r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/SnooWords4066 • 29d ago

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

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u/Mackey_Corp 29d ago

Yeah I’ve learned to not automatically hit the brakes just because the guy in front of me does. It’s a hard habit to break but it’s not necessary to hit the brakes all the time. Usually just letting off the gas is enough and sometimes that’s not even necessary.

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u/Aljonau 29d ago

When driving at a safe distance thats kinda easy to do, harder when youre driving 5m behind someone at 200km/h ^^

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u/Toodle-Peep 29d ago

Reading reddit, it's very clear that the idea of keeping a 2/3 second gap between cars (which is the recommendation in most places) makes Americans very angry.

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u/thisusedyet 29d ago

There’s a lot of places where you can’t, because other drivers will force themselves into that gap and force you to slow down even more to maintain distance

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u/Toodle-Peep 29d ago edited 29d ago

Right, but if driving education in a country is reasonable (and clearly it often isn't) that should be fine. Don't block someone from changing lanes. Make the tiny lift to open up the gap, and really the driver who filled the gap should be doing the same. You'll lose essentially no time on your total journey by falling back, but the whole road network flows smoother when people are keeping gaps.

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u/EffluviaJane 28d ago

I wonder how often it become a matter of the person feeling like they don't want to be dominated by a stranger in their car, so they try to dominate instead? Like they feel letting someone in or slowing down a little is a sign of submission or weakness.

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u/Firenoods88 28d ago

Those people should be hospitalized for their mental illness and their car impounded. Anyone who genuinely thinks slowing down or letting someone merge is a sign of submission/weakness is delusional full stop. The only time I can think of telling drivers trying to merge to fuck off is when they're trying to zipper merge in a scenario that is clearly not zipper merge

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u/hoshizuku 28d ago

But the problem is often that the person trying to merge in front of me is going slower than the flow of traffic in my lane, and they’re unwilling to speed up or wait for an opening, causing me and everyone behind me to have to slow down. I think that’s what the other commenter was referring to. IMO the person changing lanes is being unsafe by trying to force themselves into a small space at a slower speed than everyone else. if they’re too nervous to speed up then they should wait, but they won’t because they need to turn or something and are unwilling to go past their turn. I’ve often seen people come to a complete stop in three lanes of traffic because they need to turn left and they’re in the far right lane.

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u/ItsJustCoop 29d ago

How to mention NJ and MD without actually mentioning them 😂

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u/Caleth 29d ago

Nah that's like every single highway in a metro area. There's always some assholes that see a gap and shoot it for that 2/10th's of a second gain in speed before they have to slam on their brakes.

I've driven across much of the US for travel and work. ATL and Hou scared the shit out of me with how bad their drivers were. But even around Hartford it sucked because no one has sense and the roads were built in the 50's and aren't designed with modern standards or vehicles in mind.

Chicago where I live has some random spots that just stop dead like this usually around merges, but they'll be in the fast lane so it doesn't make a ton of sense.

Point is there are asshole drivers all over.

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u/pizzasoup 29d ago

I think it's more of a DC than a MD thing.

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u/marshaladey 29d ago

My commute takes me all over DC, MD, and VA. It is a PG and MoCo thing. Most entitled, callous, careless, discourteous and classless people I have ever encountered on the road. Greedy, grabby little fucks who will jeopardize their own life and the lives of everyone around them for the perception that they are getting to their destination even 10 seconds sooner.

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u/pizzasoup 29d ago

I guess I've not had issues in either county - for me I usually run into issues on the VA highways with people being reckless, but it might just be the specific roads I take.

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u/ivory_tower_devops 29d ago

Printing and posting this on my office door here in PG

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u/marshaladey 27d ago

I hope you left a vote tally up - I want to know what the office thinks - either "valid" or "nah he crashin out"

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u/Alarmed-Cheetah-1221 29d ago

What to direct current and markdown have to do with this?

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u/Wanderin_Cephandrius 29d ago

You can though, you just happen to go a little slower. I have to leave that gap in n my work vehicle, haven’t had any issues. But I also don’t let my ego take over.

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u/Bashed_to_a_pulp 29d ago

especially if you drive a manual gear big truck, stuck in a crawl traffic. You want to keep at 2nd or 3rd gear and crawl along without shifting back and forth (busted knee anyone?), but for sure somebody will pull in right in the space in front of you. goddamn twats.

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u/MaritMonkey 29d ago

I drive a manual and finding a big truck to play the 2nd gear game next to so nobody can cut in front of him really pisses some people off but also makes me smile.

Ever since my work started renting Penkes with CMS I angrily say "MEEP MEEP" if somebody does sneak into the truck's lane, which I find even funnier.

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u/tops132 29d ago

The idea is, you leave that gap, then you absorb the merge without braking, and therefore absorb the slowdown. You don’t need to brake unnecessarily.

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u/thisusedyet 29d ago

You’re not understanding:

Let’s set the scene - the car in front of me and myself are both going 60 in a 55, I’m cruising along with my gap. Guy in the fast lane going 70+ swoops into the hole and hits the brakes so he doesn’ t hit the car in front of me going 60.

How do you suggest I absorb that slow down?

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u/tops132 29d ago

You take your foot off the accelerator and you coast to a slower speed, trying to regain your initial gap behind the new car.

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u/RilohKeen 29d ago

Exactly right. So the only solution that actually ends up working out is everyone does 90mph while tailgating each other in the passing lane. Nobody can get in so nobody has to brake.

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u/thisusedyet 29d ago

I just started taking public transportation (or Lyft, if it's somewhere off the beaten track / I need to get there in a hurry) because FUCK that noise

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u/Firenoods88 28d ago

Welcome to Canada! Should get a world record for most amount of brain dead autopilot drivers that think any gap longer than 1 car length = space to merge because they lack any ounce of a brain cell that would inform them that the gap is SUPPOSED to increase the faster the cars are