Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Townline Road

[Rainrider22]

Agreed.  Ever seen the drivers that straddle the line to prevent other cars from (seemingly) budding ahead in line?  If there is a lane of traffic to be used, don't obstruct it.  You're making it worse.

The only thing I would say is that at some point, the lanes need to equalize speeds. Otherwise you end up with one lane going quickly right through into the narrow section, while the other one is much slower as it tries to merge into the faster lane. In the limiting case the fast lane is at full highway speed while the slow lane is stopped. Then every so often somebody will try to switch from the slow lane to the fast lane, requiring quick acceleration and leading to risk of a collision.

Instead, people in the lane that would be faster should pick a “buddy” next to them in the slow lane and stay next to that person. Then the two lanes can smoothly zipper together. The switch from just taking the speed of ones current lane to matching speed with the other lane can happen gradually, with a smooth shift from just following the car in front to limiting oneself to slightly faster than the adjacent car to matching speeds exactly.

This is the only stable solution of which I am aware to the merging problem. If everybody merges early, then as others have pointed out, what is the other lane for? And if everybody aggressively takes “their” spot right to the merge point, you get unstable and dangerous traffic flow. As is often the case, the two “sides” of the “debate” are both wrong.

You are very correct.  The issue is what we call speed differential.  When you are passing on the outside or inside, limit your speed to a max of 15 km/h of the moving traffic.  This will allow people to see you coming in their mirrors. It also discourages dangerous movements from others because they become frustrated with what they perceive as people jumping the cue (which they are not, they are legally using available lane to drive in).  Once they are near the point of merge, then yes, pick a "buddy" and slowly zipper effect in.  The line of traffic should be speeding up onto the highway, not slowing down.  This is what causes the collisions.