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Nearly a quarter of drivers unfamiliar with zipper merging
Nearly one in four drivers in Belgium is not familiar with the concept of zipper merging, according to a survey conducted by the Belgian Road Safety Institute (BRSI). Zipper merging, an efficient way for drivers to merge into a reduced number of lanes by alternating turns, is the law in Belgium since March, 2014.
According to the survey, more than 91% of Belgian drivers have heard of the zipper, or late merge, and 87% are in favour of the method. Yet only 77% of drivers can describe how it works. "It's been two years since the zipper method was written into the Highway Code, but nearly one in four drivers still does not know how to zipper merge correctly," says a BRSI spokesperson.
When performed correctly, zipper merging occurs when the drivers in the lane that is about to close continue driving until the blockade. The drivers in the through lane then let one driver at a time get over without interrupting the flow of traffic.
Comments
It is not a question of not knowing ! It is that the majority, of drivers simply think that they are too important to let others "zip in".
I had this yesterday. It's perfectly obvious the lanes merge, I have done nothing to upset anybody by trying to get further ahead than anyone else and we are all perfectly positioned to merge. So what does the guy on my left do? Yup, you guessed it.
He drove up to be exactly on my left and against the bumper of the car in front despite my left indicator being on, and when I inched over a little thinking he might get the hint, he leans on the horn.
Nothing is getting in front of him. It's the same cretins that try to cut off motorcycles filtering through the traffic. Nasty frustrated little people who try to get some sense of power when driving their cars. Nothing to do with not knowing the rules or lacking common sense.
It's a crazy idea because people use it to jump the queue. It only works when you have two queues of equal length. Not when people at the back of the queue change lanes to get into the shorter queue.
The correct method is the keep the front of the queue at the blockade moving at a constant speed and zipper merge some distance back where the traffic is still flowing freely but at a reduced speed with enough space between cars for the zip to work.
You, John, demonstrate the problem perfectly. It's not a queue! If one line is shorter and somebody takes it, you do not block them from zipping because you think they are cheating! You and those like you are the problem. Your ideas of how it should work are not the law.
Well I have not heard of this BUT lets be honest, the way that people drive here, does it really matter? Barging your way in is the general approach without a care.
Agree with TR. I'd like to know which traffic rules Belgian drivers actually do know. Most of them drive as though they never learned any.