COON RAPIDS, Minn — The State Patrol says a driver caught on camera aggressively engaging another motorist attempting to zipper merge has been ticketed for his role in causing a crash.
A MnDOT traffic camera caught the incident as it unfolded on Highway 10 in Coon Rapids last Monday. The clip shows a motorist attempting to use the far left lane to drive to the construction zone merge point - as state public safety officials urge - only to be purposely cut off by the driver of a Ford F-150 who purposely intrudes in the car's lane. The pickup driver appears to nudge the other motorist, whose vehicle then careens into the cable median.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident.
State Patrol spokesperson Lt. Gordon Shank tells KARE 11 that after investigating the crash the 41-year-old Circle Pines man was ticketed for unsafe lane usage, not having a valid Minnesota driver's license and not having insurance on the vehicle, which is required by law.
The MnDOT clip ignited a firestorm on social media, with most posters sitting squarely in the camp of the person attempting the zipper merge... which safety officials call a safer, faster way to navigate and pass through construction zone traffic.
"This is not a late merge, it is a zipper merge," wrote John Kriesel on Twitter. Knuckleheads who stop traffic to merge a half mile before the lane closure make traffic worse. I hope the pickup driver who caused this crash served jail time."
"Stop doing this, you psychos," added Matt DeLong.
While steering away from inflammatory rhetoric, MnDOT spokesperson Anne Meyer told KARE 11's Kent Erdahl that using the zipper merge is the best solution to the unpopular but necessary practice of construction-related lane closures.
"We have found that utilizing all the space, both lanes, going into a work zone, to that merge point, really gets more traffic through that situation, and it's safer," said MnDOT spokesperson Anne Meyer. "We're reducing the length of that backup, so you're not blocking other exit ramps. Plus, you're reducing speeds on both sides, both lanes, so you don't have a very fast-moving left lane, trying to move in quickly at greater speeds."
Despite that evidence, Meyer acknowledges that achieving those reduced speeds and smooth, faster merge also requires buy-in from drivers in both lanes.
"Everyone has to work together for the zipper merge to be successful and to be safe," she said.
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