stopped making the GT40 in 1969. It discontinued the GT (a modern "version" of the GT40) in 2006.

 

Hence me using a bastardized version of the name by saying "new GT 40". I was thinking if I had said a Ford GT, many people would have thought I was speaking of a Mustang. But, you are correct.

[Kid Cid]

may well be the case, by some tiny margin. but the people who do it are still chalupas, plain and simple. THEY get through faster, everyone they cut in front of gets through slower. if you want to be a selfish chalupa, your prerogative, but I will never ever let one of these people in and I really wish more people would do the same.

You can't cut in front of someone if everyone waits until the merge point to merge.

[SeductiveNun]

So in regards to this merging issue, how far back should people be moving over if the lane is closing? Say the lane closure is 3 miles ahead. The lane that would remain open is backed up for that entire 3 miles, yet the other lane has absolutely no cars in it as far as the eye can see. For another 3 miles that lane is still open, up until the merge point. Do you honestly think that everyone getting over right away would speed up the process? Have you never been in a situation on a highway where it has been reduced to a single lane for - oh let's say 10 miles - and there are no other entrances/exits from that stretch at all, yet the traffic throughout that entire stretch is still stop and go, with long periods of crawling along at speeds much, much slower than the posted speed limit in that construction zone?

 

As for those of you who block that open lane so people can't "cut in line", who the hell appointed you traffic control? Is it truly cutting in line if both lanes are open to a certain point, yet people feel the need to self-impose a spot at the back of one line even though 2 lines are acceptable?

 

I used to get over into the open lane as soon as I could, even if that meant crawling along at a snails pace for a mile or two (or more) before the merge point. Then through a combination of driving with friends out east, missing flights, and just getting sick of that BS I began driving up to the merge point or as far up to it as I could get and then merge over. I'll still wave a thank you to the person behind me for letting me in, but so much common courtesy has been lost on the road because people feel everyone has to suffer the self-imposed inconvenience of a longer wait in traffic, among other things on the road - but that's another topic entirely.

[westvirginia]

You can't cut in front of someone if everyone waits until the merge point to merge.

 

So, kc, uhh, who's the fat chick in your avatar?

[Azazello1313]

how can it really be much more efficient if people wait until the last minute to merge? if you go from two lanes down to one, the one-lane throughput past the choke point is going to be pretty constant. waiting until the last minute to merge does not increase the flow through the one lane area. if there is any difference at all, it would have to be negligible.

[SeductiveNun]

how can it really be much more efficient if people wait until the last minute to merge? if you go from two lanes down to one, the one-lane throughput past the choke point is going to be pretty constant. waiting until the last minute to merge does not increase the flow through the one lane area. if there is any difference at all, it would have to be negligible.

I would think that the efficiency comes in where people are merging at one point (the choke point), rather than having people merging at the choke point, a half mile before the choke point, 3/4 mile before the choke point, a mile before the choke point, a mile and a half before the choke point, and other areas where people may try to merge early. Essentially everyone merges at 1 designated point, rather than 3 or 4 (or more) random merge points.

[Azazello1313]

I would think that the efficiency comes in where people are merging at one point (the choke point), rather than having people merging at the choke point, a half mile before the choke point, 3/4 mile before the choke point, a mile before the choke point, a mile and a half before the choke point, and other areas where people may try to merge early. Essentially everyone merges at 1 designated point, rather than 3 or 4 (or more) random merge points.

 

and how does that speed the flow through the one-lane cone zone?

Edited August 25, 2010 by Azazello1313

[SeductiveNun]

and how does that speed the flow through the one-lane cone zone?

It doesn't. We've all been in those single lane zones and had slow, painfully slow, stop and go traffic. What the merge point does is allows you to get into that single lane hell at a somewhat quicker rate. What the momofektards are doing once they get into that single lane zone is anybody's guess.

 

Az, I misunderstood your initial question when I replied originally.

Edited August 25, 2010 by SeductiveNun

[Azazello1313]

It doesn't. We've all been in those single lane zones and had slow, painfully slow, stop and go traffic. What the merge point does is allows you to get into that single lane hell at a somewhat quicker rate. What the momofektards are doing once they get into that single lane zone is anybody's guess.

 

Az, I misunderstood your initial question when I replied originally.

 

so if the rate exiting the one lane cone zone is constant, then all this merging back behind only determines who's in front of who, it doesn't increase the overall flow. merging at the last possible minute is really only saving YOU time at the expense of everyone else.

[westvirginia]

so if the rate exiting the one lane cone zone is constant, then all this merging back behind only determines who's in front of who, it doesn't increase the overall flow. merging at the last possible minute is really only saving YOU time at the expense of everyone else.

 

But those of us driving American made vehicles ARE better than the others.

[SeductiveNun]

so if the rate exiting the one lane cone zone is constant, then all this merging back behind only determines who's in front of who, it doesn't increase the overall flow. merging at the last possible minute is really only saving YOU time at the expense of everyone else.

The idea of merging at the last possible minute is to save EVERYONE some time, or at least make the wait equal for everyone. Look at it this way........if there are 2 lines of equal length merging at one point, everyone takes a turn to merge. One car on the right, then a car on the left, then car on right, then car on left...........and so on. If, however you have one line that is 2 miles long and an open lane next to it with cars merging all over within that 2 mile stretch, the cars at the end of the long line will seem like they never move, thus people become a-holes to each other and road rage commences.

 

As I said earlier, if you want everyone in 1 lane prior to entering the contruction zone, how far back from said zone do you want the merge point to be? 1 mile, 2 miles, 3 miles? You are assuming that once people see that there is a long line of cars they will immediately get over into it and leave all that open space up to the merge point unoccupied. That's not reality, and the anger shown by everyone here who's been stuck in traffic like that proves it. If, however, both lanes are filled and people take turns like they were taught way back in kindergarted and before, then you would see the effciency of getting into that construction zone. That's where the time is saved is entering the zone. As you said, exiting the zone is treated as a constant.

