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When unexplained traffic jams happen, says an MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) study, you can probably blame tailgaters. The researchers say that if drivers kept an even distance between cars rather than driving too close to the vehicle in front, traffic flow would remain even. This "bilateral control," could double the speed of the average vehicle on busy highways.
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This ideal is very different from what is the norm in most thinking about traffic, especially by those stuck in it. Drivers (and, consequently, vehicle control systems) tend to be looking ever forward, responding only to what's ahead and largely ignoring what's behind. Thus, in stop-and-go or slow-and-go situations (traffic jams), each vehicle reacts to the vehicle in front, causing intermittent slowdowns or stops (jams) in wave-like patterns. When vehicles are working to maintain equal distances both from the car in front and the vehicle behind, the MIT paper contends, these wave patterns are minimized and traffic flows more smoothly.
Maintaining even spacing facilitates lane changes and merges as well.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Friday December 15 2017, @10:34PM
Sharing? Calm driving? Are you some sort of socialist?!
I happen to agree with you. Driving like the only thing matters is arriving, safely, eventually, is far betterthan getting there two minutes (or seconds) sooner.
While the plural of anecdote is not data, we have all experienced the maniac over/undertaking/cutting off/etc, only to pull up behind/next to them a few sets of lights later.
Suppose someone has to ensure the profit of sellers of hypertension medications!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex