Merging late? Alberta Motor Association says you're not a jerk

You may call him a jerk, shoot him a dirty look or even raise your hand in the universal symbol for derision. But Jeff Kasbrick of the Alberta Motor Association doesn't care.

He's trying to get Canadian drivers to end a long standing driving taboo.

You're on a two-lane road, which narrows to one up ahead. Like any responsible driver would do, you join the long line waiting patiently like good Canadians on the lane that keeps going.

Then you see someone like Kasbrick zoom past the line-up and throw their blinker on, demanding to merge, just as the lane ends.

So how does he justify this behavior? Kasbrick calls it the "zipper merge" and he spoke with As It Happens guest host Helen Mann to explain the science behind the controversial manoeuvre. Here is part of their conversation.

Helen Mann: Jeff Kasbrick, what is the zipper merge?

Jeff Kasbrick: A zipper merge is everything about making sure that we are maximizing both lanes as we approach a merge point. So as you are looking ahead on the road and you see a lane that is about ready to be closed off, we're wanting to use both lanes. But then the key is this: once you get to that merge point, drivers are being courteous to one another and we're alternating lanes in who is able to get through. What it essentially creates is the teeth of a zipper, coming together, one side after another, and a smooth process of merging.

HM: So don't the vast majority of people, when they see that traffic is going to be narrowing down to one or two lanes, they move over right away?

JK: You're absolutely right. This is a bit counter-intuitive from what it is that we know and from what many of us actually do. You see a lane that is closing ahead and you want to get out of that lane and stay in the lane that you know is staying open. However, merging areas are actually designed to utilize and maximize both lanes. If you are able to do that, you do create a bit of a sequencing and not as many changes in speed that we sometimes see at merge points. What we actually have seen from some of the research is, if we are able to do this right, it can actually reduce congestion at certain bottleneck points to up to 40 per cent, which is pretty substantial.

HM: So you're telling me that that person that waits until the very last minute to get in is not a total jerk?

JK: [Laughs] Well, you know we've all been there, haven't we? There are two camps of people. There are those that line up right away. They are being very patient and perhaps they are muttering underneath their breath to the driver that's whizzing by in the other lane. Or there are some people that we see who are maybe hanging their head in shame or they are guilt-ridden because they're going to the front of the line.

JK: But what we actually know from some of the traffic research is that, if we utilize both lanes and we're doing it right and we're also courteous as drivers to one another, ultimately, we'll all be able to get to our destination a little bit quicker. At the end of the day, for most of us, driving is a daily activity that we invest a lot of time in our lives towards. So isn't it right for us to always be open to new ideas and to always be committed to refreshing our driver knowledge and skill along the way?

HM: You're an idealist.

JK: There is a little bit of idealism into this, I absolutely recognize that. Driving is a such a behavioural thing and so it's this tension point between theory of driving and what we actually see sometimes in practice. But by having some of these conversations, being open to new concepts, don't we all want to move toward a little more idealism?