Phantom Traffic Jams

Eddie Wilson from the TRG and 'The One Show' demonstrate the formation of 'Phantom Traffic Jams'.
Footage from the BBC One Show, Series 3.

[@Artem_Petrov_RUS]

Oh, how many times have I seen this. You are stuck in a traffic jam, you see in your navigator its end in a kilometer, you expect to see some terrible accident at the end, but... everyone just suddenly starts driving at normal speed.

[@johnwiz4460]

its some asshole that can't drive. thats the moral of the story. press the right pedal and gtfo of the way.

[@XXLcze]

I happened to me. I was stuck on 3 lane highway for 20 minutes just to see that idiots were busy looking at some parked cars with cops at the end. I couldn't believe how retarded the drivers were.

[@XXLcze]

I happened to me. I was stuck on 3 lane highway for 20 minutes just to see everybody have been busy looking at some parked cars with cops at the end. I was really pissed because i was taking someone to train.

[@jackbj]

WHAT IN TARNATION IS A KILOMETER, USE FREEDOM MILES PATRIOT, YEEHAW!🫡🇺🇸🦅 *star spangled banner playing in the background*

[@lq7777]

Had this happen once in Orlando. Finally managed to get past the vehicles in front and it was empty road. A traffic jam entirely caused by one person going too slow and presumably the cars on either side matching his speed instead of driving the speed limit.

[@bigedwerd]

Did they try honking

[@a64738]

lol :) I was in a stand still traffic jam once, and got impatient and could not see what was causing it because the line was several kilometers. So I honked a few times, which is futile I did think as the car in front of you has nothing to do with it. But to my surprise the in front of me also honked, sending the honk to next car, and next car did the same and the entire cue sent the honk forward :) Right after the que started moving and we found out is was because of road work ahead. But it was really cool the cars forwarded the honk of frustration lol :)

[@TheIntJuggler]

@@a64738basically a long line of fuck yous.

[@dizzthenibbler4070]

​@@a64738 you've got mail, lol

[@Petesworkshop2225]

😊

[@StikyIckie]

Omg...😂 much underrated comment. That's made me lol out loud

[@martins4555]

And there are ways to reduce phantom jams, after they have been created. By slowing down and staying in motion as long as possible behind a traffic jam the bad stop and go can be stopped.

[@j7...]

And it helps in not getting rear ended :)

[@gerardo49078]

The problem with that is that some people change lanes abruptly and some even force their way in, causing traffic to never flow smoothly

[@edwin4362]

I'm doing my part!

[@busterscrugs]

yea that works great until someone comes up behind you doing the speed limit, slams on their brakes, and the whole chain reaction starts all over again!

[@RYNOCIRATOR_V5]

Oh hey, that's what i do!

[@rogerwilco2]

I once saw a car get on the highway and cut across three lanes of busy traffic. Everyone had to do an emergency brake behind him and three lanes of traffic were stuck 10 seconds later.

[@Kwijibob]

A small under-powered car full of morbidly obese people merged into a 65mph zone at about 35mph directly into the left lane in front of me going 70mph as a teenager and almost got me and everyone behind me in the left lane killed. During rush hour no less. Some people..

[@JB-uk7mn]

Skill issue

[@theXR228]

@@JB-uk7mn You’re either the person who cut across the highway or an eight year old

[@squatchjosh1131]

@@theXR228 You're forgetting the third and most probable scenario that he is the person that cut across the highway and also happens to be Lewis Hamilton so it's quite earned to see it as a skill issue from his perspective.

[@MollyHJohns]

​@@squatchjosh1131 public roads/highways are not the race tracks.

[@P_a_N_c_A_k_]

I love how this is just in everyone’s recommended 11 years later. See y’all again when this appears In our recommend 3 years later.

[@ar24862]

Lol.

[@c-rod512]

it’s crazy because it pops up today right after sitting in traffic for 20 minutes expecting an accident or something, come to find out someone had broken down all the way on the shoulder some people had just wanted to slow down to look at them

[@FlatRangeOperator]

was thinking about this video a few months back then it came back like ol reliable

[@allTkindaTstuff]

4 days

[@TyDurr1]

None of the people in this video are necessarily bad drivers. The test is _designed_ to cause a traffic jam. The primary issue is that they're packed too closely together (again, by design, to demonstrate that tailgating is bad). Prevent phantom traffic jams. Keep an even distance between the cars in front of and behind you. Brake gently and minimally.

[@starlight122012]

That would work if assholes didn't hog the Middle Lane of a motorway. Those are the people who create traffic jams

[@koolerstream921]

exactly. When coming to a 'jam', slow down so that you are still moving then they move... it will prevent the people behind you from experiencing the same 'jam'. You wont ever feel that difference being the driver that stops the jam. You still see the slow down. But you can make driving better for the people behind you.

[@Arverni_Ursi]

Well, you can control the distance between you and the car in front, but there's nothing you can do about the car behind.

[@mikeymcmikeface5599]

They drove too fast.

[@sausagelinksys4360]

This makes perfects sense! I have noticed that when someone DOES leave a gap, there are people that RUSH to jump in and fill the gap just to then JAM on their brakes! I just wish I had a helicopter option on my car for those times....

[@tomahawkseven]

Drivers should stop tailgating and that would solve some of the problem.

[@mysty0]

Only takes one cockhead on his motorcycle to plug the safe gap between two vehicles which forces the rear car to brake, or even a car seeing the huge gap in front of a truck and not realizing the truck needs a greater distance to stop and thats why the gap exists

[@iamsick5204]

Or nobody should go to a stand still

[@TheNipSnipper]

and slow drivers should drive faster. both equal problems. Both cause death and traffic.

[@gustlightfall]

There are so many variables in this so no, that won't solve the problem, if you make all the vehicles with the same specs and are driven by a huge complex computer system, then that might work. Only way to achieve it is if all vehicles accelerates and decelerate at the exact same time with the same amount of acceleration and deceleration which is impossible to achieve if you put in the human factor and different vehicle specifications.

[@shsuususjssnjsus8239]

Yep and waiting n g till last min to exit cut people off

[@martinschroederglst]

Great to see this in real life and not just in a computer simulation!

[@NRX25]

This is computers for old people. :D

[@lisaanimi]

Cities Skylines if it were actually good :D

[@JB-uk7mn]

See this everyday on my commute, dude…

[@elmojackson6621]

​@@JB-uk7mnYou drive to work by going on a circular path?

[@kevinkuenn5733]

I had a place of work where, whenever someone had an anniversary, they would put food out on a circular table, gather everyone together, give a brief speech and then tell us to dig in. No matter how many times they did it, no matter how many times I tried to tell everyone that lines need a beginning and an end, people would still form a closed-loop and then wonder why nobody was moving. It says a lot about the caliber of people I was working with for sure.

[@nocturnalverse5739]

You make a good point. I've never experienced that scenario, but I imagine upon discovering the solution to an annoying problem and finding yourself ignored, that it would really get under a person's skin.

