Tips for Driving in Orlando, they might save you from a accident or save your life.

I agree that zipper merging is the best option, but unfortunately, Americans mostly are not aware of that. We are a nation that values the concept of waiting your place in line, so it is going to take a LOT of education to change the attitude that not merging as early as you can equals "cutting in line". We are conditioned to block people who try to cut into lines, and that goes double in the little power bubble of your own automobile. The first thing that should happen is that this question should be on every driver license test, and we also need signage, LOTS of signage. It would also help if GPS apps were programmed to remind drivers to zipper merge at lane closures, perhaps when highway speed drops below 40 mph.

The other thing I would remind Orlando drivers to do is to use the "brake tap" method when you see traffic slowing down ahead of you. Tapping your brake as you slow down causes your brake lights to flash, which is more likely to get the attention of the driver behind you. I find it super-important to do this on roads in the tourist areas of Orlando and on I-4, because there are so many distracted drivers there. It's good to avoid getting rear-ended!

Oh, and if you miss an exit on I-4, beware of the exits near Universal; they are not a good place to try to turn around. Very confusing area with restricted on-off access.
 
Sorry, not going to buy a $15 book to get the information. What/how are they judging "improvement"?

Who's telling you to buy the book? Certainly not me. When I quote something, I always provide the source. That's what I did here. The link is just there to prove I wasn't making stuff up.

By all means, feel free to disregard my source-based opinion. That's certainly your prerogative.
 
Who's telling you to buy the book? Certainly not me. When I quote something, I always provide the source. That's what I did here. The link is just there to prove I wasn't making stuff up.

By all means, feel free to disregard my source-based opinion. That's certainly your prerogative.
I think you misread my tone. I'm just trying to say I'm not going to buy the book, but I am curious on what they define as "improvement". Since you're the one with the source, I asked you.
 
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 are smart, safe-driving tips anywhere, even without millions of visitors. Four is, of course, specific to Central Florida :).

But I have to disagree with this one. Traffic flow works best when drivers use all available lanes and alternate at the merge point.

I agree that using this method does work when everyone is on the same page......and its a nice thought that people will take turns... Honestly that's not gonna happen... everyone wants to get into the parks, for a multitude of reasons, running late for Rope Drop, ADR's, or whatever... I'm on vacation and I should not have to sit in traffic thought process...coupled with Local's trying to get to and from work, home, school and just living their life.

... its really a matter of okay I see the signs let start getting over.... or nope I'm entitled and I'm not going to take turns... I'm gonna zoom down this outside lane and force my way in... that will teach them... only to have an accident and cause more back ups...
 


I agree that zipper merging is the best option, but unfortunately, Americans mostly are not aware of that. We are a nation that values the concept of waiting your place in line, so it is going to take a LOT of education to change the attitude that not merging as early as you can equals "cutting in line". We are conditioned to block people who try to cut into lines, and that goes double in the little power bubble of your own automobile. The first thing that should happen is that this question should be on every driver license test, and we also need signage, LOTS of signage. It would also help if GPS apps were programmed to remind drivers to zipper merge at lane closures, perhaps when highway speed drops below 40 mph.

The other thing I would remind Orlando drivers to do is to use the "brake tap" method when you see traffic slowing down ahead of you. Tapping your brake as you slow down causes your brake lights to flash, which is more likely to get the attention of the driver behind you. I find it super-important to do this on roads in the tourist areas of Orlando and on I-4, because there are so many distracted drivers there. It's good to avoid getting rear-ended!

Oh, and if you miss an exit on I-4, beware of the exits near Universal; they are not a good place to try to turn around. Very confusing area with restricted on-off access.
My dad taught me to drive back in the 60's. It was an interesting experience....one time he took me to a dirt parking lot and told me to drop it into third and step on it. Well, that little MGB fishtailed all over the place. His words? Guess you'll never oversteer again! And he was right. So, when he taught me that when merging every one lets one person so, so it's nicely staggered, and no one gets all bent out of shape, I stayed with that advice. However, my drivers ed instructer wasn't a huge proponent of that type of merge...he informed us that we had to sit and wait for a break in traffic. Now, I'm not talking about merging onto the highway, I'm talking about a lane drop. I've always found that works quite nicely. When merging onto the highway, he taught me to get as close as I could to the speed the highway drivers were driving at and merge then. I still merge at about 50 mph!!! I refuse to sit and wait for an opening, at the end of an entrance ramp onto the highway. Great way to get killed or at best, rear ended!!!

My biggest issue driving in Florida?? Turn signals and quick stops at red lights. I've found myself not using my directionals when I get home after a week of driving in Florida!!! And at traffic lights, I've been flipped off, honked at, screamed at. Why? I see it turn yellow, from a distance, and I start slowing down. Or, if it's already red, I start slowing down when I see it. My step-sister is a Broward Cty Deputy Sheriff...she says it's because everything is so darn straight and flat in Florida. No one needs to start slowing down when they see a light turn because it's actually further away than it looks, and locals realize this. She told me there are tons of accidents, many more so than up here in Mass, from drivers screaming up to red lights and changing lanes with no directional.
 
