Shockwave traffic jams recreated for first time

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http://technology.newscientist.com/ar...

Traffic jams that occur for no reason have been replicated on the test-track

Footage courtesy of Mathematical Society of Traffic Flow, Japan

• Category

  Autos & Vehicles

[Mike Sharp]

Except the morons behind you tap their brakes, and start the cycle.

[sasmas1545]

You're being silly. You shouldn't care. I don't give a fuck if everyone is black and neither should you. They can't turn you black, they're not threatening your health or your life, and you're in control of the race of your children. Quit bitching, especially on YouTube because that's really not going to get anything done.

[asdfuogh]

You're kind of right. It mentions in the source article that '"If they had set up an experiment with robots driving in a perfect circle, flow breakdown would not have occurred. Human error is needed to cause the fluctuations in behaviour," says Rees."'

So, if the point was to show that traffic shocks are necessarily initiated by a psychological factor, this experiment would have sucked. But I think the main point was to show that the mathematical model developed for a 1d situation was sound.

[unambitious]

Damn white car at 0:07 fault, lol.

[raul covaciu]

Stupid people

[mkyvalentine]

I don't doubt the results, its cool and somewhat expected ...

However, I have a funny feeling about this experiment. It's a physchology experiment that didn't have double-blind controls. The participants in the experiment knew what the test was about. If this was a paranormal experiment we would shoot the 'evidence' down because the experiment lacks scientific rigor.

Am I missing something?

[walker1054]

The most frustrating thing is when you do this and leave a big gap in front of you and then somebody from the next lane decides to move into your lane in front of you where you left a gap, all just because it would get them 10 feet further ahead..

[NMWMN]

... disparities in wheel tread, wheel size, engine size, exhaust difference, vehicle weight and wind speed all contribute to this phenomena... throw a mobile telephone into the mix and you have a real mess!!!

[Jade Ravenwing]

and this is why i consider the majority of the human race to be stupid. you're simply adding to the number of idiots out there.

[Lkonae]

Why don't you just kill yourself if you're so apathetic about the world?