[@aleshandsome3705]

You could have roundabouts with multiple entries and exits ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Yonkage-ik5qb]

In my experience, unless you continuously direct them to do otherwise, people will enter and exit from literally anywhere even on a straight table and cause chaos. Used to do catering/serving for small-medium weddings (50-150 guests) and even when we served from the buffet, people still had to be told sometimes to get in line at the end with the salad. Then you still had retards skipping the salad, getting served an entree, and then trying to *go backwards against the line* to get the salad. If it was self-serve, it was just a free-for all with less coordination than 100 pigs trying to feed from the same trough.

[@zm5668]

​@@aleshandsome3705they do, that's not the point

[@homeiswonderland]

If there's free food involved, I think our brain goes "gimme gimme gimme" and all logic goes out the window.

[@anygirl3598]

When people see a cop and suddenly everybody slows down

[@dizzthenibbler4070]

I was thinking this too. Blows my mind that people will pull over 3 lanes AND slow down to 20-30 below the speed limit for a cop that has someone pulled over

[@Petesworkshop2225]

ON THE OTHER SIDE IF A DIVIDED HIGHWAY!!

[@codyjohnson6427]

@@dizzthenibbler4070 it's happened to me before where I thought the cop was busy attending the other guy he stopped, but then he instead chased after me

[@dizzthenibbler4070]

@@codyjohnson6427 that's just poor timing, and I'm talking about people who aren't speeding already, will still slow down. Like a 65 mph and ppl will be all the way over and doing 45.

[@camward9293]

@@dizzthenibbler4070 I get the whole getting into the next lane thing, just common courtesy. But I also can't stand it when people slam on their brakes as they pass the cop. Like, are you THAT scared behind the wheel?

[@jcrazy9008]

The year is 2024 and nothing has changed

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

Still waiting on self-driving cars. I bet computers could do it better

[@longestvideoever]

They can but it taking a lot longer than we thought. Then you have to consider mass production and affordability.

[@aRennix]

​@@kamikeserpentail3778 nah I bet it would make the problem worse. More self driving cars = more cars on the road = more traffic, and inevitably traffic jams. The only real solution to traffic is better public transportation and urban planning

[@salsamancer]

It will never change unless every car is self driving. This is just human behavior.

[@HNSYV107]

@@aRennix the traffic being caused by humans not driving smootly if all the cars were self-driving, and could tell each other what they were doing, traffic jams wouldnt happen

[@antjanlosen]

You're not stuck in a traffic jam. You ARE the traffic jam.

[@tynewlin]

-Sorry boss, looks I'll be a few minutes late coming in. -Why? What's happened? -I'm a traffic jam.

[@Petesworkshop2225]

As dum as the politician that said it.

[@kameeI]

@@tynewlin💀

[@benwhite8157]

My challenge to myself in heavy traffic is to never touch my brakes. Keep a healthy following distance and release the gas when I see red in front of me. If I do it right, I’ll catch up to the car in front just as they’re starting to accelerate.

[@mikeoxhard3826]

I do the same thing, keeps driving interesting. Makes it much easier being in a standard transmission. I don’t know if i could go back to automatic at this point

[@benwhite8157]

@@mikeoxhard3826 My Mazda has fake manual shifting, so I can do a little bit of engine breaking. Wish I had a manual sometimes.

[@lilarrin1220]

and this selfish, uncooperative behavior during rush hour results in multiple people missing light cycles by sending a wave of late starts at each intersection AND limiting top speed to well below speed limit, further limiting the flow of traffic behind you

[@benwhite8157]

@@lilarrin1220 I do this on freeways; not surface streets. Hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend. I didn’t mean to get you worked up.

[@prenomnom6203]

@@lilarrin1220 you really didn't understand anything about the experiment in the video did you ?

[@calamari2254]

shout out to the black car on the top right for having a reaction time so slow it causes everything

[@TEXAS2459]

This is actually a great illustration And jus realized its 11 yrs old too. Woow.

[@ottotater2787]

45 years ago they showed us videos that were exactly like this back when they were all on film strip, before VHS or any of that replaced eall of it, we saw lots of these examples in class. They were all pretty much the same and hasn't changed over the years. Japan had the best videos on the subject and the best studies that I saw.

[@TEXAS2459]

@@ottotater2787 wow. Fascinating

[@driftofair9691]

The rise of US highways post-war actually created a counterargument all its own, so much that the UK began advocating against US urban development, which is entirely car-centric. So yes, this has been around for many decades already. Now it's 2024 and people complain that we didn't have the foresight to predict traffic, but we had all the information years ago. Everyone was just too shortsighted to acknowledge it wasn't the solution.

[@TEXAS2459]

@@driftofair9691 greed and bad intent

[@johnsmiff8328]

TRAINS

[@TriflingToad]

WHERE?

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

This is why it's better to use both lanes and merge late when travelling at low speed. The extra space helps things keep moving smoothly.

[@Carlium]

This is why people want to remove the extra lane to make a small two lane road that goes in both directions and add a cycling path instead.

[@dubious_potat4587]

@@Carlium that would also help reduce traffic jams. Good idea!

[@starlight122012]

@@dubious_potat4587 Sarcasm?

[@starlight122012]

@@Carlium Nobody wants that

[@dubious_potat4587]

@@starlight122012 why? it has been shown theoretically and experimentally that diversifying transport options reduces traffic

[@degebs7146]

"Just one more lane bro"

[@jonnybonny4193]

But this actually helps... More lanes means fewer cars per lane

[@TheDude50447]

A second lane and no traffic jam wouldve formed in this case.

[@fincarosa]

No, the OP is correct. Traffic expands to fill additional lanes. That's why road construction has never solved traffic jams

[@TheDude50447]

@@fincarosa what youre referring to is called induced demand. A phenomenon in which more lanes work for a while before more and more people consider going by car filling it up again. That also got its limits cause at some point there arent any more people or cars. Its also less of a factor if good alternatives to the car exist. So in cases where roads are still clocked even though a good train, tram and metro exist an additional lane can solve that problem permanently. Thats a big factor in the US in addition to very cheap fuel.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

@@fincarosa By this logic, reducing lanes wouldn't make traffic worse, but it does. More lanes does help, you absolute oaf. Just because it doesn't eliminate the problem to 0 doesn't mean it doesn't help

[@emperorsascharoni9577]

That’s why I always try to maintain a slower speed in a traffic jam to ensure the people behind me don’t have to break

[@a64738]

Yes, I try to avoid this by keeping a little longer distance to car in front and only slow down slowly.

[@thomasweir2834]

I always keep a larger gap so that I can keep moving without breaking. Then some fucking idiot moves into the gap I'm maintaining and causes the whole nicely moving lane to stop. If people just stayed in their own lanes, kept a reasonable distance, just let their foot off the accelerator to maintain the distance not the break, we'd all get to where we need to go!

[@markpowell1031]

its brake

[@timmiller1]

If you have a larger gap, that means someone else must have a smaller gap. There is only so much space. Giving yourself more time to react is the same thing as giving someone behind you less time to react.

