Driving like a jerk reportedly helps to reduce traffic jams
Drive like a sheep, and you get stuck. Break some rules here and there for the good of traffic flow, and everyone benefits. A new traffic study by physicists at Sweden's Umea University found that while we're all taught to obey the traffic rules no matter what, doing so just makes for bottlenecks. Mix in some maverick drivers, however, and suddenly, logjams begin to ease as the percentage of drivers willing to pass on the right or zip past a pack of trundling cars on a two-lane actually help to keep the traffic flowing smoothly. While you might take the findings as an endorsement of behind-the-wheel jerkdom, chill out there for a second, Rat Fink. Tailgating, a behavior many impatient motorists exhibit, creates rolling platoons of cars without enough following distance to effectively brake if need be. In other words, while it's occasionally beneficial to sidestep the letter of the law, following too closely creates potential pile-ups. The ideal ratio seems to be 60-percent lemmings, 40-percent speed-addled free thinkers. That sounds like research we can put into practice pretty much immediately, though it's going to be a flimsy argument in traffic court.
[Source: PhysicsBuzz | Photo:biblicone (CC 2.0)]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
SHAC 10:42AM (8/01/2009)
I KNEW IT!!!
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Jared 11:03AM (8/01/2009)
I just wish states would make a "stupid driver lane" to the left of the fast lane. That way the idiots who talk on the phone, put their makeup on, eat breakfast, etc. In the fast lane in the morning going the speed limit will actually be in their own idiot lane, and all the people who know how to drive will simply pass them in the real fast lane. On I-95... I usualy have to cruse 85mph up the far right lane b/c it's a whole rolling road block of idiots going 70 in the fast lane. And it's all usualy because some fool at the front refuses to merg right for faster traffic.... God I hate stupid drivers...
SHAC 11:06AM (8/01/2009)
There's nothing wrong w/ talking on the phone while driving IF you're already a competent person/driver. You may was well start banning conversations with passengers or adjusting your radio
notYou 12:00PM (8/01/2009)
Jared: A simpler idea would be that we start ticketing anyone who forces another driver to pass on the right. Then it's clearly obvious that the driver in the left lane was going too slow*.
I saw a show on the autobahn once that said a "rule" there was [loosely translated] "drive right". Meaning that a driver should always be striving to be in the slowest of all lanes at all times. In other words, using the faster lanes for passing, but returning to the slower lanes when not. Duh!
(*this would be in addition to ticketing the passer on the right if they were in excess of the speed limit).
SHAC: the difference is that you don't hold your passengers to your ear with one hand while your conversing with them. ... err, do you?
Paul 3:13PM (8/01/2009)
Don't believe this for one second.
Any look at the report will reveal that "impatience" and willingness to pass is not the same as driving like a jerk. The people who pass on the right, driving in parking areas, and cutting in and out of other cars cause immeasurable delays. It's also this behavior that makes many otherwise decent drivers feel the need to tailgate, making the traffic jam far worse (as the report covers).
The post is important but doesn't report the crux of the findings as it should.
Quantumphysics 12:55PM (8/01/2009)
There is a stupid driver lane...
HOV
revvo 5:21PM (8/01/2009)
@SHAC
Sure there is. The person on the phone isn't in the car. If something is about to happen, your passenger will stop talking and go "OH SHIIIIIIII"
rv 5:33PM (8/01/2009)
There is a delicate balance between efficient driving and safe driving. True efficient driving would be everyone going top speed of their cars while leaving barely any room. This would lead to a very fast commute, however with those conditions accidents are MUCH more likely. Safe driving would consist of everyone going slow and leaving much room on the highway. There would be no delays due to accidents though. The best place to be, I believe, is in between, a little bit on the efficient side.
AMcA 8:25PM (8/02/2009)
Just call me Mr. 40%, you lemming. And get out of the way.
Hugh 10:29AM (8/04/2009)
This is a crock of BS and Dan Roth, the (so-called) author, is a total jerk for writing it.
