There is construction near me with a merge, and they have signs instructing drivers to use both lanes and merge late. Multiple signs. People still merge ASAP.
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i agree with this.
does not apply here. driveway enters from a dead end street with a parking garage exit behind it. anyone hanging into the street (and no one was close) would have traffic maneuvering past them at <10mph
I hate zipper merges. If traffic is backing up at the merge point they can kind of make sense but what I’ve seen most of the time is that traffic is still flowing with everybody moving into the through lane and if that’s the case if you go up to the merge point in the dead end lane you can be left out to dry there.
My other issue with zipper merges is that the merge point is often clearly marked. People don;t know where they should be merging.
Finally there are a lot of places where a lane on the city street dead ends (becomes a parking lane or just disappears at an intersection). Since the appearance of the zipper merge some people are expecting zipper merge behavior at these location where their lane is disappearing. To me I think that it’s rude to use the dead-end lane to pass a bunch of cars and expect to join the through lane zipper merge style where there is no zipper merge,
Zipper merges where the merge point is marked and there is a notice to stay in your lane until then work really well. This should be a standard.
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Add a big zipper sign. There are international signs with actual zippers on them.
(I thought I had this great idea, …)
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You could also turn it upside down and put it on the wall where people exit the bathroom.
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Merging would be a lot less annoying if everyone knew where the merge was to happen. I guess I’m asking for more signage.
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I agree. I might have seen this only once in my life.
I watched someone drive the wrong way around a roundabout
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:hsmack:
The way I’ve seen every single one of them designed, that’s nearly impossible to do. You’d have to turn ~2π/3 - 5π/6 radians…or hop the curb.
Um…
Also I don’t think I posted about it, but I almost got run over by a driver going the wrong way in a roundabout several years ago.
A relative was killed in a roundabout accident, so I’m already freaked out by them, and it doesn’t help when people go the wrong way.
holy shit, I’ve never seen anyone go backwards in a roundabout. I guess they are common enough around here that few drivers are that clueless.
I like roundabouts. You don’t have to wait for a light when there’s no traffic. There’s no risk of a head-on collision (unless some incredibly stupid driver goes backwards, I guess.) It makes a u-turn dead easy. And I make wrong turns often enough that I find that valuable. There is a point when they are over-capacity when they freeze up and become really bad, but so long as they stay within capacity (and in my experience, most are always within capacity, and the worst are only over capacity for a few hours here and there) I think they are great.
How did that happen? The stats on them are really good in terms of reducing serious accidents, but obviously any system can fail.
It’s easier on the multi-lane roundabouts, those give you a nice wide berth to make it in backwards. When I lived in Topeka years ago, they installed a good-sized roundabout, and the first time I used it I passed someone going the wrong way.
There are roundabouts with multiple lanes entering that are <120 degree turn. And the pavement marking below is confusing the first time you see it while driving.
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Well there was an assist from the incompetent NHS. The same injuries in the United States would have been severe but not life-threatening.
His wife, an RN at Mass General (one of the better hospitals out there) was consulting with doctors at Mass General daily and after she realized the level of incompetence at the NHS hospital she was trying very hard to get him either airlifted to Boston or at least to a private hospital in London but the NHS refused to release him. The doctors made it clear: if the NHS won’t treat his injuries he will eventually die. It took 6 weeks, but that happened.
So it wasn’t JUST the roundabout; it was the combination of the roundabout AND the NHS that killed him. But I hate both.
And he was wearing his seatbelt too. Another relative talked to the copper who cut it off him.
Both of the ones I witnessed were single lane.
The multi-lane ones usually have enough traffic going the correct direction that you would realize that going the wrong way wasn’t kosher.
i saw an inexperienced driver approach a roundabout and start to go the wrong way (clockwise). I honked and flashed lights and they went the correct way. no traffic other than us, so no harm.
Well, that’s impressive.
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The merge happens where it goes to one lane or shortly before it depending on speed. Not three miles away when you are first warned of it.
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I have never seen a zipper merge marked 3 miles ahead. I probably have seen construction lane closed advisories that far away but not zipper merges.