Ok let me try and make this make sense; when driving on the motorway/highway, why does traffic come to a slow or stop at some points and then speed up (with no obstructions/traffic lights etc) and flow freely with no change in the road or conditions?
If it’s clear up ahead, why do cars slow down or stop when nothing is blocking them in the distance? It’s like it slows down for no reason then just regains speed and traffic flows fine. Drives me insane
In: 8
In Formula 1 motor racing they call this the concertina effect; you see it most often on the approach to a corner where cars are slowing down, so the car behind can more or less catch up but then the other car accelerates after the corner while this one is now slowing down as it approaches that corner, so ultimately the gap between them is restored.
On the highway what probably happened was some lane-hopping, causing cars behind to brake, the cars behind them did as well and, if traffic is busy, this caused a chain reaction of cars slowing, pretty much to a standstill as the backlog extended.
Because there’s no actual obstruction (a collision) once the car in front starts moving, the rest of you can as well.
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