When do you merge in a merging lane?

So I was having a discussion with a couple of people in Toronto as well as in Montreal about when one should merge into the highway when you're in a merging lane that ends. The assumption in our discussion is that we are considering the situation in full rush hour traffic. When traffic is free-flowing on the highway, it is obvious that one should merge as soon as it is safe to do so, so as to avoid disrupting the existing steady slow of traffic. In congested traffic, is it still prudent to merge as early as you can? Or would it be more efficient to merge at the end of the merge lane?

Traditionally, the thought is to merge as soon as you can, in other words, at the beginning or in the middle of the crawling traffic. Would this not be rather random and because of the nature of drivers, once you merge, other drivers behind you in the merging lane would scoot around and merge in farther up ahead, creating now a 2:1 new car ratio (i.e. 2 cars in for every 1 existing car) or more likely a 3:1, 4:1, etc. ratio? This would create an exponentially increasing backlog in the merged lane versus sticking with a 1:1 ratio, which I'll describe below.

Would it be more effective for everyone to simply alternately merge at the end of the merge lane? It would essentially be a 1:1 new car to existing car ratio. Mathematically, it'd be twice as slow as normal traffic (plus some slowdown due to adjusting for a new car in the lane). Would this not be more efficient?

The Kitchener Record had two articles on this recently:

http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/727621--the-road-ahead-it-s-smart-to-merge-late

http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/744149--road-ahead-more-cheers-for-late-merging

I think I'm a middle merger. Usually there's more space a bit further down the line than right at the beginning. Regardless, the society we live in is a selfish one where people want their need to get home now catered to and therefore are likely to not let anyone merge in unless they absolutely have to. I try to let people in who are doing their best to follow the rules of signalling and doing their due diligence to merge as soon as it's safe to do so. People who intentionally try to cut the line don't get much sympathy from me.

I was always taught to merge near the end of the lane.

In low traffic, this gives you a chance to match your speed to the other vehicles already on the highway.

In high traffic, this stops you from creating a jam in the merging lane as you stop and wait to merge.

Of course, the people in the right lane rarely leave gaps in heavy traffic which stops cars from being able to merge. Then of course you get the people who go right to the end of the merging lane and drive on the shoulder to get ahead, which pisses everyone off and makes everyone close their gaps even further..

I merge towards the end of the lane, if I'm in the lane that's disappearing. I find that people merging at different times just complicates things and slows things down more than it has to.

I think a bigger factor though is HOW people merge. 1 from the merging lane, 1 from the thru lane. Repeat. All too often I'll see someone try to either butt in when it isn't their turn, or hug the guy in front of them's bumper to not let someone else in. As long as it alternates, it should go pretty smoothly (and will less breaking).

I'm sadden to see you didn't include an option for middle mergers
Since like timio, I am one as well.

timio said:

The Kitchener Record had two articles on this recently:

http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/727621--the-road-ahead-it-s-smart-to-merge-late

http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/744149--road-ahead-more-cheers-for-late-merging

I think I'm a middle merger. Usually there's more space a bit further down the line than right at the beginning. Regardless, the society we live in is a selfish one where people want their need to get home now catered to and therefore are likely to not let anyone merge in unless they absolutely have to. I try to let people in who are doing their best to follow the rules of signalling and doing their due diligence to merge as soon as it's safe to do so. People who intentionally try to cut the line don't get much sympathy from me.

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Interesting articles in the Kitchener Record. Thanks for sharing!

I think merging at the end works, provided both the merger and the mergee know about this "art of merging." Too many times people feel territorial and decide to ride bumpers so as not to let anyone in from a terminating merging lane. I actually leave space so that the car at the end of the merge lane can zip in without me slamming on my brakes. I'd also hope I'd get the same courtesy from others when I'm at the end of the merge lane too.

I think the time this doesn't work is when individuals in the normal right lane decide to hop out to the merging lane just so they can squeeze back in when the lane ends. Now that is a disrespectful manouevre!

vegeta_skyline said:

I'm sadden to see you didn't include an option for middle mergers
Since like timio, I am one as well.

