We're talking about two different things then. Open road, light fast-moving traffic, lane ending - the "merge zone" lengthens with that speed and space.
Heavy slow-moving traffic, lane ending, use the lanes which are available and zipper merge at the end. Merging too soon in this situation does create congestion.
In a vacuum it creates congestion, in reality things can be different, usually shitty drivers
For example: I drove a large truck most of last year and people simply will not let you in if you attempt to zipper mete properly in a vehicle deemed slow or cumbersome. They will literally close in as tight as they can on each other knowing that should you hit them you'll be found at fault
This can even result in the people in the lane behind said vehicle to start zippering at the point behind the vehicle, essentially moving the zipper a car length down the highway. These people also frequently close in and box out that cumbersome vehicle as well.
This technically keeps traffic flowing, but massively breaks flow when the vehicle finally managed to edge enough into the lane to force a merge or someone gives them room to actually get in
I always defer to commercial vehicles on the road, no matter what. Those people are at work; I'm not. It's not a perfect analogy, but I also don't go into retail stores and get in the way of employees, either.
We're talking about two different things then. Open road, light fast-moving traffic, lane ending - the "merge zone" lengthens with that speed and space.
Heavy slow-moving traffic, lane ending, use the lanes which are available and zipper merge at the end. Merging too soon in this situation does create congestion.
In a vacuum it creates congestion, in reality things can be different, usually shitty drivers
For example: I drove a large truck most of last year and people simply will not let you in if you attempt to zipper mete properly in a vehicle deemed slow or cumbersome. They will literally close in as tight as they can on each other knowing that should you hit them you'll be found at fault
This can even result in the people in the lane behind said vehicle to start zippering at the point behind the vehicle, essentially moving the zipper a car length down the highway. These people also frequently close in and box out that cumbersome vehicle as well.
This technically keeps traffic flowing, but massively breaks flow when the vehicle finally managed to edge enough into the lane to force a merge or someone gives them room to actually get in
Shitty drivers create congestion, yes.
I always defer to commercial vehicles on the road, no matter what. Those people are at work; I'm not. It's not a perfect analogy, but I also don't go into retail stores and get in the way of employees, either.