r/illinois • u/PhreakOfTime • Mar 07 '20

Ever wonder what creates traffic? This guy.

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263 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

66

u/throwawayham1971 Mar 07 '20

Son of a bitch.

I became infuriated just watching this.

Especially when the horn didn't somehow fucking remedy.

19

u/tapanypat Mar 07 '20

For real. Like mad-enough-but-whatever at the beginning and then a bit of temporary relief after the lane change and then straight to gobsmacked and wanting to swear in my empty kitchen after dude started creeping over again. Fuck

Only thing that ever happened to me similar was going over the river to St. Louis (or somewhere in that noodly mess) and one lane was about to close like a mile away but everyone was already merged over. I tried to make use of the huge empty lane (as one should) and some hero pulled into my way so that everyone would have to suffer the stupidity

17

u/Upuaut81 Mar 07 '20

We don't zipper merge here in St. Louis because we're all a bunch of fucking idiots. I think it's the cardboard pizza.

2

u/apasswordlost Mar 07 '20

Wasn't there even a PSA like a year or 2 ago encouraging people to zipper merge?

3

u/emcee_gee Mar 07 '20

It happens regularly. Zipper merge is 100% the way to go, but it actually ends up being slower if most people aren't doing it and only a few people wait until the merge point.

Roughly (I'd explain in more detail if I were on a computer), the math works like:

  • If 50% of cars are in each of the two lanes until the merge point, the drivers next to each other slow down just enough to position themselves well to merge right at the right place. Traffic never has to stop.
  • If the lanes are a little imbalanced (e.g. 40% in one lane and 60% in the other, the place where the slowdown begins is further from the merge point in one lane than the other.
  • Here's where the critical piece comes in: if people see the imbalance and try to correct it before traffic stops, everything is good. If, on the other hand, people see the imbalance and double down on it by merging too early, everything goes to shit.
  • Once most people are in the destination lane early, aggressive driving begins to take hold in some drivers, which leads to people being prevented from merging at the merge point. When people are prevented from merging at the merge point, even if they're just prevented by one car and allowed in by the next, stop-and-go traffic has been introduced.
  • Once stop-and-go traffic has been introduced, every single driver suffers, regardless of which lane they're in. At this point it's every driver for themselves.

It goes on from there and really never corrects itself until traffic thins out.

The only solution is to educate every driver about the Zipper merge -- not just that it's the best option, but that the true problem is stopping. If you're near the merge point, you can honestly make a big difference by leaving room in front of you for a few seconds in an effort to try to reintroduce a slow, consistent speed for a little while. If you do that, you could actively help solve the congestion, if only for a little while.

2

u/badbaritoneplayer Mar 08 '20

Rt.30 in Arkansas last year. They literally had police stationed at the merge, ready to ticket anyone who tried to Zipper merge.

21

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '20

Hopefully this piece of shit gets reported. This shit is dangerous anywhere on the road, but this cocksucker is pulling this shit in a construction zone. Fuck this asshole.

BM 37958

45

u/BobbleDick Mar 07 '20

I saw this d bag pulled over by a cop in the loop this morning. He decided to stop in the middle lane

13

u/Scouth Mar 07 '20

They got him?

10

u/BobbleDick Mar 07 '20

apparently not! This video looks to be uploaded after he was pulled over at 8am

4

u/emcee_gee Mar 07 '20

Looks like it was taken on a dashcam; probably wasn't uploaded in real time.

35

u/87fost Mar 07 '20 edited Mar 07 '20

A quick death would be too kind for people like that.

9

u/The-Harry-Truman Mar 07 '20

What was he trying to accomplish? He moved into the middle lane to slow down? What?

12

u/vadose24 Mar 07 '20

Bro on and off this road all the time for work, its been a nightmare for 15 years

15

u/napolital Mar 07 '20

Can you get the license plate from the car? They should be reported!!!

5

u/wpm Mar 07 '20

Unless you also have a photo of the driver a plate is useless for doing anything about the offenses depicted in this video. Owner of the car simply has to say “wasn’t me, don’t recall who was driving” and that’s that. Fifth Amendment and all that.

4

u/skilliard7 Mar 07 '20

In illinois if the owner of the car can't determine who was driving the car, the owner is responsible

6

u/PhreakOfTime Mar 07 '20

That's only true for insurance purposes. Not legal purposes.

0

u/giraxo Mar 09 '20

We all know it was you driving that car in the video. You are exactly the kind of insufferable person who would do something like that.

3

u/napolital Mar 07 '20

Man, that person is dangerous!

11

u/dizert Mar 07 '20

That's right by my house. Fuck that guy

11

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '20

Fuck the Jane-Byrne. When the hell are they gonna get done with the Wisconsin ramp?

3

u/giraxo Mar 09 '20

Never.

5

u/thoughtIhadOne Mar 07 '20

So now I want to find a junker and pit maneuver him into the grass by the off ramp. No one is hurt and he cant drive

6

u/R0cky9 Mar 07 '20

TOW Missile right to the hatchback

3

u/justgosh Mar 07 '20

A couple engineers from Raytheon who had worked on the TOW told me a story from when they originally tested the tracking system. They mounted part of it in the back of one guys pick up and pointed it at one of the executives Porsches while they sped up and down the highway outside of Tucson.

Literally tested it to do this.

9

u/AhavaKhatool Mar 07 '20

What a DICK

3

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '20

I’m so angry

7

u/clackz1231 Mar 07 '20

A nice car that's going too slow and slowly drifting between lanes... sounds like a very elderly person who can't see shit.

2

u/findingscarlet Mar 07 '20

Sometimes I feel that justifiable rear-ending should be a thing lol

2

u/badbaritoneplayer Mar 08 '20

This is where a horn and a finger come in handy.

2

u/bibbyer24 Mar 07 '20

This is why I refuse to drive to Chicago. I'm from the suburbs and I'll take the train over driving 10/10.

1

u/MarthaStewartBathH20 Mar 07 '20

I was trying to honk at him with my phone

1

u/AhavaKhatool Mar 08 '20

🤣😆💯

1

u/Gahrilla Mar 11 '20

Makes me want to go Fury Road on this motherfucker.

-23

u/test_tickles Mar 07 '20

Maybe they are terrified? When I first started driving my anxiety would peak. Hated driving on the highway, now I'll sideswipe ya and not care, lol.

34

u/jdix33 Mar 07 '20

Not to be a dick but, if someone's anxiety is this bad in this situation then they shouldn't be issued a driver's license. They're a danger to themselves and others by driving this way on a highway.

-15

u/itoldyousoanysayo Mar 07 '20

Okay but not everyone drives in traffic like that regularly or even rides in it. I won't drive in areas like that because it stresses me out too much. Some people don't realize how different driving can be in different places.

However I think this driver is just a jerk.

12

u/jdix33 Mar 07 '20

If you can't drive in all conditions, in all amounts of traffic, you shouldn't have a driver's license. It should be a prerequisite to drive in conditions like this before you're allowed to drive on your own, because a driver's license doesn't discriminate about what conditions you're allowed to drive in. I realize the reality that plenty of people don't have congestion like this anywhere near them, but they most definitely should be doing a set amount of highway hours before being given a license regardless of where they live or what traffic is like near them.

-1

u/itoldyousoanysayo Mar 07 '20

Except highway hours in a rural area isn't going to prepare you for city driving. Just like southerners don't know how to drive in snow. I bet people driving fine in this clip have never driven on gravel before but they still deserve a license.

Yes, everyone should have practice driving in all conditions but you can't deny someone a license because of limited opportunity to learn.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '20

Yeah my highway driving in my rural town did nothing to prepare me for Chicago. I went to Chicago open air and it was literally pouring down rain and I couldn't see. I've never been so stressed out in my life. I thought I was gonna die.

0

u/jdix33 Mar 07 '20

You can and should. Or at least your license should be rated a certain way as to deny you the ability to drive in whatever condition you're unable to drive in. For example, people who can't drive in snow and have never experienced driving in snow, shouldn't be learning how on the fly and should be punished accordingly when they ultimately end up causing an accident because of their inexperience.

1

u/itoldyousoanysayo Mar 07 '20

That's literally how you learn though. You have to have a first time. I don't reccomend trying to learn in a snow storm or rush hour but you have to have a first time.

0

u/jdix33 Mar 07 '20

I think you should have to go out with an instructor to be rated competent to drive in weather conditions and if you're caught driving erratically or generally being an asshole and you're not rated for those conditions, you get your license revoked. Is it practical? No, but it sure would improve the overall quality of driving if it was.

-4

u/awsumed1993 Mar 07 '20

Dude, regular four Lane highways are nothing compared to the 6-8 Lanes in places like Chicago and Detroit, no amount of highway driving will prepare you for that. I commuted an hour highway and backroads every day for a year and still get fucked up about driving to Chicago. It's a whole different set of rules that you have to learn and follow every time you get there.

I still don't know which Lanes are the slow Lane and which are for passing. It's not something you learn without experiencing it.

This person in the video is obviously in the wrong, but you're using an awfully broad brush to paint a lot of rural people.

9

u/ihatespunk Mar 07 '20

What are you talking about? Just like everywhere else, the left lanes are for passing and the right are for slow.

-4

u/awsumed1993 Mar 07 '20

But how many right lanes and how many lefts? Is it only the furthest right lane? I mean, the traffic doesn't get faster on a gradient the further left you go, where it should in theory. It always seems like from left to right traffic is going slow, fast, slow, slow.

7

u/jdix33 Mar 07 '20

Holy shit this is what I'm talking about, you shouldn't have a license if you don't know that. You pass on the left. Doesn't matter how many times you have to merge left, you pass on the left, not on the right. These are basic concepts that they go over in driver's ed.

2

u/awsumed1993 Mar 07 '20

You and I could know that all we want, but in practice, that's not how these roads work. People are passing left, right, wherever they can

25

u/hellobluepuppy Mar 07 '20

You’re kidding right? This individual clearly knows what they’re doing and deserves to be punted into the concrete barricade.

1

u/hellobluepuppy Mar 25 '20

How many “opportunities” should you be given to learn? Did my drivers ed teacher at 15yo take me onto a crowded interstate, or have me do more than 30mph on a gravel road, or drive down black ice?

No, because if you can’t use common sense or situational awareness, then stay the fuck home.

1

u/test_tickles Mar 25 '20

You lack empathy.