I have yet to understand why more cars going in the same direction @ the posted limit slow traffic down if the speed is the same the rest of the time.
2007-02-02 05:37:59 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Commuting
There are 2 main causes of this, both of which are reflective of the "human input" component.
1) Fractions of seconds differences in speed/time.
2) Human "error" (see: stupidity)
1) As we are not robots or machines, it can be difficult for us to keep a consistently balanced distance between ourselves and the car in front of us. While sudden and significant changes in our speed (expressed in temporal terms) is easier to notice, the subtle changes can have a significant effect as well.
This is essentially indicating that if the lead driver is pacing at 70 mph, the next driver will have trouble maintaining that same 70 mph pace at a legal distance behind them. *Now* if both drivers had no other variables to consider, they could both use their "Cruise Control" to maintain 70 mph. Again, slight differences might abound from the exact calculations of this "Cruise Control" but let's move on. Since there are other variables and most drivers don't bother with cruise control in heavier traffic, their speed will fluctuate. So, if the *average* speed of the lead driver is now 70 mph, the best *likely* average speed of the trailling driver will be any speed less than 70 mph. Even if it is 69.9 mph, the difference is significant. It is significant because of the drivers behind them. Subtract 1 mph from the posted limit (55 mph in Illinois) for the number of drivers behind the lead and you can easily see why you're driving 10 mph on the highway! Even if you were to only subtract 0.1 mph for every driver, it isn't hard to reach this conclusion in rush hour traffic.
2) That being said, you can't really "blame" any person for not being able to maintain the *exact* same speed as the car in front of them at a legally permissable distance between them. But you can blame them for ****ing up the system, nonetheless.
If you can get out ahead of the main congestion, you will typically find *at least* one "idiot" who refuses to cede to the natural flow of traffic. In Illinois, it is illegal to drive in the left-most lane unless you are passing. So the idiot that sits out there at the start of congested traffic doesn't seem to realize that THEY are *in fact* the MAJOR cause of traffic congestion. If there were only one of these people on the road at any time, his/her impact might be lessened somewhat. However, there is always more than one on the road at high traffic times. Still, if you come back to the "chaos/butterfly" effect on all traffic to the rear, even one person in this system can do a fair amount of damage.
2007-02-02 06:23:10 · answer #1 · answered by CoolFin69 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If everyone was driving at same speed the traffic can flow fast. But generally if the speed of one car slows down because of lane change,merger from ramp or taking exits, everyone else looses speed. and if there is one emergency stop, it brings everything to halt.
If the total trafic on the road exceeds the capacity for which it was designed, this has to happen.
2007-02-02 07:13:37 · answer #2 · answered by a1b2c3d4test 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I hear and sympathize with you. There too many people "rubber - necking " ( looking at stores and coffee shops) There are turtles, people jabbering cellphones and generally not paying attention of what's ahead of them. You have others driving while in a coma in the passing lane. Some are sniffing the scenery while Sunday driving. I'm not a violent person but some times they need a bottle of water tossed in their lap. That's too harsh. For chuckles I'd like to spend an afternoon with the above mentioned folks to get a general idea of just what goes through their minds while driving in a Novocaine fog.
2007-02-02 06:03:03 · answer #3 · answered by Country Boy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To keep from having a pile up, also you have a chance to change lanes, There are 10 times the cars or more. It is good that they slow down. You have to go with the Flow.
2007-02-02 05:47:20 · answer #4 · answered by snowflake 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It wouldn't be a problem at all, if there was one entrance, and one exit to the highway, butpeople have to merge onto the highway all over the place. As a result, when there are more people, there are smaller and fewer gaps for people to merge into. When there are too many people others on the highway have to slow down to let them in rather than merging smoothly.
2007-02-02 05:43:52 · answer #5 · answered by Max Power 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It just takes one driver driving slow or doing stupid stuff, and there's a whip effect that causes all the brake lights to come on. Kinda like dominos.
So the answer is basically a few bad/aggressive drivers causing the problem.
2007-02-02 05:42:28 · answer #6 · answered by Indiana Jones 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because there's more traffic on the road at rush hour.
2007-02-02 08:54:48 · answer #7 · answered by HULK RULES!! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
think about it. there are more cars and therefore traffic gets backed up. the speed limit is not that big of deal because if cars are backed up you can't move.
2007-02-02 05:45:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
thats why parts of the autobhond have speedlimits that change dependin on the time of day and volume of traffic. also they open up the emergency lanes if it gets really bad
2007-02-02 07:08:16 · answer #9 · answered by Kevy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the old people and the slow people decide that 7am and 5pm are great times to go out for a nice slow drive and piss people off!
2007-02-02 05:46:05 · answer #10 · answered by April B 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