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Rude Drivers Reduce Traffic Jams
BuzzSkyline writes "Traffic jams are minimized if a significant fraction of drivers break the rules by doing things like passing on the wrong side or changing lanes too close to an intersection. The insight comes from a cellular automata study published this month in the journal Physical Review E. In effect, people who disregard the rules help to break up the groups that form as rule-followers clump together. The risk of jamming is lower if all people obey the rules than if they all disobey them, according to the analysis, but jamming risk is lowest when about 40 percent of people drive like jerks."
Of course rude drivers ease congestion. When they kill someone because of their stupidity, not only will that person not drive again, but they'll probably lose their license, so they won't either!
The problem of cars "clumping" is due to the "rule abiding" drivers following each other too closely. This is in fact not rule abiding.
A reasonable space must be left between each car to provide enough extra slack to handle unexpected events like braking and slowing. When people follow too closely, this slack is all but eliminated thus causing each unexpected event's effect to become magnified. A quick tap of the brakes causes a chain reaction resulting in a traffic jam. Leaving enough space to handle an unexpected event provides each driver extra time to react.
In addition, since the additional slack allows for longer reaction times, a faster average speed can be achieved. Bob Dobbs would be so proud.
IMO, a lot of problems could be avoided if people respected all the rules of the road, and not just the official ones. For example, I respect anyone's right to drive at whatever speed they feel comfortable with. If that's at, above or below the speed limit I don't care. However, no matter how fast you're going, if there's someone behind you who wishes to go faster, move over to the right. It's not your job to set speed limits, the cops do that, and they exercise discretion too depending on the traffic and time of the day.
What gets me really frustrated is people in the left lane, going at or slightly below the speed limit, with a LONG line behind them. It's situations like these that cause problems, as people who wish to go faster try to get around the slowpokes.
In my opinion, if people simply moved over for a faster car, kept the left lane open for passing/faster traffic, then the vast majority of weaving cars and "jerks" on the highways would disappear.
It's a big peeve of mine. I drive faster than the speed limit, I'll admit it. If I'm in the wrong, the cops will pull me over. However, get out of the left lane if you're going slow and there's 10 cars tailgating behind you!
-"Those who fought today will die tommorow."-
Well, in Germany it would be against the law to change early. It has been shown that driving till the end, and then merging as "one from the left lane, one from the right lane" is the most efficient way to handle ending lanes. Therefore the law demands that. It's called "Reissverschlussverfahren" ("zipper procedure").
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
If someone is passing on the wrong side, then someone else already being rude and breaking the rules by refusing to yield the passing lane.
While they make the situation better for everybody, the people breaking the rules benefit the most. This is sort of like the "tragedy of the commons," with a twist. In the tragedy of the commons, the people who don't break the rules don't derive any benefit. In this situation, they're at least a little bit better off than if nobody broke the rules. Everybody has an incentive to try to be in that 40%, though. (Some people, like me, follow the rules dogmatically and altruistically.) I guess what's called for is some sort of automagic lottery system by which 40% of drivers in high-traffic situations are notified in real-time that they are being encouraged to drive more aggressively. AI researchers, get on that.
Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea
And it depends on which rules, and where. Not all rule-breaking helps, just those that encourage the flow of traffic.
Personally, there's one rule I'd like ingrained in every driver's head: never match speeds with someone in the lane next to you. Pass, fall behind, whatever. Just don't sit there turning a two-lane road into what's effectively a one-lane road.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
Another cure for traffic jams is to make our highways 20-lanes wide (like in Asimov's novels).
Two words, separated by a hyphen: rubber-neckers.
They are the cause of almost all traffic jams.
(I live in Sterling, couldn't fathom driving into or out of DC every day. I'd do what you do and leave at 5. My neighbor does that as well.)
I notice a lot of other little tendencies that also contribute to the problem. There's one in particular that comes to mind.
I usually see this on four-lane highways, where you have two lanes going one way and two lanes going the other way. Anytime there are only two other cars, they are right beside each other, in lock-step, doing the exact same speed over the course of miles. That way no one can pass them. If you tap (not lay on) your horn to try to get the guy in the passing lane to do some crazy like y'know, pass the other driver so you can get by them, they often think you're challenging their manhood rather than asking them not to monopolize a public resource. When I see this shit all the time, it becomes easier to understand why impatient drivers get fed up with it and will make dangerous maneuvers (like cutting right in front of someone) to get around these people. I'm not saying it's an excuse, only that if you create a strong enough temptation some people WILL succumb to it even if they aren't supposed to.
