Traffic jams: What’s up with that?
Do you also sometimes wonder about the mystery behind traffic jams? Or do you just accept traffic jams as part of life? Either way, it’s still a baffling phenomena that exists out of nothing – like can the car at the beginning of the jam not drive faster? Will the jam then cease to be? Will we ever know? It seems like the more roads they build, the more cars people buy – because the traffic jams never get less. How can this be?
Luckily, a team of scientists and mathematicians took it upon themselves to solve this mesmerising mystery, and finally we have some answers. And, it might actually not be what you think, it’s not the snow, the rain or the accident that necessarily cause these traffic jams – sadly it’s the drivers’ fault and their way of driving for creating slow traffic flow or even jam it completely for longer periods.
Why? With enough cars on a highway it takes only a minor disruption to slow traffic down and create a chain reaction that builds up and becomes a wave of high vehicle density, which usually results in a jam. So yes, if only one person breaks abruptly, it can cause a traffic jam instead of a healthy traffic flow of a regular speed.
It sort of goes like this as Auto Evolution briefly explains:
-There’s a bunch of relatively similarly distanced cars going at the same speed.
-One of them needs to brake because of a road irregularity or some stupid thing someone did up front.
-Braking will force each of the other cars behind to slow down as well.
-Some drivers could overreact and brake even harder, not understanding why everyone upfront does it and wanting to be safe.
-The others behind will think the same and eventually this will lead to a full stop on a certain segment.
-Drivers up front will realise there’s nothing to be afraid of and will slowly start driving away.
-Some might even change lanes thinking there could be an accident somewhere, slowing everything down again and again.
Therefore, traffic can be deduced as cars standing in line for absolutely nothing due to one person braking creating a massive braking wave behind them.
You can see it happening in this video by Japanese researchers with only 22 cars and their drivers being instructed to maintain the same distance between cars.
Traffic jams can however be avoided. An expert explains, ‘If people anticipate higher traffic densities ahead and take their feet off the gas earlier and leave more room in front of them — instead of waiting until they have to brake — that can prevent traffic jams from arising.’
Will this ever work? Probably not as it all depends on discipline and good driving skills, and we all know most people lack at least one of those. Maybe when cars are replaced with self-driving cars, then we will have no traffic jams.