Is Michigan Too Polite To Zipper Merge?

Despite the best efforts of local media to explain the rules of zipper merging, we just can't seem to do it. Are we too polite, or too rude?

Every day I watch as the back up through the construction zone on Eastbound I-96 creeps all the way to Three Mile Road and think 'it doesn't have to be this way.'

As explained on these pages last week, the zipper merge is the most efficient way to handle a one lane squeeze, but as this guy posted on the Reddit Grand Rapids page, we just can't seem to handle it.

I passed a 1+ mile line of cars in the right lane on I-96E headed toward the belt line this morning.

No cars in the right lane, everyone just stacked up in the left lane.

And then people in the left lane got upset that they were being passed by people who were following the zipper merge signs, so they decided to block the right lane. SMH

The commenters seemed to agree, the zipper merge is the most efficient way to merge, but Michiganders will not only not do that, they'll try and STOP you from doing it.

One of the most infuriating things about driver's in Michigan as a whole. Especially the people who try to stop it from happening. Once had a semi truck try to run me off of 131 Southbound (40 miles north of GR) for simply being efficient.

And then there's this:

I was traveling in the left lane passing the line of cars on 6 when a car merged into my lane just to slow me down I almost crashed into the back of him., and then I saw a semi behind me going the same speed as the truck next to them . keeping people from passing on the left.

There's a name for them -- 'traffic lane vigilantes':

Nothing more annoying than a traffic merge vigilante. Had a guy in a huge truck block me from using the shoulder to get to the exit right up ahead because he thought I was trying to cut the line on everyone. I was just trying to get to the exit. It literally wouldn't have effected him in any way. Kept swerving and nearly hit me trying to block me. These assholes cause people in emergency situations to die, quite literally.

Are we just not 'talented' enough to pull it off? This guy feels the 'one lane until the merge' method is better because we're all too stupid:

"Why not zipper merge? Why not zipper merge?" No one disputes how well zipper-merging works in that cute little cartoon we often see. It's like a offensive play in football: works perfectly on paper, but in reality it's a completely different story.

The level of talent needed to pull-off zipper-merging (among thousands of drivers) as we see in those nifty cartoons is virtually impossible in real life. 80% of the drivers on the road struggle to simply drive. You expect them to be able to zipper-merge at a decent amount of speed? Which is the only way it works, by the way. If not, you are right back to a bottle neck. And once you are resigned to a bottle neck, yes, you are a jackass if everyone has aligned themselves in one lane and you come screaming by in the other. You don't think WE can see it's open too? Selfish drivers are the worst

By the looks of things, we're not too polite to zipper merge, we're to rude to allow anyone to zipper merge.

Lighten up, people, construction season is a long time to be unhappy.