Drivers in a closed lane exhibit two types of behavior: sidezoomers and lineuppers. Sidezoomers try to get as far forward as possible before merging, while lineuppers merge into the open lane and wait. Both types of drivers can exhibit negative behavior, leading to road rage. The best way to speed up traffic flow through a bottleneck is debatable, with arguments for both lining up and using all available lanes. However, human nature can cause problems with the latter approach, as some drivers may not allow others to merge.
When there is a closed lane on a road, there are two categories of drivers: sidezoomers and lineuppers. A sidezoomer tries to get as far forward as possible before it has to merge with slower traffic. A lineupper merges into the open lane as soon as possible and waits. These drivers exhibit different types of behavior with respect to where traffic needs to merge, also called a bottleneck.
Cynthia Gorney coined the terms sidezoomer and lineupper in a New York Times article titled The Urge To Merge. There are many other terms for both drivers; depending on the situation, some can be quite derogatory.
In heavy traffic, which is usually the result of roadworks, one lane will end and drivers in that lane will be forced to merge with traffic in the remaining lanes. The sidezoomer takes advantage of the fact that there are no cars in that lane.
There are three basic types of actions a sidezoomer can take:
The sidezoomer moves up the clear lane and merges as soon as there’s an opening.
The sidezoomer keeps driving to the end of the merge lane, then waits for an opening or pushes its way through.
The sidezoomer exits the highway via an off ramp, then re-enters the same highway again where they can join further up where they exited.
In turn, the lineupper can respond in several ways:
The lineupper allows the sidezoomer to merge leaving a gap in front of your car.
The lineupper drives as close to the car in front of them as possible to keep the sidezoomer from merging.
The lineupper enters the merge lane and prevents the sidezoomer from advancing any further.
The actions of both drivers can amplify negative emotions and this can lead to road rage. The lineupper feels cheated by the sidezoomer, since he is waiting his turn. The sidezoomer feels he has the right to use the merge lane since it is open.
The best way to speed up traffic flow through a bottleneck is highly debatable. The following two scenarios are possible.
In the first scenario, each car becomes a lineup and merges into the correct lane as soon as possible. The argument for this case is that traffic will not be bottlenecked when all lanes need to be merged and traffic will continue to flow. Opponents of this theory argue that this slows down everyone’s progress by not using up as much road space as possible.
In the second scenario, all free lanes are used, including the junction lane, thus making use of all the space on the road. Once the merge lane ends, all cars merge in turn. This would look like the teeth on a zipper as the halves come together.
What’s wrong with the second scenario? The problem is human nature, of course. Somewhere along the line, a driver will invariably decide not to allow cars to merge in front of him or her, exhibiting side-zoom behavior. This will make rule-following drivers angry and the whole negative cycle starts all over again.
Drivers concerned about laws relating to any of the above actions should refer to any laws or ordinances governing their respective areas.
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