The zip-merging system

In Belgium, the zip-merging system should be used when a lane closure results in very slow-moving traffic. What is it?

• Drivers should use the available lanes until the point of closure. (Merging hundreds of metres before the lane closure serves no purpose).
• The vehicles in each lane should travel at the same speed.
• At the point of the closure, those in the lane that is remaining open must give way in turns to the vehicles merging in.

Used correctly, the zip-merging system makes roads safer and allows traffic to flow more smoothly.