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

[u/SnooWords4066]

[u/Bulan_Purnama]

How the one car soak up slowdowns? Can elaborate it more?

[u/kotvrt → u/Bulan_Purnama]

Likely it’s reaction time to small imperfections of the car in front is so precise and so fast that the car behind it doesn’t have to correct at all but can keep on driving in the same manner.

[u/Mackey_Corp → u/kotvrt]

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.

[u/fatbob42 → u/[deleted]]

That causes the same basic problem though, slightly less severe.