DENVER — Why is it so hard for drivers in Colorado to zipper merge?
Perhaps because it is not spelled out in the Colorado Driver Handbook.
That is the handbook that drivers are supposed to study before taking a driver’s test and getting a license in Colorado.
“It does talk about merging, but I don't think it specifically mentions the zipper merge,” driving instructor Jake Dinwiddie said.
As a senior lead instructor for DriveSafe Driving School in Highlands Ranch, Dinwiddie teaches the zipper merge to students, even if it's not in the handbook.
“It's a technique that we want people to use while merging that is, unfortunately, not super popular yet,” Dinwiddie said. “A lot of people think they're doing it wrong, even though they're doing it correctly.”
On northbound Speer Boulevard and Wewatta Street, bridge rehab work has traffic reduced two lanes, and one week after our first story on zipper merging, drivers are still leaving the lane open a block before the lane closes.
“There's the people that move over quickly, thinking they're being polite, but in reality, that's actually causing more congestion,” Dinwiddie said. “I've seen some research saying it can reduce congestion by 40%.”
Metropolitan State University of Denver Professor Steve Long cited the same statistic while trying to encourage drivers to use the entire lane before it closes.
“If we could fill up both lanes and then, at one single point, continually right lane, left lane, right, you could actually keep the whole flow moving,” Long said.
“If you jump into a gap that you weren't supposed to go to, everybody’s now lost track. What car should have been where? Who was supposed to let who in? You're creating all this additional slowdown and you're just not maximizing lane usage,” Dinwiddie said.
Dinwiddie teaches soon-to-be drivers the difference between a regular merge and zipper merge.
“If you're merging onto a highway and traffic speed is flowing at the normal rate that it should be, and there is the ability to merge over earlier, that's totally fine,” Dinwiddie said. “It's really when congestion is heavier, maximizing both lanes and going one, one, one, one.”
While Colorado does not currently teach the zipper merge in its driver handbook, ‘Z as in Zip’ is taught in ‘Z as in New Zealand.’
“Merge Like a Zip” is a message promoted by road safety authorities in New Zealand for decades, according to a spokesman for the New Zealand Transportation Agency.
"Drivers using the right lane aren't cheating or queue jumping. They're actually helping everyone by using all the capacity on the road and not causing congestion further back,” a social media message explains. “Left lane, right lane, left lane, right lane, that's ‘merging like a zip.’”
“I just had another one of my drivers come back from a trip to New Zealand and he got me one of their driving handbooks from there and he said, ‘you need to read through this,’” Dinwiddie said.
The Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles accepts feedback and suggestions for the Colorado Driver Handbook.
Submit your request feedback and suggestions to dor_decs@state.co.us
“The reason there's a stigma behind it is because there's a lack of understanding. And if we can get everybody to buy into this process, everybody will start reaping the rewards of doing it properly,” Dinwiddie said.
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