How to cure traffice jam?
Think traffic jams are an unbeatable force?
Bill Beaty, an electrical engineer and “traffic physics” enthusiast, doesn’t think so.
After conducting his own experiments, Bill’s discovered a simple trick anyone can do to relieve two common types of traffic jams: the “merging-traffic jam” and the “traffic wave”.
The strategy is to simply maintain a large space in front of you instead of instinctively speeding up to close any gaps. It’s counter-intuitive, but according to his own experiments, it works.
1. Now you know how to drive. Giving way will indeed help yourself.
2. Apply this to other areas of your life.
Link to original article
Link to Beaty's experiments
Labels: Learning
That's awesome.
I think the real issue here is emotions, and "losing" versus "winning." If I let someone jump into my big empty space, why, that makes me an inferior loser! That person passed me in the "race," and they've stolen my glory. They will arrive at the finish line before I do! So I must never open up a space ahead of me, that just makes me vulnerable. Right?
But if you think about it, you'll see that there is no race. There is no finish line, so any small gains are wasted. You can beat any driver on the road no matter what their skill level... by simply starting your trip a few minutes earlier! This "race" is a bunch of stupid nonsense created by insecure people. Screw 'em, and instead do the opposite: look for ways which you personally can improve the traffic flow. Let people merge ahead of you whenever they need to, and you become the more professional driver.
via his FAQ
Posted by
阿中 |
November 27, 2006 1:31 AM
This in fact is true in traffic modelling theory. More stop and go traffic equates to higher oscillation in the traffic stream. Lower oscillation would yield higher road capacity (i.e. more cars can pass through a point in say 1 hour).
LW
Posted by
Anonymous |
December 03, 2006 5:21 PM
Thank you LW the Transportation Engineer for the confirmation. =->
Posted by
Alan Yu |
December 03, 2006 5:54 PM