I often notice people will try to stay in my blind spot so they can do this. There's just no way that they are accidentally going my exact same speed over the course of miles. Any fraction faster or slower would eventually cause one car to pass the other over distances. I also see that when I have to stop for a traffic light, the guy beside me will slow down at the same time that I slow down even though there may be cars in front of me that require me to slow down earlier than he does. This often causes them to stop short, or to stop short, realize it, and then pull up to the light. Or if you take an exit ramp off the highway and you are slowing down in a turning lane, watch the guy who is still on the highway; often he will slow down on the highway lane just because you are slowing down in the separate turning lane, needlessly holding up anyone behind him. I refer to highways that are specifically designed so that turning traffic has its own lane and need not slow down the main road. I think drivers don't understand that groups of cars exhibit wave-like behaviors, so a minor needless slowdown can contribute to jams miles behind you. That is, it does not occur to them to even think at all of how their decisions are affecting other people, which sums up nearly all traffic problems.
I really don't think they intend to do it. I think they're just such sheep that they cannot even independently choose their own speed. Doing as others around them are doing is just so deeply ingrained. I won't allow someone to hang out in my blind spot for very long at all and will alter my speed to prevent it, both because it prevents me from being able to change lanes and because it limits my maneuverability if I ever had to dodge an obstacle. It has these two downsides and it has no upside for anyone so it's not even selfish of the other drivers, just stupid.
Another issue that causes some jams is the traffic lights themselves. Traffic lights seem to be why cars travel in these huge packs because they all line up at the red light. The tendencies I mentioned above guarantee that the packs usually don't disperse over distances. If I can manage to get in front of or just behind such a pack of cars, it makes things much easier for me than when I'm stuck within one. I'd be interested in whether something like traffic circles would prevent these large packs from forming.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Cute. But actually the paper is more about the probability of forming jams, not about getting rid of jams once they've already formed.
The conclusion is more like: Though traffic rules are designed to lead to orderly flows, the lowest jamming rate (under certain conditions) actually occurs when some fraction of participants ignore the rules.
(As a side note, it's a bit of a pet-peeve of mine when people make fun of studies by saying "That conclusion is so obvious! What a waste of time!" Common sense, hunches, and gut feelings are often wrong, which is why we do rigorous research to get at the right answers. And even if the general conclusion is obvious (in hindsight, mind you), rigorous research means that we can say something about error bars and make specific statements about applicability and predictability of models.)
Tell that to all of the A$$holes who suddenly feel the need to accelerate as you try to pass them! Maybe it's just an unconscious competitive thing for some people, but it happens all too frequently. These are definitely not the types of jerks who increase the flow of traffic. I've got my cruise control on, and am steadily approaching the car in front of me at a relative speed of 5-10 mph. I change lanes to pass and all of a sudden the relative rate of speed drops to '0'? Maybe my cruise control just stops working in the center or left lanes?
I think this may be hardwired behaviour, NOT due to just being a competitive asshole. It is essentially herd behaviour -- stick with the herd, don't get left behind for the predators to notice.
I've noticed my neighbour, who has no push-and-shove in her at all and is very much a "herd animal", will drive faster to "keep up with" a car in the next lane, AND DOES NOT REALISE SHE IS DOING IT. She will speed up by as much as 10mph to "keep up" and still doesn't notice she's done so.
Me, I'm a predator by nature, and I find that my natural response is to get AWAY from the car in the next lane, to get ahead of or behind them, but never to travel side by side.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I'm with you there, I used to like to speed. Now I like to cruise in the slow lane, and I have the opposite peeve: Asshats who refuse to use the two empty lanes on my left to pass, and ride my frickin bumper. I'll give em a minute, then the foot comes off the gas. Had one guy wait until we got down to 35 before he passed me. So sorry, is changing lanes really that hard?
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
I don't know how people justify speeding for any reason other than in a critical situation.
Because when the limit is 55 and everyone else is going 70-75, it probably isn't safe to not speed.
When you are paying for my gasoline, I will let you choose what speed I decide to move at on the road. Here our speed limit is set to 70. I get better gas mileage at 65. Everyone else goes 83 except truckers, I guess gas just is not high enough for people who speed.
Fine, just stay out of the left lane.
The "Speed Limit" is not the "Minimum Required Speed"
Sure, but it is the expected speed in good conditions.
Remember the speed limit is created as the maximum safe speed for a given length of road on favorable conditions. So I continue to ask everyone, what is your hurry?
The speed limit is often political, and is defined for the crappiest car that's road worthy - drive a uhaul truck at the speed limit and it's a whole lot more risk than my WRX going 10 (or 25) over. I'm not in a hurry, but I like to drive fast.
For all those who are wondering about why people tend (see that 40% thing again) to speed up while you are passing them?
Because some people don't want to drive fast, but can't stand the idea of someone passing them. Pretty messed up, really.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
Because "slower traffic keep right" is the law too, and if you fail to yield then you're breaking it!
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