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Traffic jam shockwave recreated in experiment


Chisiang
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Not sure if posted before, pretty interesting.

 

 

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/21/video-t...-in-experiment/

 

 

Shockwave traffic jams -- the kind where you slow down and speed up (with others behind you doing the same thing) -- have finally been recreated in a controlled environment (woo-hoo!). Theories about the causes of traffic jams have been computer modeled before, but here hasn't been a live demonstration of how a body of traffic goes from highway speeds to a dead stop -- for no apparent reason -- until now.

 

A team of Japanese scientists put 22 cars on a circular track and told them to drive about 20-MPH. Sure enough, a few laps in, uneven gaps appeared between the cars. Then a group of cars got bunched up. The people at the back of the bunch sometimes had to come to a stop. The car at the front of the bunch would lurch away... only to rejoin the back of the bunch on the other side of the circle.

 

Now that the phenomenon has been recreated in "lab" conditions, the greatest minds of our generation can get to fixing it. Or, not really, since the cause of shockwave jams is conclusively shown to be -- tada! -- human error. Some folks just can't go with the flow when traffic needs it most. So while fixing human error might not be on the cards, at least there's some hope now for traffic jams. Watch video of the artificial shockwave traffic jam after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Ben!

 

 

 

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If you see carefully, the jam started when one of the cars couldn't keep up to the vehicle in front. So the car at the rear starts to slow down as a result.

 

So a simple conclusion can be drawn. Car, or driver rather, who are slow to accelerate will cause the car behind to lag which in time caused a shockwave effect to the rear.

 

This morning kena from a golden Nissan Sunny CVT driven by a middleage man... So slow to pick up that a congestion was immediately created behind. shakehead.gif

 

I think the fuel price must be hurting that uncle so he literally feather his throttle. As if a bit more on the throttle he will go bankrupt like that rifle.gif

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Alarmak...why watch a artifical lab experiment?

 

Just join LTA and ask to be posted to the command center, where all the lampost camera images are shown.

One can see the real shockwave situation day in day out.

Maybe one can come up with some mathematical formula to explain the situation after staring at the 100 screens for 10 years!

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Not sure if posted before, pretty interesting.

 

 

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/21/video-t...-in-experiment/

 

Shockwave traffic jams -- the kind where you slow down and speed up (with others behind you doing the same thing) -- have finally been recreated in a controlled environment (woo-hoo!). Theories about the causes of traffic jams have been computer modeled before, but here hasn't been a live demonstration of how a body of traffic goes from highway speeds to a dead stop -- for no apparent reason -- until now.

 

A team of Japanese scientists put 22 cars on a circular track and told them to drive about 20-MPH. Sure enough, a few laps in, uneven gaps appeared between the cars. Then a group of cars got bunched up. The people at the back of the bunch sometimes had to come to a stop. The car at the front of the bunch would lurch away... only to rejoin the back of the bunch on the other side of the circle.

 

Now that the phenomenon has been recreated in "lab" conditions, the greatest minds of our generation can get to fixing it. Or, not really, since the cause of shockwave jams is conclusively shown to be -- tada! -- human error. Some folks just can't go with the flow when traffic needs it most. So while fixing human error might not be on the cards, at least there's some hope now for traffic jams. Watch video of the artificial shockwave traffic jam after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Ben!

 

 

 

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/21/video-t...-in-experiment/

://http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/21/...-experiment/

 

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i doubt is feather throttle bro.

there are many ways to slow down... be it manual or auto gear, and many ways to move off..

 

simply put, judgement problem.

 

If driver cannot judge how fast the car is moving in front, he will not be able to keep pace. Even when stationary, he should look ahead of all the cars infront and judge if the traffic is moving or not, to go into half clutch or half 'brake' and not wait for car infront to start moving then move.

 

 

The problem is compounded by the fact there are inept drivers around that take their own sweet time to move off and only 'kan jiong' when someone in lane 2 cut into their lane. [shakehead]

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No la. our transport and road system is world class one.... our minister say so one. [lipsrsealed]

Edited by Slowmo
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Neutral Newbie

 

[furious] I freaking hate it when idiot kaypohs stop to look at accidents...WTF? If they intend to stop and help, they would have done so already..many just slow down and cause a huge jam way behind!!

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Yup... Yesterday when I was on my way back on the PIE towards Jurong, it's suddenly came to a crawl after Sims Ave... Was thinking must be another accident since it was drizzling... It turned out to be a broken down police van on the opposite side of PIE after the Toa Payoh exit... NB... Police van breakdown also want to see...

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Turbocharged
The problem is compounded by the fact there are inept drivers around that take their own sweet time to move off and only 'kan jiong' when someone in lane 2 cut into their lane

 

or when he sees someone on his/her indicator light wanting to cut into his lane.

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Another factor is also due to the car in front keeps stepping on his brakes, thus the immediate car behind will keep a longer safety distance and tend to accelerate slower

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furious.gif I freaking hate it when idiot kaypohs stop to look at accidents...WTF? If they intend to stop and help, they would have done so already..many just slow down and cause a huge jam way behind!!

 

happened to me, was on PIE smooth going all the way than suddendly there's a jam upfront on lane1, the other lanes were going slightly smoother but slow too, so my first conclusion is, accident on lane 1 ahead, so standard lah, switch to lane 2/3 kept driving until i realised why traffic was slow, bloody cars on lane one were slowly down to look at accident that occured on the opp direction... damn all these KPOs cos traffic jam for no reason!

 

by the way i admit i also tempted to steal a glance n i did, but then hor no need to slow down n try to analyse the accident, take notes (car plate no.), see got casualty anot, guess who's fault, etc. u r not CSI ok!

Edited by Tunge
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Or lots of kaypoh drivers who slow down to try to look at the accident on the other side of the expressway...

 

Why no one drove over him? One less rubber-necker on the road.

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