Traffic jam mystery solved by mathematicians

[Big_Richard]

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[oscar]

Well it's my theory that if everyone planted their foot when the lights turn green and slam the brake on red whilst maintaining minimum distances between bumpers, there'd be less congestion.  

Ever notice how long it takes after the lights turn green to actually start moving if your at the end of the queue? Move as one and it's like on big car moving through the intersection not 15.  I reckon these guys have got it right and the braking analogy is very interesting.

[Big_Richard]

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[oscar]

IE youll have to wait a whole cycle longer to turn right at a red arrow, even when there are no cars comming from the opposit direction and they have the green.

It would be interesting to know if human intervention in similar circumstances or in busy traffic would help or hinder.  Depends on the mental aptitude of the employee I suppose.  In the name of larrakinism if there's such a word, a traffic controller could be a real twat if they wanted to.

I'm pretty lucky where I am.  It's the biggest town I know of without traffic lights.  We're at about 28,000 and speaking of Bunnings, when they opened here a few years ago there was an uproar at the announcment of a change to traffic where Bunnings was going to be located and they were going to pay for traffic lights at their entrance rather than a roundabout.  They ended up backing down and bought out the competition instead where a roundabout already existed.  Whether no lights and all roundabouts would solve some issues in metro aterial roads I don't know. 

[huck280]

This is good stuff. There have been trials on making cars space out more on motorways, which stops this bunching, as well as reducing the speed limit. At 3 pinch points on the M6 (a major motorway in Britain, one of the busiest in the world), they painted spacing chevrons and instructed drivers, 'Always stay two chevrons apart'. It slowed traffic, but spaced it, making it invulnerable to this bunching. It has also been noted that in areas of road works, when flow is very constrained but restricted in speed rigorously with average speed cameras (as are common in the UK), the transit time point-to-point actually SPEEDS UP. This freaks many drivers out. Many high volume areas now restrict speed at peak hours, with great effects.

THe problem is that many drivers bunch up in the belief that driving up someone's arse will force the 'idiot in front' to move out the way (forgetting that it will merely replace this idiot with another idiot), and many drivers persist in believing that them driving faster will get them more quickly to their destination - a logic which only works on a race track. Drivers in general believe that driving problems lie with others, not them; that they have a clearer perspective on what is 'safe' and 'quick' than the police/government etc. I think that by and large, we'd all get there a lot quicker if we stuck to the rules.

However, therre should be a special island of torture and prison reserved for lorries with speed limiters trying to overtake other lorries with speed limiters, and for car drivers who don't pull left as soon as they've finished overtaking. The police should just come in the night and 'disappear' them...

[CraigS]

This is a little bit off topic, but in a similar vein. A town in Germany ripped out all of the traffic lights (and roundabouts I think). Their thinking was that if there was nothing to guide you, you would be more careful when approaching intersections. Not sure of the results so far as it only occured a few months ago, but I suspect they are probably correct.

[scraf]

A couple of times I've been cruising along in Dutch traffic, more rush hour traffic than an actual standstill, and I've looked out my window to see a copper waving me forward, as in "you're making the traffic jam longer than it needs to be".

[huck280]

Yeah - they've tried this in the Netherlands too, abolishing pavements and encouraging people to wander everywhere. Here in Manchester they've tried it with the idea of 'play streets', which are level (ie, no pavement) and have lots of trees in - and lots of children. Weird, but it works. The idea is that it makes everyone slow right down, but move constantly and vigilantly. Given that the average speed in towns is about 11mph (slightly slower than a push bike), it makes sense to even that out rather than lurch from 30-0-30-0-30-0 etc. Better in terms of pollution too.

[Nutz]

They should takes notes from India

http://www.youtube.com/v/T8Doy_7sOoM

[huck280]

Hehe - that film's been sped up, but even so... I've been driven about in India. Fuck me but it's scary... You aim for where you wanna be, hit the horn, and pedal it...