Tuesday, May 1, 2012 7:58:35 AM
this is what NNoamfer was referring to. I remember a 2nd part of this video as well, talking about keeping the same distance and it alleviated it, but I can't seem to find it.
no speedometer is 100% accurate, this is part of the problem. then on major freeways, you have an influx of cars during peak hours, with minimal leaving the throughway. if you were to leave at least 2 car gap between you and the person in front of you, you wouldn`t have to put on the brakes [sic"> when someone `cuts` in front of you, just let off the gas to back off some.
As Nadia mentioned, yes it is true; it's all about staying off the brakes. When we break because the car in front of us has braked, we tend to overbrake by a tiny fraction. Then the car behind you overbrakes a little more, and the car behind them, and the car behind them.
This quickly leads to complete stoppage further down the line, if the traffic is heavy enough. I think it`s called a "ghost jam".
Even without a full jam forming, the compound effect of all those tiny overbrakes adds up to "drive fast and brake" traffic moving more slowly over all than "drive a little slower without braking" traffic.
TL,DR: when the traffic`s flowing, don`t rush to stick your nose up the bum of the car in front.
Monday, April 30, 2012 6:31:13 PM
one ton ford has no problem finding the correct lane to be in... it's always my lane. never mind i`ve had to push people out of the way before... but hey` it`s Ohio
Monday, April 30, 2012 6:22:41 PM
Nnoamfer is correct. In the UK we have mandatory variable speed limits on some motorways, enforced by speed-cameras. On the M25 (London Orbital), this works fairly well, preventing compressions and rarefactions in traffic flow. Big fines are available for those who chose to ignore the speed limit, no escapes!