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Sorry about that! I kind of put the early mergers and middle mergers in the same group as "merge as early as possible."

I did my G-License driving test last month, and the biggest thing my tester complained about was that I merged too early onto the 400.

There was no traffic anywhere near, so I just merged into the lane at about 80km/h. She did not like that at all, stating I should have waited until at least 100km/h.

My understanding from her is that I should merge as soon as my speed matches the speed of the traffic.

You should merge ahead of time to ensure space to do so properly, and you should not be passing people once notified your lane is disappearing and should instead be adjusting speed to match than in the other lane. This means that if the other lane is stopped you should be stopping, not passing people up to the point the lane is gone. This means if the other lane is going faster you should speed up before merging (lane space permitting).

reaperexpress said:

I did my G-License driving test last month, and the biggest thing my tester complained about was that I merged too early onto the 400.

There was no traffic anywhere near, so I just merged into the lane at about 80km/h. She did not like that at all, stating I should have waited until at least 100km/h.

My understanding from her is that I should merge as soon as my speed matches the speed of the traffic.

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Your first mistake was going for your test in a Toronto area ScamTest centre. If you were going any faster than 100, or blinked the wrong way, she would have flunked you for that as well. Go to Barrie or Lindsay for your test, as they get their money from passing people and word of mouth, rather than failing them numerous times on minor technicalities like they do in the suburban ones.

On the topic, I try to merge as soon as possible. Sometimes the dick won't let me in, so I just go up a few car lengths instead. At the very least, it is much less rude than blasting by a bunch of people and jumping in at the very end. And "technically speaking," you shouldn't be passing drivers on the right anyways.

That said, there is a valid point in merging at the very end. It creates a single choke point rather than several which may be caused by merging earlier. If people could actually drive, perhaps zipper merging at the end could work better.

Electrify said:

Your first mistake was going for your test in a Toronto area ScamTest centre. If you were going any faster than 100, or blinked the wrong way, she would have flunked you for that as well. Go to Barrie or Lindsay for your test, as they get their money from passing people and word of mouth, rather than failing them numerous times on minor technicalities like they do in the suburban ones.

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Discussions like this make me wish we had the Japanese tests/instruction.

Had a cousin who failed, proceeded to cry, and magically got a passing grade a few minutes later.

Haha...what an honourable system!

I know people who deliberately go outside of the Toronto area for their driving exam. Apparently the Vic Park/Lawrence center is (or at least was) horrible.

i know this is the toronto forms, but have u ever tried merging onto autoroute 20 in montreal? here in ontario, they atleast have long enuff ramps to let u merge into traffic, in montreal the onranps are so short you have very little time to cut in, not to mention the drivers dont give u space, also if u run out of ramp lane, ur greeted by a nice cement ontario tall wall, where in ontario, you have a paved shoulder.

Electrify said:

On the topic, I try to merge as soon as possible. Sometimes the dick won't let me in, so I just go up a few car lengths instead. At the very least, it is much less rude than blasting by a bunch of people and jumping in at the very end. And "technically speaking," you shouldn't be passing drivers on the right anyways.

That said, there is a valid point in merging at the very end. It creates a single choke point rather than several which may be caused by merging earlier. If people could actually drive, perhaps zipper merging at the end could work better.

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hmmm based on the Ontario Highway Traffic Act ( http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90h08_e.htm#BK216 )

Right of way on entering highway from private road
139. (1) Every driver or street car operator entering a highway from a private road or driveway shall yield the right of way to all traffic approaching on the highway so closely that to enter would constitute an immediate hazard. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 139 (1).


That being said, I merge whenever it is safe to do so.

As for permitting users to merge into the lane that I'm in, same principle applies, if it is safe to do so, I will let you in.

I'd just be happy if cars would merge where they are allowed to (i.e. not crossing solid white lines), didn't come to a full-stop while merging when just getting to the start of the merge zone, and merged at the same speed of the traffic they are entering.

Whether it be at the beginning or end of the zone shouldn't matter as long as it's safe, and they have signalled appropriately.