1 day ago
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Everyone knows that feeling: you're sitting in traffic waiting to make a turn, only to get closer to the intersection and someone jumps in front of you.
Or perhaps you can see that cars are parked on the road up ahead, so you decide to jump in the right lane, only for people to pass you on the left and merge.
The user wrote, "I am sick and tired of seeing entitled drivers refuse to wait in line and instead just drive up to the last possible moment and bully their way in. Too many drivers willingly let these people in, which just means they will do it again.
"It pushes everyone back and rewards the selfish, entitled drivers who believe their time is more important than everyone else."
The comments were mostly in agreement with the original poster, with a lot of people sharing their frustrations.
"Loser behaviour," simply wrote one user.
"Honestly, the majority of these situations, including the picture you posted, is more likely people being unfamiliar with the street, and not knowing that they had to get in that lane/queue several blocks back from their actual turn," rebutted another.
"The bigger issue is they are stopping on free-flowing lanes. That is ridiculously dangerous," a user offered.
But do these people cause traffic, or are you part of the problem by not letting them in?
Does jumping the queue cause more traffic?
There are two types of 'queue jumpers': ones that utilise the left lane until it ends or is blocked by a parked car, and people who jump the queue by using the right lane before darting into a turning left lane.
Where a lane is ending or there is a car parked in the left lane, European countries are taught to utilise both lanes and do something called a 'zipper merge' because it stops traffic from being backed up and essentially splits it in two.
However, in Australia, it has become the social norm to change lanes as soon as possible when you see a merge up ahead.
The Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) conducted research on the zipper merge and found that it effectively reduced congestion by 50 per cent.
"While this goes against the grain of what we like to do as drivers, the zipper merge allows both lanes to be used to their full capacity. With a little extra courtesy, we could greatly reduce the length of traffic jams, decrease travel times and increase safety," wrote Kevin Lacy, a traffic engineer at the ITRE.
Even the video above shows a complex traffic simulation that reduces queue length and time by 50 per cent.
However, there is another type of queue jumper, the one the Reddit poster is using as an example. It's the person who is leaving a lane that isn't ending, potentially blocking the flow of traffic.
Fundamentally, this type of queue jumper does cause more traffic. If you've ever reached the end of a traffic jam and thought, 'Why was the traffic so bad? There's nothing here', it's the same theory as when people jump the queue.
It comes from the queuing traffic not being prepared for the entrance of another car, which causes a ripple effect by disrupting the traffic flow (see video below) that eventually puts the traffic at a standstill.
"From their perspective, queue-jumping can improve their driving conditions by reducing travel delays and shortening travel times.
"However, for the whole traffic system, queue-jumping can disturb the order of traffic operation, slow down the traffic evacuation speed at bottlenecks, make congested nodes more complex and become the key factor hindering smooth traffic flow.
"In addition, when drivers jump queues, they face collision risks with other vehicles in the adjacent lanes and can even cause traffic accidents. In short, although queue-jumping can improve their driving conditions, this behaviour has negative impacts on the driving safety and efficiency of the whole traffic system."
However, it's a seemingly no-win situation for either. If you don't let the queue jumper in, you're causing congestion in another lane and possibly even more in yours as the driver attempts to butt in, but if you do let them in, it is a little more congestion for your lane.
But it does need to be remembered that if the left lane is coming to an end and you allow people to zipper merge, it is a win-win situation for everyone.
Is it illegal to jump the traffic queue?
There is no specific law that makes it illegal to jump the queue in traffic. However, there are a few laws that you must adhere to if you do it.
You cannot cross over a solid line when changing lanes, which a lot of turning lanes do have. Doing this will score you a $263 fine, two demerit points in NSW, and up to $385 and two demerits in Victoria.
You could also be charged with obstructing traffic if you come to a standstill to jump in the queue, which carries a fine of $272 in NSW, $161 in QLD, and $395 in Victoria.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