Edited August 25, 2010 by SeductiveNun

[Skippy]

so if the rate exiting the one lane cone zone is constant, then all this merging back behind only determines who's in front of who, it doesn't increase the overall flow. merging at the last possible minute is really only saving YOU time at the expense of everyone else.

I really would like to see some hard core facts that prove it is the right thing. Like I said, more and more I am seeing signs like "stay in lane until merge point" on the highways around my neck of the woods.

[SeductiveNun]

I really would like to see some hard core facts that prove it is the right thing. Like I said, more and more I am seeing signs like "stay in lane until merge point" on the highways around my neck of the woods.

Simply put, would you rather there be 1 merge point at a controlled location, or a whole bunch of them randomly strewn throughout the line of traffic. At some point traffic has to merge when dealing with lane restrictions. I would think 1 controlled merge location would be more efficient than having many of them strewn about.

[Azazello1313]

That's where the time is saved is entering the zone. As you said, exiting the zone is treated as a constant.

 

cars can only enter as fast as they are going out the other end.

 

as far as the question, how far ahead do I want people to merge, one mile, three miles? look, it's pretty simple. when other people start to merge and you know you have to merge soon, don't zoom ahead and cut in line. if you do that, you are a pr!ck. if everybody is merging nice and orderly at the point where the lane ends, that is fantastic. no problem with that whatsoever. my problem is with the people who breeze by everyone else on the right and then cut in at the last minute. I call bullchit on any conceivable excuse made for that behavior.

[Kid Cid]

So, kc, uhh, who's the fat chick in your avatar?

I guess you only recognize your wife with the lights off...

[Skippy]

Simply put, would you rather there be 1 merge point at a controlled location, or a whole bunch of them randomly strewn throughout the line of traffic. At some point traffic has to merge when dealing with lane restrictions. I would think 1 controlled merge location would be more efficient than having many of them strewn about.

It's not about what is more efficient or correct. I only asked that one right up there to see if there was some real proof that hitting the merge point and taking your correct turn does indeed make it faster.

 

For the record I am not saying that it does not. In my head if we played the stay in your lane til merge point, I think that it would make things much easier than the three mile backup with one out of every 10 cars zooming up the free lane. No matter how much you try to keep him from getting in he will. Unless he is a puzzy. Someone will always give him an in and trucks are the easy target if everyone is playing hardball.

[BillyBalata]

My reasoning is the traffic is stop and go because all the aholes that race up to the end and people have to stop/slow down for them to get in. If you jerks would merge earlier when when there is time to do it and most everyone else was, nice and friendly like, then everything would flow much smoother.

[Ursa Majoris]

cars can only enter as fast as they are going out the other end.

 

as far as the question, how far ahead do I want people to merge, one mile, three miles? look, it's pretty simple. when other people start to merge and you know you have to merge soon, don't zoom ahead and cut in line. if you do that, you are a pr!ck. if everybody is merging nice and orderly at the point where the lane ends, that is fantastic. no problem with that whatsoever. my problem is with the people who breeze by everyone else on the right and then cut in at the last minute. I call bullchit on any conceivable excuse made for that behavior.

This.

[SeductiveNun]

cars can only enter as fast as they are going out the other end.

 

as far as the question, how far ahead do I want people to merge, one mile, three miles? look, it's pretty simple. when other people start to merge and you know you have to merge soon, don't zoom ahead and cut in line. if you do that, you are a pr!ck. if everybody is merging nice and orderly at the point where the lane ends, that is fantastic. no problem with that whatsoever. my problem is with the people who breeze by everyone else on the right and then cut in at the last minute. I call bullchit on any conceivable excuse made for that behavior.

And that, I believe, is the intention of the single merge point just before the lane is closed. Which I think, if followed correctly and by everyone, alleviates the part you have a problem with.

[SeductiveNun]

It's not about what is more efficient or correct. I only asked that one right up there to see if there was some real proof that hitting the merge point and taking your correct turn does indeed make it faster.

 

For the record I am not saying that it does not. In my head if we played the stay in your lane til merge point, I think that it would make things much easier than the three mile backup with one out of every 10 cars zooming up the free lane. No matter how much you try to keep him from getting in he will. Unless he is a puzzy. Someone will always give him an in and trucks are the easy target if everyone is playing hardball.

Unfortunately I don't have any real proof of that. I would think there are some traffic studies out there that may or may not support that, but I'm too durn lazy to look for it. It's more fun debating on opinion and hypotheticals.

[BeeR]

So in regards to this merging issue, how far back should people be moving over if the lane is closing?

As soon as it's clear to anyone with a functioning brain that it's closing. Often big signs which say "LANE ENDS MERGE" are a clue.

 

Do you honestly think that everyone getting over right away would speed up the process?

No, I think it would mean they are being courteous drivers with a clue by merging when they are supposed to and waiting their turn in line.

 

As for those of you who block that open lane so people can't "cut in line", who the hell appointed you traffic control?

The same ones who appointed the cut in line aholes the right to do so?

 

Is it truly cutting in line if both lanes are open to a certain point, yet people feel the need to self-impose a spot at the back of one line even though 2 lines are acceptable?

Yes and 2 lines is only "acceptable" up to the point where it's clear a lane is closing.

 

I'll still wave a thank you to the person behind me for letting me in

Me too, regardless of circumstance. Bugs me when people don't (yet another example of common courtesy being an oxymoron), though it's not a big.