The Telegraph lately reported that the source of a large amount major traffic jams is due to motorists who are either too aggressive or too nervous in their driving manner.
The modern study was conducted by the Dr Jorge Laval from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, working with workmates at the University of Lyon, France.
The scientists, whose investigate appears in a extraordinary edition of a scientific journal Philosophical Dealings of the Royal Society, found that while the underlying origin of a jam might be an accident, a bottleneck, or drivers no more than changing lanes on hectic roads, it is how the drivers react in the cars behind that leads to traffic to slow to a stop.
Timid drivers apparently had the most important effect because that they “shied away” when the vehicle in front started slowing down, and deliberately started driving even more slowly to increase the gap between them. This consequently led to cars further behind going more slowly.
Pushy drivers also caused pace to drop because that they braked hard on the closing moment to avoid driving into the car in front. They then had to drive more little by little to open up a space again.
The actions of both as a result send a “wave of deceleration” backwards down the road until traffic grinds to a halt. Such behaviour evidently leads to the stop-start traffic jams which infuriate motorists. If all of the drivers behaved identical way, so traffic would not come to a halt. But the researchers found that in real life situations, the behaviour of aggressive and timid drivers led to the slowdown obtaining worse.
On the other hand, the research does not appear to bring us closer to establishing the exact point at which such traffic jams start, or even necessarily what is the causitive trigger. The article cites comments from Dr Eddie Wilson, an expert on traffic modelling at Bristol University, who’s feeling is that it has “more to do with lane changes, particularly at junctions when you will discover extensive numbers of vehicles changing lanes”.
The solution, however, is apparently clear: robot drivers. Vehicles that are capable of sensing their surrounding conditions and their proximity to other vehicles could maintain safe distances while helping to keep traffic moving. Sports car makers including Toyota, General Motors and Mercedes, are already developing cars that use computers to either carry over control from motorists in dangerous situations or are completely robot controlled.
Author Resource:
Speeding Lawyers advice from Keep Me Driving - Motoring Solicitors
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")