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The first video I want to cover is the one labeled Zipper Merge. The highlight of this footage is a car driver failing to alternate, left, right, left, while merging from 2 lanes down to 1 lane. What happens next is infuriating, and though we don't know the outcome, it goes to show the temperament of some (not all) motorcyclists. I myself have never heard of the terminology zipper merge, but I like it! It's common road rules to follow. I always follow the rule, and let others in, but I expect drivers to be courteous in return and not leave a huge gap. Watch the video and let's hear what you think.
Watch the Video
My Breakdown of Zipper Merge Video
- The motorcyclist has road rage - I can't count on one hand the number of times this rule isn't followed on a car vs car situation during my daily commute. If any of the cars were to have gotten in the face of the offending driver, it would be a classic case of road rage. At some point, just get over it!
- The motorcyclist left a lot of space between himself and the truck during the zipper merge. That doesn't give the car driver an excuse to cut in, but part of the common courtesy during a zipper merge is to speed up to optimize the merge for other drivers behind you. It's difficult to tell if the motorcyclists attempted to speed up when he saw the car trying to overtake him.
- When the motorcyclist speeds up to verbally accost the driver is when the road rage is the full swing. Slowing down traffic to try and flag down the cop is additional examples of more intense road rage. He almost brings traffic down to a complete stop during the process which in itself is a danger to drivers behind him.
- Cops decision to pull over is driver is fine based on what the motorcyclist told him. "She tried to run me off the road at the merge". Not really buddy. But I hope after reviewing the video that the driver did not get a ticket. It sucks that the driver was inconvenienced with the pull over.
Final Thoughts
The driver should have slowed down to let the motorcyclist in, but the motorcyclist clearly made the situation worst by yelling and making a big fuss of the situation. The fact of the matter is this happens everyday between cars and other cars. The video or the description doesn't give any hint to the outcome of the video, but my hope is that the driver didn't get a ticket. If anything, the motorcyclist should get a warning for unnecessarily blocking traffic to flag down a cop car. This is a classic case of road rage, and we see the one-sided viewpoint of the motorcyclist who has the video recording.