I think you misread my tone. I'm just trying to say I'm not going to buy the book, but I am curious on what they define as "improvement". Since you're the one with the source, I asked you.

The quote was "a 15 percent improvement in traffic flow". So, you're looking for the definition of traffic flow?

Traffic flow is the number of vehicles passing a point, usually measured in number of vehicles per hour.

Flow rates are collected directly through point measurements, and by definition require measurement over time. They cannot be estimated from a single snapshot of a length of road. Flow rates and time headways are related to each other as follows. Flow rate, q, is the number of vehicles counted, divided by the elapsed time, T:
q = N/T
Definition from the Special Report on Traffic Flow Theory (2-5) from the Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology website (part of the US Department of Transportation): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/tft/chap2.pdf
 
Local here...

The weather changing and summer is coming... So that means schools will be out soon, and the summer vacation season is starting ... Along with that there are people coming from all over the world...and they all drive different... take time to know what our traffic rules are...

1) Put your phone down.... can't be anymore simpler than that... If you need directions, bring a GPS with you so that you can find your way around. No text is worth your life or someone else's.

2) Missing the exit is not a big deal, just go to the next one and exit off... don't drive across 3 lanes of traffic or slam on brakes, or back up on the interstate... just don't do it... the GPS will recalculate...there are lots back way around... and several entrance's into the parks, and other sites

3) Check your on and off ramps, make sure you are going in the right direction...we have had people killed going the wrong way on a exit ramp.

4) I-4 is under construction constantly... so be aware of where you are going...road changes, closed exits and such...

5) This one is very important.... Do not pull out in front of or cut off someone hauling anything... Boats, 4 wheelers, sea doo's/jet ski's, campers, or airboat... They can not stop as fast with all the added weight in the back... I know what your saying I don't want to get behind them... well this is Florida, and just part of it... it's really not worth your life or someone else life, just because you don't want to get behind them...

6) Which brings me to Semi's, Box trucks, work trailers full of equipment, flat beds hauling large equipment... don't do it...don't pull out in front of them, or cut them off...I can't tell you how many times I have seen a car under or what's left of a car under a semi... its heart breaking to think of that family...

7) This is a pet peeve... when you see the one lane is ending and merging into the next... go ahead get over... don't go racing down to the end and then try to force your way.... in you are not entitled... Most locals will not let you in... also do not block the intersections... just because you don't want to wait out another light...

8) Stop signs, Red-lights, are not a suggestion... they are the law... STOP... no rolling through them... STOP

9) There are around a million tourist in our area daily, a lot of them walking around.... watch out for them...

10) This one is something that the whole world knows... but people come here and think that this rule/law doesn't apply.... so don't come on vacation and leave on probation... Do Not drink and drive here... Uber, Lyft, & Cab's are everywhere...

Come and enjoy all we have to offer... But please do it safely.

Please share your tips ... Pixie dust awaypixiedust:

Other than your point #9, basic rules of the road in my neck of the woods & majority of US i’d hope. Driving 101 but good to see a cheat sheet posted for those non-US drivers.

Let me chime in if you are renting a car, please...take the time to familiarize yourself with it...find the wipers, lights, etc. before you leave the parking garage vs when hurtling down 417 when it’s easy to veer out of your lane when distracted.
 


Let me chime in if you are renting a car, please...take the time to familiarize yourself with it...find the wipers, lights, etc. before you leave the parking garage vs when hurtling down 417 when it’s easy to veer out of your lane when distracted.

Very good suggestion.

Plus, don't assume your rental car will respond in the same manner as your car back home. It's easy to misjudge how quickly a rental car will accelerate when step on the gas pedal.
 
The quote was "a 15 percent improvement in traffic flow". So, you're looking for the definition of traffic flow?

Even if the improvement was 1 - 2% that is probably significant enough to push the concept since the cost is very low as opposed to widening the freeway which should always be the last resort.
 
There is a Disney term to describe continuing down a sparsely occupied lane that is about to end and merge in the distance while overtaking a queue of cars in the next lane, which will participate in the merge. The term is "Fill in all available space."

Yes there are guests at Disney who queue up in the middle of a room near closed doors to the next room (e.g. just inside the entrance to Haunted Mansion, at the not yet open door to enter the stretching room) and get upset after a CM makes that announcement "FIAAS" and then hordes of others come up into the empty space on both sides.
 
The quote was "a 15 percent improvement in traffic flow". So, you're looking for the definition of traffic flow?

Traffic flow is the number of vehicles passing a point, usually measured in number of vehicles per hour.

Flow rates are collected directly through point measurements, and by definition require measurement over time. They cannot be estimated from a single snapshot of a length of road. Flow rates and time headways are related to each other as follows. Flow rate, q, is the number of vehicles counted, divided by the elapsed time, T:
q = N/T
Definition from the Special Report on Traffic Flow Theory (2-5) from the Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology website (part of the US Department of Transportation): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/tft/chap2.pdf
Does the 15% improvement require everyone to follow the "proper" method? So if 1-2 drivers don't follow it (and it will be more than that), what happens to the improvement? Did the study take into account semi trucks, RVs, trucks with trailers, etc?