Stephan Wilkinson 11:01AM (8/01/2009)
The excellent recent book "Traffic" makes the same point. For example, traffic engineers have found that traffic moves noticeably faster, when three lanes are merging into two, if a certain number of drivers act like what many of us consider to be jerks, and accelerate to the very end of the closed lane and then force their way into the merge rather than politely after-you-alphonse merging half a mile before the blockage.
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Jared 11:04AM (8/01/2009)
Traffic is a great book. I think it should be a required reading for all new drivers.
nardvark 11:09AM (8/01/2009)
I've seen signs on highways under construction recently (route 81, I think), that said "maintain lane until merge point." Meaning, stay in two lanes until the last minute. I'm still trying to wrap my head around why it makes a difference, since traffic is a serial process. The only thing I can think of is that by having more jerk-mergers, the average speed at the merge point is increased by a small amount. I find that hard to believe, because it causes all kinds of extra braking, but apparently something like that happens...
UCJR 1:08PM (8/01/2009)
I think it still all comes down to keeping a reasonable distance between you and the car in front of you. If people didn't glue themselves to the bumper in front of them, merging at the last moment would indeed be the best system. Unfortunately, when 1 car has to squeeze into a 1/2 car space, that's when people get a bit upset.
kwsdurango 3:46PM (8/01/2009)
What people are thinking of as "jerk merger" is really the most efficient way for traffic to merge. People should think of merging in the same way a zipper works, one from each side in quick succession.
Instead, we create an accordion effect by all slowing down in one lane well before the merge point then acting territorial about "our space" in line like kids or something.
I learned to drive in Germany and this type of merger, as well, like others have said, moving to or staying in the right lane is the way driving is done.
I wish we could drive like that here with our big open spaces...
Kumar 9:44PM (8/01/2009)
Merging in highway construction zones is the hole in this little exercise.
It assumes there WON'T be a bunch of typical you're-not-merging-in-front-of-me drivers out there if you go with the 'wait until the last second' merge style. Once a line starts forming, cutting in front of everyone just makes the merged line go more slowly. People get impatient and cut ahead because someone else did precisely the same thing and slowed traffic down already. Then the people who've been waiting for a while don't feel obliged to let the cutters in line, causing them to dive in....slowing everyone behind when they jam their brakes.
Interesting idea to hold lanes until a point shortly before the merge. If both lanes are going roughly the same speed, merging could cause less emergency braking.
Tourian 10:46AM (8/01/2009)
Makes sense to me. I've always noticed that when some people tend to hog the passing lane, they'll speed up if they see I'm about to go around them rather then just tuck in behind them. Also, if I am patiently trying to merge, people will be less likely to let me merge, but if I go for it, things will move along more smoothly because it'll be one less person waiting to get on. But then, I drive an Evo so I've noticed people tend to act like jerks towards me because they just hate my car.
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David T 11:31AM (8/01/2009)
I assure you, you're being paranoid. 95% of all people could care less what you are driving and don't know what an EVO is. They're just jerks who don't like to let people merge.
Tourian 2:55PM (8/01/2009)
I don't care if they don't know what it is, and I'm not being paranoid. Other people riding with me say the same thing. People tend to act like jerks around me. Some people just don't like big wings I guess.
evolution2003 1:40AM (8/02/2009)
dude, i know exactly how you feel. I had a dumbshlt on a motorcycle who *perfectly* stationed himself in my right-side blind spot going east on route 7 in VA this morning. I'm on the far left, he in the middle. I needed to get to the far right lane, so i dropped 2 gears and punched it (we were well between two clusters of cars.) Dumphuk must've felt his manhood threatened because he punched it too, specifically blocking me from merging right (and yes, everyone, i absolutely had my turn signal on before i dropped gears.) We got up to about 90 and i had had enough, so I pulled a Maverick ("he'll fly right by") and executed a carrier brake to the right lane. The bike was a sweet white custom, couldn't make out the model though.
(aside: spied a silver veyron going west on VA-7 about an hour earlier... Redskins training camp is in full swing, but it certainly wasn't a player, some older white dude driving)