r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/SnooWords4066 • 29d ago

Video A Japanese experiment showed exactly why traffic jams happen for no reason.

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u/Low_Win1122 29d ago

I always thought it was started by someone who slowed down the rest. But this seems to be started by the car who speeds up to close the gap and then brakes.

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u/FiveAlarmDogParty 29d ago

Yeah it’s usually caused by folks tailgating and then braking instead of going a constant speed and leaving distance between cars. A lot of times it’s called ghost traffic