I'd love to see a practical, real world test of two lanes merging into one on a multi lane road. Do it once as "however you want to merge" and once as the zipper method.
 
Does the 15% improvement require everyone to follow the "proper" method? So if 1-2 drivers don't follow it (and it will be more than that), what happens to the improvement? Did the study take into account semi trucks, RVs, trucks with trailers, etc?

I'd love to see a practical, real world test of two lanes merging into one on a multi lane road. Do it once as "however you want to merge" and once as the zipper method.

Since this was a real-world situation, I'm 100% certain that drivers all didn't do things perfectly. I'm also certain that it involved every type of vehicle. You can't force drivers on real roads to do things in a certain manner. Honestly, you wouldn't even need to do that because you can do that with computer modeling.

If you want to find research on this topic, I'm sure it's out there. Unfortunately, I can't help you find it because it's not anything directly related to what I study. I'm using traffic within a metropolitan area as a qualifying factor to my topic. I'm more concerned with overall traffic and not individual roads. (i.e. Less traffic in a metro area means people have better access to community resources.) I only remembered this topic because it was a chapter in one of the books I'm using for a different reason.
 
Local here...

2) Missing the exit is not a big deal, just go to the next one and exit off... don't drive across 3 lanes of traffic or slam on brakes, or back up on the interstate... just don't do it... the GPS will recalculate...there are lots back way around... and several entrance's into the parks, and other sites

I think most people already know this, but I've been surprised over the years to find many that don't.

When you see an overhead sign giving notice of an upcoming exit, you will often see a small offset sign at the top and if that's offset to the left (like the example below) then the exit will be to the left, and if the offset is to the right (the most common) then the upcoming exit will be to the right.

Highway-Sign.png
 
Agree on all of them except this... Sure when traffic is moving at the speed limit merging at the last second isn't a good idea. During periods of heavy traffic you absolutely should use all of the available space and everyone should zipper merge at the last second. This reduces the length of the backups and reduces accidents.

Except when the zipper merge is on an incline and the heavy vehicles cannot get up enough speed. The people trying to do the right thing are left stranded as one yahoo after another thinks they are the cat's meow cutting over at the last second. I was pulled over by the State police recently for blocking the other lane - we were never going to move as one after another veered in front of the semis stacked in the only lane at the last second. My husband was bleeding and we were veritably going to the hospital so no ticket - but the zipper was a bad idea. Funny thing - DH is a civil engineer who knows all about traffic. Not the place for a zipper.
 
I think most people already know this, but I've been surprised over the years to find many that don't.

When you see an overhead sign giving notice of an upcoming exit, you will often see a small offset sign at the top and if that's offset to the left (like the example below) then the exit will be to the left, and if the offset is to the right (the most common) then the upcoming exit will be to the right.

Highway-Sign.png

Oh yes! And if it is a MILE away - there is no need to slam on the brakes to get in the left lane.
 
Since this was a real-world situation, I'm 100% certain that drivers all didn't do things perfectly. I'm also certain that it involved every type of vehicle. You can't force drivers on real roads to do things in a certain manner. Honestly, you wouldn't even need to do that because you can do that with computer modeling.

If you want to find research on this topic, I'm sure it's out there. Unfortunately, I can't help you find it because it's not anything directly related to what I study. I'm using traffic within a metropolitan area as a qualifying factor to my topic. I'm more concerned with overall traffic and not individual roads. (i.e. Less traffic in a metro area means people have better access to community resources.) I only remembered this topic because it was a chapter in one of the books I'm using for a different reason.

DH is a P.E. in this area - he hates the zipper.
 
Two suggestions from your friendly Uber driver:

  1. A LOT of people use Google Maps or Waze as their GPS...and that's fine. But use it the same way. MOUNT it so that you don't have to be constantly looking down into your lap to see where you are going. You can buy very good phone mounts in numerous configurations at any Walmart, Best Buy, Target or online. They are cheap! Get one -- or don't use your phone as a GPS. (incidentally, Uber's Driver App can sense if your phone is hand-held and you get a nasty-gram. If you don't change your ways, they turn you off!)
  2. Especially around WDW, there are a great many tourists. They don't know where they are. They don't know where they are going. They don't know how to get there. So don't expect them to drive normally. They won't. They can't. So give them abundant space and realize that they are driving just like you would if you were visiting their city.
And they are driving Rental cars. They don't know the wiper/light controls.
 
He may have the zipper, but it's the best way to drive in a land reduction situation.

There are differing expert opinions. One thing is for certain, there are no absolutes in traffic engineering beyond the formulas of physics. DH has his opinion and I work with a large number of traffic specialists who can debate both sides for hours.

Like rotaries (traffic circles) - all the rage right now. Work wonders in some situations; nightmare in others
 
He may have the zipper, but it's the best way to drive in a land reduction situation.

There are differing expert opinions. One thing is for certain, there are no absolutes in traffic engineering beyond the formulas of physics. DH has his opinion and I work with a large number of traffic specialists who can debate both sides for hours.

Like rotaries (traffic circles) - all the rage right now. Work wonders in some situations; nightmare in others
 

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