Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Herring
This may have been posted previously but I just came across it and wanted to share...good info. and a great vid on Traffic Jam Busting...
TRAFFIC WAVE EXPERIMENTS |
I usually do this because I drive stick and can't be bothered faffing around with the clutch pedal and gear changes all the time, preferring instead to just let it sit. I sometimes find it hard to predict the waves though. I'll crawl along then everyone will get faster and it seems like I'm holding them up. I gradually increase speed for a while and then it seems like it grinds to a halt randomly. The only time I don't do this is when there are multiple lights where it pays to get as many cars through each cycle every time.
Edit: this thread is old! It usually happens when I google search an interesting topic and find it's years old.
I will also add that I remember a UK show called "Vroom Vroom" or maybe it was "Fifth Gear" where they experimented with cars in a circle trying to drive a steady speed behind one another (about 15-20 mph). Drivers found it increasingly difficult to maintain steady speed as more cars were added to the circle and the pulsing start stop fast and slow oscillations began to occur.