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
Traffic can be modeled as compression waves (like sound in air) in a fluid.
What does that mean? Lets imagine a line of traffic 2km long, with an average distance between each vehicle of around 1-2 meters. Lets say the car at the front slams on its brakes for some reason, any reason. Moments later they accelerate again and continue. This is like making a noise in the metaphor above, what happens when you make a noise? The noise travels through a medium, like a wave in water.
The car behind the lead car now has to slam on its brakes, or hit the car ahead, and so on and so on down the line. In reality it’s not usually just one incident, maybe there’s an accident and a series of drivers slow down or stop near it. Maybe there’s a traffic signal ahead that causes these “waves” of slowdowns or stops.
But the bottom line is that once you initiate that wave, it travels back through the traffic and you get period slowdowns/stops, and resumptions of travel.
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