Over at BoingBoing there's a discussion of the mathematics of traffic jams. (Hey, here's a neat traffic simulator!) An opportunity, therefore, for me to get on my Anti-Traffic-Jam-Driving high horse:

Leaving adequate space in front of you helps reduce jams because traffic is a sorting problem. Let's say a left-lane driver realizes he has to exit soon, but the center lane is tightly packed. The left-laner will slow down, waiting for a space to free up in the center lane, causing the entire left lane to slow down, jam begins. Leaving sorting space in front of you is also safer -- defensive driving!

I've changed my driving tactics since reading the Traffic Waves site, leaving lots of "sorting space" in front of me, whether the traffic is fast or slow. Traffic is one of those tragedy of the commons situations -- acting in your own self-interest (i.e., going as fast as possible, and not letting other cars "beat you") leads to the breakdown of the common good (traffic jams!)

The moral of this story: slow down, and you'll go faster, Alice.

Traffic jams are one of those M E-L posted this on June 29, 2009 10:41 AM

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