MIT engineer's algorithm could cut down on unexplained traffic jams

You mean that there is an algorythm to correct "Duuuh. There's an accident! Is there any blood?"

they were talking about this on QI on Friday. It`s fluid dynamics that uses kinematic wave equations. The pulse flows about 12 mph back through traffic before things clear up. They call them phantom traffic jams

I commute for two hours per day. Traffic is a lumpy fluid full of stupid.

I spent several years navigating Chinese traffic....nothing in Canada or the States compares....and there were other places in Asia that were worse...Viet Nam and Thailand come to mind. Even Israel could be challenging in places

There is one particular part of the highway on my morning commute where traffic comes to a dead stop, for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

It's like the people who don't get to the speed limit before they merge somehow stop traffic a mile behind them. It's so wierd.

they showed a graphic on how it worked and how it cleared naturally

The engineering and math-heads at MIT are (how would one describe them?)....intense. Not just academically; they know how to throw a party.

I agree. An algorithm will not cure the following problems in traffic:

1. The handicapped driver with the handicapped placard who drives as if his/her car were also handicapped.

2. Asians.

3. The distracted drivers who think that talking or texting on their cell phones is more important than driving. And then let's not forget the people who shave, apply makeup, eat breakfast, and etc. all in commute traffic.

4. The bicyclists who insist on riding their bicycle in traffic even if there's a bike lane, they blow through stop signs and red lights, they ride against traffic, and other suicidal insanity.

5. Old people who drive their 300hp Buick as if it were a Model T.

6. Angry old men who drive 1970's luxo-barges in the fast lane at impossibly slow speeds but then the m*therf*ckers speed up to cut you off when you try to pass them.

7. Crazy young men who drive their Japanese cars as if they were invincible and immune to traffic laws.

8. Stupid, asswipe cops who drive 5mph below the limit during the commute and then they do in the #2 lane as if they're just daring someone to pass them - which I always do. In any case, these arrogant pricks deliberately create a traffic jam just to compensate for how small their d*cks are.

9. Motorcyclists who insist on riding extra-loud bikes and then they lane split and scare the beejeezus out of everyone - causing a flurry of brake lights in their path.

& etc.

No algorithm will fix these problems.

Ford dealers in Vanderhoof BC where apparently F150 gas pedals are an expensive option..

In the BC lower mainland, at all dealers, it seems that turn signals are an option...



Another one for Bart's list:

Pedestrians who won't walk to the nearest crosswalk and cross wherever they please, forcing traffic to stop/slow down for them. It REALLY pisses me off when I see them do this with kids in tow.

Oh, and it really cheeses me off to have to wash off all the scraps of jaywalkers off the undercarriage of my car!

Them's called "targets" around these here parts.

Oh, and it really cheeses me off to have to wash off all the scraps of jaywalkers off the undercarriage of my car!

Do their squeegees get stuck in your brake pads?