Mathematicians Solve the Mystery of Traffic Jams

mlimber writes "Do you ever find yourself in a traffic jam, thinking, 'Man, there must be a bad accident up ahead,' but as you plod along you see no evidence of any crash? Some mathematicians have solved the mystery by developing a mathematical model that shows how one driver hitting the brakes a little too hard can cascade into a backup miles behind. The mathematicians' future research will investigate how automatic braking systems may alleviate the problem."

Comments

Re:Old news

[cyphercell]

sounds good to me, the solution I've always driven for (no pun intended), is to slow down at traffic jams to the point where you can plod along without actually stopping. This does a good job of equalizing the in/out ratio. I wonder why this isn't taught in driver's ed.

Untapped potential of braking expressiveness

[GPS Pilot]

Part of the problem is that brake lights themselves only have "on" and "off" modes. They could be designed to convey so much more information than that, by utilizing the entire spectrum ranging from:

Brake lights glowing dimly: indicates the car is decelerating slightly. (And not necessarily due to active braking by the driver. Perhaps the driver has merely begun to coast, or does not have the accelerator sufficiently depressed while driving up a steep hill. It would be a good idea to communicate these scenarios to other drivers too.)

Very bright accompanied by a rapidly flashing strobe: indicates the car is braking maximally; antilock braking system is fully engaged. (At times like this, the car should do everything possible to get the attention of other drivers.)