[@Dranok1]

@timmiller1 In an artificial closed loop like this, that's true, but real roads aren't closed loops! The "2 second rule" was invented (like 50 years ago when there was 1/4 of the traffic on the roads) to prevent this situation: everyone drives with 2 seconds gap to the car in front, this allows for human reaction time and gives you the buffer space to use when someone in front makes a mistake or has to avoid/accommodate some unexpected obstruction -- they brake, you have to brake a little less, the car behind you a little less, ½ a mile further back the problem has gone and nobody knows anything happened, the road flows non-stop and everyone can enter the road as they need to (showing that "the road can only contain a certain number of cars" is a laughable spurious argument). If you drive close, as some do who use that ridiculous faulty argument ("you drive with a 'huge' gap, you prevent people getting on the road"), then when someone in front slows, you have to slow more, the one behind might have to touch the brakes, the one behind that brakes harder, ½ a mile further back it's a stationary jam and nobody else can enter the road possibly causing traffic jams on previous parts of the road network.

[@foop145]

I watched a video like 10-15 years ago by some dude who claimed he solved this problem. All you gotta do is put a ton of space between you and the car in front of you, and try to maintain a consistent speed by watching the cars further ahead. The space acts as a kind of buffer that halts any waves of stopped cars rippling backwards. You don't necessarily get where you're going any faster, but it's much more engaging than just sitting in traffic, and you make the road better for everyone behind you. I drive like this now, and I've noticed another added benefit, which is people merging, usually to get off the highway. If it's bumper to bumper, you have to stop to let a car in if they want to merge into your lane, which further halts any traffic behind you. But if you've got a ton of space in front of you, people can merge as they please with little to no impact on you or the cars behind you. As long as I don't have anywhere to be, I absolutely love driving in traffic. It's way less boring, and it feels like I'm doing a service to everyone around me. I'm also far from the only person who does this, and it can be fun to encounter others. It's funny because if they're behind you, you end up in this almost oasis, where everyone to either side is bumper to bumper, but you've got like 50+ feet of empty road in front of and behind you lol

[@timmiller1]

The problem is that the average space that can be between cars is the circumference of this circle divided by the number of cars. Meaning it is not possible for each of these cars to have enough distance to prevent jams.

[@LaGuerre19]

I do the same. Big gap in front, and a constant slow roll, always watching not just the car in front of me but also 10+ cars down the line. So much nicer than gostopgostopgostopgostop every 3 seconds. And you get there in the same amount of time or better.

[@todayisforgotten]

​@@timmiller1thats true. Most people want to get ahead and will take that gap as a way to beat traffic, while others are oblivious to their tail gating.

[@tomsterbg8130]

I see this every day because I live on a high floor next to a major road. It always makes me have a fun time watching it go backwards. Sometimes the traffic is light enough that it resolves, but sometimes it never resolves. It's one of the biggest problems with human drivers in dense traffic, but artificial drivers are no better (yet).

[@deadcarbonboy]

Artificial drivers will sadly never be better enough for it to matter, as this is a factor moreso of traffic density than individual bad decisions. Even a perfect AI driver will have to brake slightly when someone else is merging in, and with perfect cohesion between cars that still creates a backward-propagating wave. If the distance between vehicles is too small, the wave will persist and interfere with other waves to create pockets of traffic.

[@este_marco]

​@@deadcarbonboy just not braking when the car in front is braking then accelerating. So you can very well stop some waves if you have even a normal distance margin

[@deadcarbonboy]

@@este_marco that's what I'm saying, you can't not brake when the vehicle density is too high. Traffic is caused by number of cars on the road, not solely by bad drivers

[@TriflingToad]

is your pfp the codepen logo?

[@este_marco]

@@deadcarbonboy 90% of ppl have a good margin to improve. i legit think useless traffic slow down can be outright removed from existence if we all learned and applied the good behaviors for good flowing traffic.

[@concerned_citizen7]

So glad I found this! Now I can use it as a visual aid when explaining this phenomenon to people.

[@MusikCassette]

I hope you also explain the rest. on its own this is somewhat misleading.

[@hoodio]

​@@MusikCassettewhat rest? this is exactly how most traffic jams happen, doesn't even matter how many lanes

[@protoman1214]

We called it the slinky effect when hiking in the miltary. Our formation was determined by height, tall guys in front, short guys in back. Taller people having a longer stride would minimize this effect but it would still happen, resulting in lots of running instead of walking if you were in the back. The instructors made us swap order once so the tall guys would understand the importance of keeping a good pace and not stopping/slowing down.

[@shivers222]

Wow this is such a fascinating simple way to illustrate this

[@edwardlariviere9710]

This is why rail should be priority

[@Stratus41298]

You can't have rail everywhere. There will always be highways.

[@edwardlariviere9710]

@@Stratus41298 true but highways cost 10x to maintain with no revenu to offset the costs of damage from overloaded modern vehicles that weighs in at almost 2 ton when empty.( ps this is a north american thing). So for long distance travel like a 4+hour long trip the train should be the main way. But for short distance travel a car or other means like a bike or tram/bus. Lets build society for humans again not just long distance cars.

[@IstasPumaNevada]

Yeah, no matter which way you look at it, individual vehicles for personal transport are worse for society overall AND for individuals. A car-based society is a monstrous drain on society; walkable and bikeable cities with public transport have much less space wasted on roads and parking lots/spaces, are much quieter, have much lower road costs, much lower overall costs for individuals who don't need to own and maintain their own cars...

[@coolguyx14]

nah im never getting on public transportation again

[@driftofair9691]

@@coolguyx14 man that's not very cool of you.

[@matopuk123]

what was the average speed of this cars before, and after? (I mean if you have more space in front of you, you can go faster, but then slow down)

[@CamoSquid]

Always love how it moves like an accordion

[@mitchreeves1]

Another thing that causes traffic congestion is when there is a queue of cars waiting for the green traffic light, the light goes green and everybody moves off 1 at a time rather than all going at once. It doesn't matter if youre the first car in the queue or the tenth, all vehicles should move once the green light shows.

[@16m49x3]

Yes. I do this, but it requires leaving enough space to be able to start driving even if the car in front doesn't

[@chrisogrady28]

The slow reactions of setting off again also cause the propogation. The fact that everyone only seems to think about putting it in gear once the car that's already 5 metres away from them starts moving, is allowing the wave to keep going. If the vehicle in front of you is slowing down you should slow right down and aim to keep moving until you are about to have a crash, to smooth out the motion for the cars behind you

[@tedz2usa]

YES! Thank you, I was waiting for this comment. I believe you are exactly right. And, once stopped, you need immediately begin moving your car the moment that the car in front of you starts moving. Pay attention to the cars ahead of the car in front of you, so that you can time the beginning of your car's movement to precisely when the car in front of you starts moving.

[@kaspars804]

@@tedz2usayep. You start moving with the car in front of the car thats in front of you only to have to press the brake again because the guy in front of you never started to move when he should have 😅

[@LRM12o8]

This thread is great advice if you wanna cause a rear-end in a traffic jam! 😂👍 Yes, in theory would remedy the problem, but in the real world it's extremely risky due to the unpredictable reactions of the driver in front. For instance they might feel pressured by your actions and choose irrational reactions like brake-checking you! But even without slow reacting and vengeance seeking drivers in front of you, this way of driving will quickly result in an accident, because it requires maximum alertness, extreme focus and lightning fast reactions, which will exhaust your mental resources in no time!

[@kaspars804]

@@LRM12o8 Ive been doing this for years with no problems. We are talking about standstill speeds here.

[@chrisogrady28]

@@LRM12o8 the fact driving like this is considered an extreme level of alertness shows that most people shouldn't be on the road at all. Driving at any speed for any reason should require this level of attention.

[@Yonkage-ik5qb]

I've always noticed in light traffic on freeways, even when there aren't "traffic jams", vehicles don't spread out. There are packs and voids. What happens is slower cars and large trucks are going at or lesser than the speed limit and form the front of the packs. Behind them are cars that would like to go faster but either adjust their speed to that speed, or are slowed until they can filter through to the front and then speed up to their normal pace, until get to the back of the next pack. These collections are usually about 20 car lengths or so in size with cars only separated by a few lengths, but the spaces between the packs can be enormous, like a quarter mile or half a mile. If you're driving a little over the average speed, you get through one of those packs, and for the next five minutes in the void, it's like you're the only one on the freeway. This would be solved by all semis only being in the rightmost one or two lanes, and the passing lane being left open just for passing. Unfortunately, literally everyone on the road thinks the speed they are going is the universal rule, and anyone that wants to go faster should go pound sand so they block the passing lane or drive anywhere they want.

[@KeterMalkuth]

Semis are already *technically* supposed to be and are required to be in the right lane when traveling and only use the left lanes when passing. An issue I've seen regularly is when a tractor can only reach 70 mph, and wants to pass several other vehicles, often other tractors, going 65. Results in a 4 minute long "Pass" in the passing lane. Major traffic jam. You're correct though, if people understood to stick to the rightmost lane any time there's space to do so, this would never really be an issue. They don't, for some reason, and that's why we can't have nice things.

[@pineappleparty1624]

@@KeterMalkuth You're both right except the Move Over Law only applies to freeways. It does not apply to any roads that have left turns. Semis and heavy trucks should be ticketed more for hogging the 3rd or 4th lane away from the left shoulder. No excuse for it. I've had Jeeps yell at me, pass me while I'm going 10 over, Pass me really close to rubbing my back quarter just to cut me off with their right signal on, so going 20+ over the limit. This is on a two lane *residential* area lol. I just honk at them when they run up close like that and show them my left signal, as I am turning left! Also I never drive close to or beside other people, so they have zero reason to harass me like that.

[@BierBart12]

Where I live, we call the event of trucks ignoring the keep right rule and slowly passing eachother "elephant races" It's the end of any 2-lane speedway

[@thechikage1091]

We need to introduce HEAVY ticketing to people who are cruising less than the speed limit in the passing lanes.

[@camward9293]

@@KeterMalkuth I remember I once saw a semi try to pass another semi in the right lane. He crept along, taking 3 business days to get alongside the other guy, only to lose his momentum or whatever and just end up going the exact same speed as the truck in the right lane for like 4 miles. Backed up a lot of traffic behind him with that stunt lol

[@Menon9767]

This is such a good video to show to people! I read about phantom traffic jams somewhere, it explained to much

[@deanc6471]

Spent 45 minutes in a jam the other day, that went for about 2 kilometers. At the end...nothing. Went from 5 kmh back to the 100 speed limit and I was fuming.

[@snitox]

A cure to this is start moving when the 2nd car infront of you starts moving. Ofcouse stop tailgating but that entails people not using the space to cut lanes. Maybe a laser projector that just warns anyone from cutting infront of you by marking the space in red. It also lets you know if youre tailgating(sometimes i forget and be back by only 2 cars whereas i should be back by 3). Also introduce micro fines using camera and AI technology, eg lane cutting just to join a faster lane and not go towards an exit or not coming in from an entry should be fined .25 cents automatically. Going slow on the fast lane, 10 cent per 3 miles. Not breaking away from a Wolfpack, 1 cent per mile, drafting too close, 2 cent per mile. Etc. we got the technology to solve this. Maybe try this on two expressway lanes on the highway first. Also maybe some sort of scheduling notification system that says "Hey according to your calender you're selected to be part of traffic group 3.30(the time) you should leave within 10 mins to join your group. Yea you can skip this if you want but maybe you dont get access to the expressway lanes like i mentioned before. Also obv autopilot syncing. That automatically collectively controls flow of traffic. You'll see all the tech i mentioned get inevitably get implemented. But i feel like by then we'll have teleportation.

[@scubasteve6175]

that micro fines thing is the goofiest shit i'm so sorry. i get what you're trying to say but this is not worth it. we do not have the infrastructure for that. cars will drive themselves within our lifetimes anyways. besides, would you like us to live a dystopian reality where cameras individually track every person driving and cost them money for not being robots?

[@snitox]

@@scubasteve6175 might just be the cameras in your car that do it for you. Again, it would be voluntary. You can just choose to not use the expressway lanes like I mentioned.

[@pineappleparty1624]

So many people against tailgating here. It's annoying sure. It's unsafe for reaction time sure, but it does not make traffic slower...

[@snitox]

@@pineappleparty1624 it does. That distance allows smooth slowing down and speeding up. Allows time for correcting the jam. Tailgating makes harsher slow downs and a even harsher chain reaction.

[@pineappleparty1624]

@@snitox If anything, it would just make those slow pokes, poke even slower behind someone breaking a little harder. Oh well.

[@Hotpeppa666]

story of my life this is.

[@COHIBAOFFICIAL]

For this 1 driver can fix it? Or 2 on opposite sides in most cases?

[@dabinbuh]

In the US we added these cool toll lanes that take up half of every other highway and create phantom traffic jams at every merging lane :))))))

[@tkralva.6668]

On busy roads, with more than one lane, this is often caused by people signalling and pulling out without checking space, forcing those in the lane to brake suddenly. Or those in the lane slowing to let someone pull out. In a single carriage roads, simply over braking, not keeping to a constant speed, and everyone doing that at different times. Yes I can cruise at 40, 50 or 60 mph, but naturally I may sometimes be a few mph quicker or slowers based on curves in road or hills, and if the person behind me has a car that manages slightly different to mine the gap closes. Additionally it is caused by someone keeping to the speed limit, or safe speed, and the person behind going the 2%+2 over the speed limit, or slightly faster than what the other considers a safe speed for the road/conditions. All of these contribute to these phantom traffic jams. Like they say, everyone drives slightly differently, and that causes the queue. Not tailgating, as trying not to tailgate means slowing down. These traffic jams are rarely caused by a normal driver/vehicle going ridiculously under the speed limit. But many seem to think that they must always drive at the speed limit, which is why around where I live - mainly country roads with the derestricted sign, many take the corners too fast and end up in ditches as they don't drive for road, they drive for the speed. Yes, it is annoying when I know I can safely go 50 (sometimes 60) on a section of the road, but as they are usually short sections staying at 40 behind someone adds seconds to my journey not minutes.

[@starlight122012]

On Motorways there are always morons who hog the middle lane and refuse to change lanes, so when you are in a lane approaching a slower vehicle, you have to pull into the middle lane cause the lane hog to break and then others behind to break which causes phantom traffic jams

[@tkralva.6668]

@starlight122012 how to say you didn't read my comment without saying you didn't read my comment. This my comment was nothing about lane hogging, get a life. STOP HARASSING ME.

[@starlight122012]

@@tkralva.6668 How is one reply harassing you, you silly snowflake? You mentioned a road with more than one lane, maybe be more specific on that, because that is ambiguous. My comment is still valid regarding lane changes due to not enough space, yes I did read your comment.

[@SkyDubai676]

CGP Grey be like:

[@ItsCioffi]

It’s like to point out something critical , that people NEED to realize while in a traffic jam the best thing you can do is move slowly allow space to open up in front of you and to not just immediately change lanes or speed up to fill the space. Patience ends the traffic jam. Aggressive lane changes and taking space worsens it.

[@chronicandironic8701]

I love the fact they’re using Vampire Weekend for the background music. Definitely from 2013

[@Trafficlightsfan]

it looks like a bbc circle ident with the cars going round the cone circle

[@alexandrebeaudry8377]

If you want to get rid of this. Drive an equal distance from the driver behind and in front. Keep your speed regular. Mimetic while get rid of this traffic faster than you can even believe.

[@EnterJustice]

That's all fine and dandy. Except the guy behind me really, really wants to see what color upholstery my seats are. And whenever you keep a safe distance an opportunist will plunge his metal death contraptio right in front of yours. If your solution is "things would be perfect if everyone would just do X", then it's going to fail in advance because people are selfish assholes.

[@mescellaneous]

@@EnterJustice no, it's not a requirement for everyone to do X. it works as a rule for the individual driver, and if everyone individually did this at the same time, we would have a fully cooperative flow of traffic. it is like saying the economy will collapse because people steal. yes, thieves negatively affect the economy, but people still pay rather than just throwing their hands in the air saying it will never work. so you are reading it wrong and you are saying might as well steal since some guy next to me is doing it. and yes, you will get ahead, stealing or cutting traffic, but it's not cooperative like paying for stuff. you still pay for stuff, yes? so this rule is a way to drive that potentially mitigates phantom traffic jams. possibly less accidents, less wasteful acceleration/braking. but i am not saying this solves everything. because phantom traffic jams arent real anyway. they are usually real traffic jams caused by a bottleneck in front. so that is why cutting is actually effective if you want to cheat. the example of using a phantom traffic jam is a faulty one. it implies real bottlenecks are just your imagination and that your commute to and from work are caused by phantom traffic jams. but for the video about phantom ones, this rule actually will prevent it.

[@buildintotrains]

Not everybody will see this video and follow this lesson. The only true way to solve this is by full autonomy of every car on the road

[@TitanFlare]

@@EnterJustice another driver getting into that gap is not a problem. Just add more space. That's not a valid reason to tailgate at all. There is no limit to how many cars can merge into a lane if they are traveling at the correct speed

[@patricksnoring4739]

@@TitanFlaresomeone hasn’t driven in a city. If you leave a car length, someone is going to take that. Sure then you ease off the speed, the person behind you breaks, another car jumps in front of you. Now you have to slow down even more. And the person behind you will have to brake even more. This happens, and it’s not preventable. It just depends on the drivers that happens to be around you whether they act appropriately or not, not exclusively on your actions as an individual

[@djtjpain]

Great visual

[@DoctorTex]

As everyone's favorite hexagon loving, glasses wearing robot calls it: A Traffic Snake.

[@Tiogar60]

I know how to fix this. What if you just connected all the cars together and made them run on a designated schedule and stop at specific locations, no traffic jams!

[@shraka]

You could make it produce less pollution by having it run off electricity from some kind of over head wires. Then make it more efficient and produce less micro plastics using metal rails!

[@TechnologicallyTechnical]

The Automotive Centipede

[@driftofair9691]

How to reinvent the bus, only worse.

[@nuntius1]

it never gets old 😂😂😂

[@them0leisback]

Sometimes I wish driving licenses would be as hard to obtain as is a pilots license. Would keep the idiots off the road. Most people are completely unaware of their surroundings...

[@AppalachianMountaineer1863]

I learned similar in cities skylines, one bad intersection can cause city wide traffic, and something as simple as rerouting, a fly over or deletion of the intersection can do wonders for traffic, I’m not an engineer but you can learn a lot from that game

[@Lombardi54]

After 28 years of driving, this traffic mystery has finally been solved for me.

[@thechump10]

wasn't expecting hear vampire weekend lol

[@kutanra]

Thank you! I recognised it but couldn't remember the title, artist or enough lyrics to Google it and it would have driven me mad lol

[@thechump10]

@kutanra Sure, I believe they used "One (Blake's Got A New Face)" for the first song and "Campus" for the second.

[@IngePinge-]

Myth busters did this as well. I think they found out the road length and number of cars ratio

[@BrandNewByxor]

Does this neglect to consider the shitness of drivers ratio?

[@IngePinge-]

@@BrandNewByxor hahaha excellent point

[@nateshepardson1204]

GCP Grey jad an excellent video on this. I don't tailgate because I don't want to be that guy that starts the jam

[@TheamazingPK]

It will never change. We need more cars in the sky imo.

[@NoOne-py5or]

BUILD MORE TRAINS

[@pineappleparty1624]

We don't want to USE trains. I want to drive where I want, when I want!

[@NoOne-py5or]

@@pineappleparty1624 building trains would cause less traffic, its pretty easy to understand that public transportation causes less traffic. Not the additional lanes they build.

[@pineappleparty1624]

@@NoOne-py5or Then you ride it with the hobos. Not every city should have trains, sorry!

[@NoOne-py5or]

@@pineappleparty1624 Every city should have a train, just like every city should be walkable and have buses.

[@psychokuca302]

@@pineappleparty1624How to say you are an American without saying you are an American

[@MechaBorne]

This should be mandatory viewing before licenses are issued

[@BierBart12]

Seriously tho. The German driving school is already on average 7 months long, and the road experience is generally much better here than anywhere else, but this still needs to be part of the mandatory theory classes

[@Kurayamiblack]

This happens with multiple lanes too. It's usually 2 cars driving next to one another who are completely complacent. Neither is committed to passing the other and both are driving slower than average traffic (even if only by a little). This can often create a Phantom "One Lane Only" scenario where only 1 open lane is flowing freely and the other tow lanes are trying to cram into it to move past the blockage resulting in that lane getting clogged up too, especially when another slow person gets in there and takes their sweet time passing. This happens the most when 1 large truck tries to pass another and either won't or straight up can't overtake fast enough. All of this is even worse on uneven highways with hills where a person is maintaining a specific constant pressure on their gas pedal, resulting in them going faster and then slower and then faster again with the inclines of the terrain, meanwhile the people behind them trying to maintain a constant specific speed instead have to keep making unwanted adjustments to their speed to avoid collisions in front of them or holding up others behind them (while under frustration 😅)

[@16m49x3]

It would also help if people drove at least max 5 over the speed limit. Fluctuating speed is what causes bunching up. But if someone driving 4 over the speed limit is causing you to bunch up you are the problem imo

[@NateTheOhioan]

*that one 1 mpg pickup truck accelerating with a traffic light less than a quarter mile in front of him*

[@Snoborder95]

I wish we could redo this experiment with the instructions for the drivers to do their best to keep the same distance to the car in front as the car in back

[@dgphi]

Or just try to maintain the initial following distance in front.

[@neilgodfrey2669]

If more people used cruise control this wouldnt happen. I can’t live without it

[@Stratos1988]

It somewhat depends on CC. Older units are a simple throttle position lock without any radar or lidar in front and most disengage under certain speed, so you have to keep an eye and manually correct. More consistent yes, but if a driver is bad at driving then even tech will have trouble countering it.

[@pineappleparty1624]

It's never hard for me to maintain speed until i'm driving near a cop, then it's impossible to not gradually start speeding.

[@onsokumaru4663]

That won't help because even if the people in the test were driving the same car model they won't be able able to engage cruise control precisely at the same time which will gradually cause the phantom jam. As humans we have different reaction times and responses to any given situation.

[@miru2583]

not just cruise control but an Adaptive Cruise Control. it's a God send I tell you.

[@ninjalectualx]

Has nothing to do with keeping the same speed. Speed WILL fluctuate no matter what. But if people didn't tailgate, the fluctuations would ebb to nothing

[@ryanp0342]

If you see stop and go traffic ahead don’t accelerate into it. I often leave a gap and try to time it so when I get to the stopped cars they have had time to start moving again. This smooths out traffic behind you making the traffic jam clear sooner.

[@knpstrr]

After diving 1000miles on spring break this happens near EVERY big city. Huge traffic jam and no observable problem

[@gantmj]

The snowflake doesn't blame itself for the avalanche.

[@beachboy8842]

It helps to keep a decent distance to the driver in front of you, who just cant hold speed and goes between 70 and 100 kmh all the time. Keep some distance, get a permanent speed like 85 kmh. This saves you nerves and petrol and it wont cause traffic jam behind you.

[@miclanone955]

No, the only way to make this work is to keep as close to the driver in front as you can. That way you will give space to the one behind you, so he can go faster as well, and so on..

[@rincam5]

Micla None you still a fucking idiot?

[@Engineer9736]

@@miclanone955 And then the first vehicle has to make an emergency stop and you got 30 cars piled up. Well done Ms. Intelligence.

[@ddelimar]

Well, the "truth" is actually somewhere between the two extremes. Obviously we all perceive danger and thus the comfortable distance between us and the car in front of us differently. I have to admit, I'm on the offensive side, probably keeping too short a distance for many people. Obviously it's different based on speed, the surroundings, the traffic and not to mention, whether it's city or highway driving. I've never rear ended anybody, even though I've had a few close ones (usually when somebody was "cautiously" starting to break way sooner than was necessary, like, coming to a red light, they'd basically slow down almost to a halt almost 100 meters before the already stopped cars). One other thing to note, when I drive like that (which is almost always), I'm almost hyper aware, fully invested in the act of driving but that for me is normal, a no brainer and the way it should be. I think too many of us value being comfortable and relaxed while driving over safety and alertness. I said safety, I know, but bear with me. At least we can probably agree most people don't want to have to be hyper aware as if they are driving a realy race, being that alert to everything makes us more tired and driving is already tiring enough. Ok, but why did I say people choose that over safety? Because I (and I'd think most professional drivers) truly believe only way to drive safely is to be fully alert. So anything where you're not as alert as if you're in a race (not racing per se, but driving a bit more agressive, while still being defensive because you just have to read other drivers around you - not sure how exactly they call it, but motorcycle drivers have to drive that way) is just not safe driving. One example that happens to me waaaay too often to be just a coincidence: as I also have these things called blinkers (amazingly, they came with the base model, at no additional charge! I know - bonkers!) and I actually know how to use them, coming to a fork, I will signal lane turn waaaay before the car in front of me and I will actually make my move, already be "overtaking" them when they "decide" to do the same, only turning blinkers moments before the lane change and mirror check. Since that's the moment they realize someone is already in their newly chosen part, they will kind of jerk(?) the wheel back to their lane, all surprised. Now, you may argue they are just bad drivers and I wouldn't debate you, but I'd say they look awful lot like a "normal careful driver" and I look like the unpatient "mad" driver. And unpatient I am, unpatient for them to start driving and stop doing whatever they were doing. But in their eyes I was the one "speeding" and they were "driving carefully, i.e. slow". It's just that they also thought they're all alone in the traffic. :) EDIT: Don't worry, since I always expect them to do that, I usually slow down and flash to signal to them to make the lane change in front of me. Only way I don't do that is when I see nobody closely behind me and I realize they'll have plenty of time to make the lane change after I pass them. And I will pass them quickly, not like they would "stall" in that situation if it were reversed. Funny enough, never had that happen to me where I could have a chat with that person afterwards to really pick their brain and find out what they thought.

[@williamyu5991]

If everyone maintained good distance so they need to use their brakes and just the car roll at an optimal speed to main good spacing their would be no jam

[@ddelimar]

What you really desire is for all of us to have the same brain, same aptitude and abilities, same reflexes and same driving preferences. Not possible. :) We'd need to give up driving to the cars to come even near that (again, different manufacturers might still have slightly differently behaved AIs) and I for one welcome that future. Humans just aren't cut out for dull everyday driving and that's it.

[@yourghostisagift]

Duh

[@yourghostisagift]

@@ddelimardriving a car is hardly a task that requires any sort of extraordinary abilities. The problem is there are too many fuckin idiots in this world. Idiots who can’t do anything right

[@jakub.kubicek]

@@ddelimar Or just use trains, let their cars mechanically "communicate" with one another and problem solved.

[@ddelimar]

@@jakub.kubicek I love trains, but commuting and travelling can't be left with only one mode of transport. Many cities don't have rail infrastructure so to get somewhere after you travel with train, there needs to be a way to just use roads. Self driving taxis, car/bike sharing and that last mile solutions like electric scooters are in our future (actually, electricity is what all of them will be powered by ;)).

[@TDangerPtrow]

Vampire Weekend goes hard in the background 🎧

[@frempy4426]

indeed (blaaaaake’s got a new face)

[@NoName-ik2du]

I'd be interested to see this redone with adaptive cruise control to see if it still happens when you remove the human element (since the cars still aren't communicating directly and still have to "react" to each other).

[@stuartcraigon2003]

This folks, is what is known as tailgating and inconsiderate driving. This is the reason for phantom traffic jams. Love how well this shows what happens and how easily it happens.

[@spderweb]

Not always tailgating. But mostly. There are plenty of people driving out there that will hit the brake too hard with plenty of space in front of them. Those people tend to be the ones at stop lights that are a full car length or more away from the car in front of them, or even the line itself if they're up front.

[@ProfWereW]

Tailgating is at speed, not in a traffic jam.

[@spderweb]

@@ProfWereW Yeah, exactly. Tailgating can be a cause of this though. But in the case of the video above, it was just slow driving. The jam here is cased because some drivers are overly cautious and brake heavier than others, increasing the gap in front of them, but decreasing the one behind them. So in this instance, it's not a driver rushing, but a driver that isn't confident and is over correcting.

