Traffic Engineers Say Slowing Down Will Get You Through a Jam Faster

Doesn't take a traffic engineer to figure this out. If you've ever observed a "ghost" traffic jam the source of the problem is very obvious - any one person who stops short will cause the person behind them to stop short, and so on. The problem was never discovering the solution, it's been distribution of the solution.

I'd love to see more rigorous testing done on potential drivers to ensure they are able to drive not only safely, but efficiently. This could mean having a simulator that takes you through a traffic jam. The intent of course being to teach you, not to fail you as soon as possible because you didn't check your mirrors frequently enough.

I think the underlying problem though, is with the instant gratification associated with filling a gap in traffic flow. People feel that because they've filled the gap they've somehow saved a bit of time, when in reality the time saved is negligible for most trips (say 3 seconds in a 30 minute commute or something.) Good luck teaching people that going slower is faster.

Edit: Here's a good explanation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goVjVVaLe10

Interesting article. Behind paywall:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/traffic-engineers-say-slowing...

^Link is full article.

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