Traffic 101 – Merging
It’s been a while since I posted something here (I discovered Facebook 
) but I thought it was time for a new post, and it’s going to be a grumpy one, about how people (should (not)) behave in traffic. In particular I want to share a major frustration I regularly experience in my daily ventures on the Belgian roads, which is related to merging behavior.
To make sure it is clear what I am talking about, merging occurs in situations where the road narrows, with the number of traffic lanes reducing from two to one (or more in general from n to n-1, but I will focus on the two-to-one situation here as it is often the most painful one). In such a two-to-one-lane merging situation all cars from the second lane need to move over into the one remaining lane. A delicate maneuver, because it depends on goodwill, cooperation, and coordination, which are not always easy to find nowadays.
In theory, what should happen is this. Within a few hundred meters or so before the point where the road narrows (the ideal point depends on the speed of traffic), cars in the second lane start merging into first lane traffic. They use their turn-indicators to signal the intention of shifting lanes, and first-lane traffic politely leaves a space so the merge can be performed safely and smoothly. In the ideal situation merging is done on an alternate basis, where car 1 in the second lane merges in between cars 1 and 2 in the first lane, car 2 in the second lane merges in between cars 2 and 3, and so on. In Dutch we call this “ritsen” (“zipping”, like in closing a zipper). This system guarantees the smoothest possible flow of traffic.
In practice, however, that is rarely what happens. Usually, long (way too long) before the ideal merge point, people already start moving over into the first lane. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, people can shift lanes whenever they want. But what happens next is really crazy. These “early shifters” for some reason start holding a grudge against drivers who do not follow their example, who have not yet moved over, who did not move over at the same point they did, or worse, who (god forbid!) choose to follow the normal procedure and continue in the second lane until the merge point (let’s call those “late shifters”).
Now, early shifters don’t like late shifters much. In fact, they treat them with outright hostility. They give them the evil eye, flash their headlights and honk their horns in anger. Early shifters especially don’t like late shifters moving ahead of them, and they are backed in this by first lane drivers in general. Some first lane vehicles even start driving in the middle of the road to prevent late shifters from passing them. I have seen duel-like situations where an angry first-laner was maneuvering left and right to block the efforts of a late shifter to get past him. The worst I personally encountered was a first-lane driver who suddenly swerved halfway into the second lane when I approached to overtake him. Generally crazy and truly dangerous behavior…
And when (or should I say if) late shifters do make it to the merge point, they are treated with the ultimate hostility: first-lane traffic sticking bumper to bumper to prevent them from merging in, with drivers ignoring them with a blank straight-ahead stare. And when the late shifter finally loses patience and claims his right to merge by forcing himself into the first lane, he is again met by flashing headlights, honking horns, angry faces, and raised middle fingers. Totally unnecessary and quite stupid behavior if you ask me.
Because the net effect of such behavior is not beneficiary to anyone. The fact that everyone is cramming into the first lane prematurely just makes the cue in that lane longer than necessary. And this is further aggravated by second-lane traffic being blocked by angry first-laners. And those hassles and duels cause yet a further delay, because effort that could go into smoothing the flow now goes to fighting and bickering. And bumper-sticking at the merge point slows down the flow some more, because it causes an accelerate-break-accelerate style of driving, which is exactly the type of driving that lengthens traffic jams. And finally, all this anger and aggravation just causes a general rise in hostility, anxiety and blood pressure, and heightens the chance of escalation into road-rage.
So why does this happen, and why does it happen so often? Because in my experience it is more the rule than the exception, so there must be an explanation of why people become early shifters, and why early shifters become so aggressive towards late shifters. I believe this behavior is sparked by a combination between the social drive to be a good citizen, and downright egocentric individualism.
Besides ignorance of the principles of flow efficiency, premature lane shifting can be explained by the fundamental social drive of wanting to fit in with the group. In a traffic-merging situation this drive is expressed through the willingness to ease the flow of traffic by performing the task of merging at an early stage. The closer to the merging point, the denser the traffic, so early shifting is a gesture that says: I know we have an awkward maneuver up ahead, so I will perform it now when there is still more room and I am not encumbering on anyone. In itself this is a great social gesture, made with nothing but good intentions. So then why does it turn into its opposite so easily?
A possible explanation is that the lane shift also involves a role shift. As long as they were in the second lane, early shifters were on the asking side, they needed something from first-laners: space to merge in and continue their journey. But once they have completed the merge, they become givers who are now in turn being asked to show their own goodwill. But they feel they have already done just that by shifting early, so they are not inclined to give much more. And when they see late shifters passing them and merging ahead of them, they start feeling taken advantage of.
Furthermore, because early shifting is done with good social intentions, early shifters start seeing late shifters as a-social, as people who are not willing to ‘fit in’, who take advantage of other people’s good will and generosity. As such they become ‘the enemy’, against which early shifters feel they should defend themselves. And the most efficient way of doing this is by blocking late shifters, preventing them from overtaking, or not allowing them to merge at the merge point, because that alleviates both frustrations of early shifters at the same time: they are no longer being taken advantage of, and they justify their decision to shift early by forcing late shifters to do the same.
And this is where egocentrism kicks in. We basically all want to be right, and we all want to be first, and late shifters defeat early shifters on both fields: although they were originally behind, they manage to merge in ahead, and this greater efficiency proves the early shifters wrong. So it’s a psychology thing, where the angry early shifters sacrifice the wellbeing of the group (the smoothest possible flow of traffic) for their own psychological wellbeing. Their actions may well be inspired by good intentions at the start, but become completely egocentric at the end.
The core of the problem is that those people are apparently not willing to accept the consequences of the decisions they take. Just like a five year old who is losing a game and starts cheating or picking on his opponents, early shifters start blaming others and resort to force to prove themselves right when they find that the decision they have taken is not to their own benefit.
Let me restate that I have nothing against early shifters as such. I gracefully leave everyone the privilege of taking their own decisions. It’s just that when you take a decision, you have to live with the consequences – at least in the adult world.
So what I want to say to those people is: Yes you may merge early, by all means! But that is your decision. It is not mine, so don’t hold me accountable for it.
It’s easy really:
- Take a decision
- Accept the consequences
- Live with it
- GROW UP!
G.
Tags: belgium, driving, merging, Traffic
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