A few simple tips can save you time and reduce frustration in heavy traffic and construction zones, whether during your daily commute or a summer vacation drive.
Here鈥檚 the experts鈥� latest advice:
Use the zipper merge
The quickest, most efficient way to merge for a construction zone probably isn鈥檛 what you think it is. The 鈥渮ipper merge,鈥� in which vehicles run in parallel until one lane physically narrows, is better for traffic flow than when vehicles form a single line early.
Yes, that means the driver you cursed for 鈥渃heating鈥� by driving by you in the empty lane after you politely merged to the through-lane a half-kilometre before the construction zone was helping traffic flow more than you. Sorry.
An increasing number of provinces and U.S. states encourage drivers to use the zipper merge. Some even created flashing signs showing how and where to merge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to merge smoothly not to make sudden lane changes,鈥� Michigan State University associate professor of urban and regional planning Teresa Qu said.
Don鈥檛 weave in traffic. It聽really doesn鈥檛 help
If you routinely jump from one lane to another to get around a slower vehicle, you save less time than you think, and are more likely to add to congestion or be involved in an accident.
David Hyde, of public radio station KUOW鈥檚 Sound Qs program, recounts a commuting comparison in Seattle鈥檚 congested traffic. The result: He arrived about a block ahead of, and way more stressed out than, the driver who stuck to a single lane.
Multiple experiments show that highway weavers might save a minute or two in an hour-plus drive. In exchange for that, every lane change can triple the likelihood of an accident, according to a study that also showed that lane聽jumpers save less time than they think and are usually wrong when they think the next lane is going faster in heavy traffic, according to research by Donald A. Redelmeier and Robert J. Tibshirani of the University of Toronto and Stanford University, respectively.
Lane changes make sense to avoid a line of slow trucks, a single drastically pokey lane pirate, an accident or other obstruction. Otherwise, leave space on the right for entering and exiting traffic and travel in the other lanes.
鈥淣obody likes to be stuck in traffic, but when you change lanes, you usually realize it鈥檚 not moving any better.鈥� MSU鈥檚 Qu said. 鈥淚f you want to arrive earlier, the best thing to do is learn the traffic pattern and leave five minutes earlier.
鈥淭raffic apps like Google Maps and Waze can also provide alternatives that help you save time.鈥�
Apple Maps still needs work, based on my experience on a couple of recent trips.
Use adaptive cruise control to end 鈥榩hantom鈥� jams
An increasingly common driver-assistance feature can reduce or eliminate the maddening traffic slowdowns in which highway traffic slows, comes to a nearly complete halt, and then resumes speed for no apparent reason.
New research by Vanderbilt University and Ford shows that using adaptive cruise control can end those 鈥減hantom鈥� traffic jams, which frequently coincide with a mild curve on a highway. The slowdowns occur when a single driver brakes, and drivers behind that vehicle overcorrect, braking more and more as the slowdown spreads.
鈥淓very time you brake in traffic, it creates more congestion with a ripple effect downstream,鈥� Qu said.
It鈥檚 not uncommon for the cars at the tail end of the phantom jam to come to a complete stop, despite the fact that nothing happened ahead of them.
Adaptive cruise control, which uses radar, automatic brakes and other systems to maintain a set distance from the vehicle ahead, reduces the phantom jams because it only applies brakes when it has to, and is less likely to over-brake than human drivers. It also helps vehicles resume speed smoothly after a slowdown. The experiment used a fleet of 36 drivers in three lanes on a closed high-speed test track.
In experiments on a closed high-speed test track at Ford鈥檚 proving grounds with adaptive cruise, or ACC, the tail car in each lane slowed by just 8 km/h, rather than coming to a complete stop when each driver braked manually.
The result was nearly as good when just one-third of the test vehicles used ACC and the drivers controlled the rest.
鈥淎daptive cruise control systems don鈥檛 get tired or distracted, they鈥檙e consistently looking at the vehicle ahead,鈥� said Kane. 鈥淧lus, they are programmed to provide more consistent distances between vehicles so they can better respond to the speed and distance of the vehicle ahead,鈥� Vanderbilt civil engineering professor Daniel Work said.
Not all ACC systems are created equal. Some are conservative and leave big gaps between vehicles. They are less suitable for heavy-traffic situations such as Ford and Vanderbilt tested.
Learn to drive smoothly through traffic circles
Traffic circles, or roundabouts, are becoming increasingly common, but most drivers don鈥檛 know the best way to use them.
The answer: Merge smoothly into the flow around the circle. Don鈥檛 stop unless there鈥檚 no gap in traffic. Traffic circles were created in Europe to reduce the number of stop signs at intersections and promote traffic flow.
Drivers already in the circle always have right of way, but you can merge into the outside lane while a car goes by in the inner lane. Some traffic circles have more than one lane. Which one you should use depends on how far around the circle you鈥檙e going. Use your turn signal to indicate when you鈥檙e ready to leave the circle.
One of the great things about traffic circles is that you can always go around again if you miss your exit or accidentally end up in the wrong lane.
鈥淒rive smoothly into the circle,鈥� MSU鈥檚 Qu said. 鈥淭hat helps you get through the intersection quickly. It鈥檚 a very efficient traffic design.鈥�
Unfortunately, traffic circles were rare when many people learned how to drive, so they鈥檙e learning on the road.
Most new drivers learn how to use traffic circles in theory, though they might not get to practice on them.
鈥淒riving tests should require understanding of roundabouts,鈥� Qu said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to the city and the 鈥� department of transportation to educate people.鈥�
