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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: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday December 19 2017, @08:11PM (1 child)
If the guy behind wasn't tailgating, they wouldn't need to react excessively, but I'm guessing you're speaking from personal experience as a chronic tailgater?
When the guy in front of me brakes, I take my foot off the gas and then rest my foot on the brake, slowly depressing it over a period of ~5 seconds as the situation demands. I have that much time available because I'm not tailgating.
Even if the guy in front slams the brakes, I still have ~3 seconds to brake and/or change lanes as appropriate.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday December 19 2017, @11:39PM
That was a stupid comment, and you should earn a downmod.
If you spent a bit of time in traffic jams, you would notice that people overreact and slam their brakes. It's exacerbated by cars blocking the view in front, and drivers being distracted (kids, phone, food)...
In fact, if people didn't overreact, you wouldn't have to stop, because nobody would reach a speed of 0 absent an actual obstacle. I've voiced multiple times my desire to heavily fine the first car to hit a complete stop, for they are the problem.
I've managed, courtesy of a clutch, many miles crawling through LA jams without hitting the brakes nor ever coming to a complete stop. You can only do that if you pay attention to all other drivers' behaviors, and definitely not if you tailgate.
But thanks for posting a dumb remark on a 4 day-old thread, dumbass. I'm glad your area's traffic allows you three or five seconds actions without getting cut off. Around here, I just get honked at, until the tailgater sometimes realizes I'm going as fast as traffic will allow, on average.