Today I learned how to merge

For the last couple of weeks, I've been hitting a traffic jam at State Highway 114 and Wingren in Irving.  Traffic merges from two lanes to one because of construction, and the merge creates the backup.

Granted, I go to work after rush hour, so I don't get the worst of any backups.

Still, sitting in the backup for a few minutes reminded me of something I read in Traffic:  Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What it Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt. 

It's a great read for anyone who spends time in traffic, but I specifically remembered the Prologue, "Why I Became a Late Merger (and Why You Should Too).

For most of my life, when I've approached a lane closure, I've moved into the proper lane as soon as possible, before traffic started backing up.  My thought was, if everyone did what I did, no one would have to stop and we'd all move through the merge more quickly.  Not being the type to throw a one-digit salute, I would look at those late mergers annoyingly, thinking they were slowing everyone down.

Vanderbilt says I'm wrong, for two reasons.

   (1) Merging late makes more efficient use of the road by using the lane that's closing as long as possible.  (Whatever)

   (2) If everyone waits to merge at the last minute, it reduces the number of merge points.  The research says every merge point
        increase the risk of a crash.  And every time a driver changes lanes, everyone behind him or her in the new lane has to slow down.

So today I tried it.

I stayed in my lane all the way to the forced merge point (along with many other drivers).  I felt like a first-grader trying to cut in line in the cafeteria.  I thought drivers might even make it hard for me to merge.

But they weren't.  Drivers in the other lane were letting us in, one at a time.  No one-digit salutes.  I gave a friendly wave to the driver who let me in.  And we all got through a little faster.