[@makerudji6682]

It has nothing to do with tailgating, its the amount of vehicles on certan road stretch. If you have too many vehicles and the road is simply not big enough, phantom traffic is inevitable. Thats why the road is open at like 3AM(depending on where you live ofc) since theres low amount of vehicles. Since we are humans and we are not perfect its impossible to have perfect traffic, we are not programmed robots that can drive inch perfect. The only solution to traffic jams is to simply either reduce the amount of vehicles on the road or make more roads. And you can do the first one by creating good public transportation system

[@ImieNazwiskoOK]

@makerudji6682 Creating more road also tends to work but temporarily and get jams again after some time

[@itryen7632]

Trains wouldn't suffer from this problem, because they can be scheduled and coordinated. And all you need in order to sort out thr scheduling is a guy who knows how to use Microsoff Excel. Unfortunately, the ministry of transport is severely lacking in people experienced enough to know how to turn on a laptop.

[@rizizum]

Trains are literally made of this problem, just a bunch of tailgater wagons

[@shraka]

It's not just being scheduled, it's the absolutely staggering capacity. A high efficiency freeway lane carries 2400 people per hour when free flowing, which drops precipitously when there's a jam - easily lower than 1000. A 6 car train can carry 1500 fairly easily, and carries exactly the same amount when over capacity. Run 15 of those an hour and that's more capacity than a perfectly flowing 9 lane each way freeway.

[@klondike3112]

@@rizizum No, because all of the wagons start and stop at roughly the same time, so it completely avoids the accordion effect.

[@rizizum]

@@klondike3112 no its just a big accordion, all the wagons are in a single traffic jam

[@klondike3112]

@@rizizum what the hell are you talking about 😂

[@TheNotSkull]

btw there was a study on this, students did a study and made a sim about it just one car stop or brake check the car behind it can start to make the traffic jam

[@colgoss21]

They should show this in every driver Ed school. Keep distance, and relative speed so traffic keeps FLOWINGGGG

[@thestudentofficial5483]

This is the basis of congestion pricing. By keeping road sections at just below its operational capacity at certain speed, traffic jams magically disappear

[@Asto508]

Or in other words, increase capacity and gone are the problems.

[@Norsilca]

​@@Asto508 That's the opposite of what they said

[@Asto508]

@@Norsilca How so?

[@Norsilca]

@@Asto508 They're talking about reducing usage, not increasing capacity

[@fablearchitect7645]

@@Asto508just one more lane bro and congestion will be solved

[@danielsechrist4410]

1. Don't over-brake or be stopped longer than you need to. 2. Watch the car ahead of the car in front of you, and attempt to start moving forward when they do. 3. Eliminate lag. 3. The harder you accelerate, the slower you'll have to brake when you catch up. 4. Strive for slow continuous motion.

[@thechikage1091]

Eliminating lag and watching the car in front you to go at the same time is impossible. The average person is physiologically too unintelligent to conceptualize a simple system like this. Their brains are literally incapable of producing thoughts that complex.

[@8alakai8]

and keeping distance when to close to a car you have to react directly with hard braking but with space you have time to see if you need to brake hard or soft

[@peterpan408]

The safe speed is related to how close cars are following. Reduced speed also compresses traffic reducing safe speed further. Roads tend to jam up when their optimum capacity is exceeded. The experience can be improved by dampening rather than amplifying the stop-starts.

[@hngldr]

This is why adding more lanes has so little benefit after a point as well - adding lanes adds interactions exponentially

[@tomatomb8704]

I would be happy if they created a tailgating law on the motorway. Fines/points/sent on a course.

[@ottotater2787]

in the United States we have do not tailgate laws. If you follow somebody more than one car length per every 10 Mi an hour you are going, then by definition that's tailgating. the fine is often a reckless driving charge. It is enforced very often but Americans are really really ignorant and assume that 75% of the tickets given are for speeding, when in reality they are more often written for other infractions. Tailgating is often writen up as wreckless driving. for things like that. Speeding is a very common ticket here as we have less disputable methods of determining speed then we do enforcement of tailgating proof, but if you go to an american traffic court as I used to have to do for my job, You should observe really quickly that the vocalizations on the street about what police enforce are different than common asumption. often times when people get charged with an offense for a particular crime they are put into a courtroom where other people are charged with similar crimes so that the judge can be properly educated on that crime before he makes judgment on those people. so sometimes when people go to traffic court themselves to pay a ticket they assumed that that's all they write tickets for because everybody in that courtroom that day was pulled over for that or a similar crime because that's the day the police officer took off so he could go to court to affreas those people. people think cops know the law so that they're looking for legally infractions when in reality cops don't know the law otherwise they wouldn't take a job where they get their asses kicked and get shot at for a living. Some people say that most tickets are for speeding because they never go to court to find out what most tickets are for chargthat they are passing could possibly be writing a ticket for. but Americans are all to willing to spread rumor based on their own ignorance and assumption rather than verified fact.

[@GackFinder]

Would you also be happy about the added government bureaucracy and the rather significant tax increase to pay for it?

[@caitthenerd7470]

If you don't want to be tailgated, don't do 65 in lane 3. Put your foot down or move over.

[@fpser4888]

@@caitthenerd7470 tell me your drive a BMW without telling me you drive a BMW

[@caitthenerd7470]

@@fpser4888 Bestie what on earth makes you think I can afford a BMW?

[@pietheniceguy7258]

I would love to see how self driving vehicles fair in this environment. If they would be able to stay synchronized or if they would also succumb to the same effect.

[@vzgsxr]

Terrence Howard: "See, it's all waves Mayne"

[@dmitryzenkov6396]

Unbelievable discovery. Ground breaking.

[@simonfoote6453]

If this was a video explaining how opening a door allows one to walk from one room to another I'd be more amazed.

[@johnmartinez7440]

@@simonfoote6453 What's with the weird sarcasm?

[@Detheyas]

but the guy at the top right just full stopped for like a solid 5 seconds at :31. test is bogus, but the concept still applies and has been proven before.

[@ShawshankR3demption]

Yeah, wtf was that about? I love these tests but damn........

[@Engineer9736]

Clickable timestamps are written like 0:31

[@ALBINO1D]

You'd be surprised how often people are THAT guy

[@ddelimar]

I don't think the test was bogus at all. This wasn't testing our ability to drive in circle with friends with whom we agreed the speed prior to drive. :) Even if the stop was induced, it still shows what happens in normal traffic. Think about it. All that's needed for this fanthom traffic jam to occur is one of the following: somebody slows down to deal with something (phone, another person, anything), somebody behind them, not expecting change in pace slams the brakes a bit more and the next person (if close enough) has to almost halt to a full stop - welcome to a fanthom traffic jam, it can now make dozens and dozens if vehicles to have to stop for no apparent reason. So really, the reason why the first car had to slow down is irrelevant really, this happens way more than you'd think. The first car doesn't even have to full stop, just drive slower than surrounding traffic. Say, try to be "more careful" in traffic, but really just being kind of bad drivers.

[@thechikage1091]

Test isn't bogus, the one guy just stopping for no reason at the front and creating the jam is what happens in the real world. It's a perfect simulacrum because it takes away all possible noise and just spits out "yeah jams happen because the person at the front decided to just stop or slow down such a significant amount that it blows up the highway behind them"

[@TheUndyingNightmareHunter]

That is oddly terrifying to think about

[@yeahrightbear8883]

My issue is that when 4 miles away, it says the left lane is closed, which means to get over now while traffic isn't backed up. Instead, people wait until the last minute to get over, and so people in the open lanes have to slow down to let them over. After a while, slowing down turns into having to come to a complete stop. All of this would be prevented if everyone would get over when the sign says to get over.

[@user-fp3yc9hm6m]

I love how the video shows the inevitability of traffic jams and people in the comments all started blaming bad drivers. The system is flawed, blaming individuals won’t get us anywhere.

[@lucasgamernelson989]

Nope. It's entirely possible to avoid this. Stop making excuses for bad drivers.

[@RobAldred]

Roll on autonomy

[@NoOne56488]

concertina effect ( accordion effect, is the correct term for it )

[@xaea-1240]

They need to show this to the guy doing 64 in the left lane when the speed limit is 65mph.

[@user-nt7os5cg7j]

how about connecting all those cars together like in a T R A I N

[@peanuts2105]

Idiotic

[@02suraditpengsaeng41]

AdamSomething strike again

[@Freezorgium]

so what happens when I want to pull off to have a burger, or decide on a whim that I'm going to visit my aunt halfway?

[@YAOMTC]

@@Freezorgium 1) You get off the train at the next stop, have your burger at a restaurant nearby, go back to the station get on the next train, which you'll only have to wait a few minutes for if your trains have decent frequency. 2) You don't visit your aunt on a whim. You plan it at least a day ahead of time. Nobody wants a random visit without warning. But if your aunt does live nearby, you could get off the train at the stop closest to her home and take transit and/or a bike/scooter the rest of the way. If she doesn't, plan ahead, or drive (rent, or use a car you don't have to rely on for everyday trips because you have competent infrastructure)

[@XDWX]

The problem is too many damn people. If there were only 4 cars in the circle they wouldnt jam up.

[@albertoarbasino]

Including you, man.

[@XDWX]

@@albertoarbasino I got a vasectomy so I'm doing my part at least.

[@yourghostisagift]

If we don’t do something soon in 27.3 years there will be so many idiots in cars the roads will just be cars sitting still bumper to bumper, no one moving an inch. Raise the driving age, take away elderly licenses and give harsher penalties to fkn idiots and dui drivers

[@TitanFlare]

The circle sets the following distance more than anything, not the number of people. For all intents and purposes, a real freeway is practically infinite. So the number of people isn't an issue, it's the following distance

[@masterTigress96]

@@XDWX Yeah after you impregnated the missus you mean

[@JiLoa13]

What I sometimes do is pull out of the lane a bit to see far ahead, you can spot the unnecessary braking. Create a gap between you and the the car in front of you, then slowly creep forward without braking again. Even if you fail to do it right, it's a fun experiment and gives you something constructive to do.

[@a64738]

I once was driving at the highway that was filled with cars going 90 to 100 km/h in the 90km/h speed limit. Then suddenly all cars on both lanes stopped, and stood still for 30 seconds then speeded up to 90 - 100km/h again.

[@Mister_H.]

So we’re agreed that speeding isn’t the problem but driving too slow is

[@Freezorgium]

errhmmm actually chuddie arbitrary speed limits are good because uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh we say they are okay????? now shut up and pay your ticket, MANIAC!!!

[@astphy]

Speeding mentality is 100% the problem.

[@TheDude50447]

@@astphy Looks more like the slow pokes are cause traffic jams though.

[@whiterottenrabbit]

Could you please fuck up the aspect ratio even more next time? It'S really fun to watch squeezed pictures!

[@TheCarzAll]

It wasn't

[@ayowhat6139]

Why u so worked up lmfao. Get off the internet brah

[@gavla3550]

Wow! Someone didn't have their weetabix! 😅😅😅

[@paulbrookfield4133]

Average Wide Putin meme enjoyer

[@thenthson]

I wonder. If few people in a row kept a much further follow distance. Could that stop a phantom jam since the follow distance could absorb that slowdown?

[@darkslider802]

This happens hiking in a line with a lot of people too!

[@wojtekdobrowolski8084]

Who tf is this discount james may?

[@chada4636]

They should have gone up to the people who brake first and made it very clear they specifically are the reason we have traffic.

[@timmiller1]

No, the number of cars is the cause of the problem. No one can drive efficiently when there is a small gap, and there must be small gaps if there are too many vehicles for the given space.

[@peterh3580]

Ethan Hunt explained this perfectly at his dinner party. “Traffic has a memory.”

[@johnh9200]

MythBusters did this everyone drove at the same speed around a track. For memory they added one minor distraction which affected only a few cars and within 10min the cars had come to a halt.

[@turbojoe2]

I try to do what the 2nd or 3rd car is doing in front of me. It would help if others simply paid attention as to WTF is going on around them.

[@blockpartysaint2582]

Wow I thought I was the only one that does that. I watch cars 2-3 spots in front of me. If they hit breaks 3 cars up I gently brake also giving cars behind me time to stop. I hate when people slam the brakes because they were riding too close and barely had time to react. It's a dickhead move to the people in front and behind you. Just keep a distance. Tailgating never makes anyone speed up. Just wait for a legal time to pass and move on without dying or road rage.

[@ddelimar]

​@@blockpartysaint2582 I've probably tailgated more times than I'd like to admit, but I completely agree with you. It's just that "keeping distance" is a loose term. Some will keep way more than needed and it situations where it isn't necessary but that's another story. I'm often irked by some who keep too much distance so we both end up waiting for the next green light, when we could have passed before the red. And not by speeding. BTW, keeping an eye on the traffic in front of you (yeah, even 2-3 spots past the car in front of you), behind you and even around you is what should be the norm. Alert driving should be the norm. That includes almost knowing what the cars around you are going to do before they do it.

[@joshhill4903]

@@ddelimar i often give myself room infront when im on the bike, and personally i love redlights. 0-60 is like 3 seconds and some change.

[@h378dh4uj]

The fact that drivers need a live demonstration to prove it means that it will never change. You cant fix stupid.

[@shraka]

It isn't really stupid, it's just a matter of too many cars being in a small space. You can address it a bit by lengthening roads out (sending them around the long way). Reducing lanes also helps as there's less merging.

[@h378dh4uj]

@@shraka True but as unlikely as it is to cultivate conscientious driving in society, I imagine it's less likely that we are going to get roadways that make sense.

[@shraka]

@@h378dh4uj All places that have conscientious driving have quality alternatives to driving and good road design. I don’t think you can really have one without the other.

[@Max-DuBois]

The vampire weekend in the background really threw me off

[@ohutchie]

campus *and* blake's got a new face lol

[@andrealocatelli4631]

the last thing I expected today was seeing Cillian Murphy explaining Phantom Traffic Jams