Why Do Freeways Come to a Stop?
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This image helps to explain the phenomenon of “Why Do Freeways Come to a Stop?”. It happens to most drivers at least a few times a year. You’re sailing along on the freeway when you’re forced to come to a stop, or at least a crawl. You can’t see why things are slowing around the bend - and when you get there, traffic is moving better. Traffic planners call this a “shockwave.” [via..]
March 22nd, 2009 18:43
Traffic also comes to a stop because of HOV lanes. Removing lanes during rush hour wastes more fuel and causes more pollution then anything else around. Simple physics, should explain this to anybody with an open mind. I’m all for car pooling but it does not work.
March 22nd, 2009 19:04
check this clip out, it’s a great experiment that proves that even under controlled circumstances people really can’t drive properly…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M
March 22nd, 2009 19:16
It’s just happening because there is too many stupid 4 wheels people on the road!
March 24th, 2009 08:44
Better title: why does traffic come to a stop? The highway doesn’t change (that’s the maddening part: the road is there but the cars aren’t moving).
And is this really news, anyway?
April 8th, 2009 19:32
Fundamentally, the answer is, “morons”. Morons who have zero driving skills is the full answer. The solution is a combination of IQ and driving skills tests. With the roads we have today and the cars we have today, we should easily move 60 cars per second at 80-100 mph per lane. That is vastly more and faster than what our incompetent idiots do now.
We could also implement summary execution for the dangerous moron who slams on his brakes, swerves across five lanes, just because he was too dumb to know his exit was coming up. I see this daily and it’s a matter of time before the moron kills someone so his execution will certainly save innocent lives and maybe deter other morons.
April 23rd, 2009 09:52
Wow. I forget how little normal people know about traffic.
No, traffic is not caused by:
- The stupidity of people
- HOV lanes (are you serious??)
- People’s ability to drive.
Traffic is caused because demand exceeds capacity i.e. there are too many damn people on the road. Period. There are only two general solutions to the problem:
- Build more capacity (roads)
- Get more people per vehicle on the road, thereby reducing the number of vehicles on the road (yes, things like HOV lanes).