The Simple Solution to Traffic

CGP Grey talks about traffic, specifically, what causes traffic jams when you can see no apparent cause, and what we can do about them. This seems like common sense to me, and his solution is something I’ve driven home to the many kids I’ve trained as drivers. Don't tailgate! But like driving slowly in the left lane, it’s something many people have never even considered.

(YouTube link)

Spacing out cars properly would help with highway traffic, but it’s not going to do much about intersections. Good drivers like to keep a bit of distance between them and the air ahead while moving, but if you stopped at an intersection with a car-length space between you and the car in front of you, you’d probably get some quizzical stares, or even road rage. -via reddit


Comments (11)

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I never doubted the mathematics--thought it was pretty self-evident, in fact; just watch almost any automated factory line and imagine humans trying to keep up. What I specifically said was "new technology". Self-driving cars are not "decades old", much less figuring out a way to make old and new cars alike work seamlessly and bug-free as per the video.

And meanwhile, even tech that's gone through several generations--like smart phones--still manages to blow up (literally).
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I can see these machines doing well in dive bars and on college campuses, but still...I frequently make pizza from scratch, and that machine's pizza has got to be a nasty crust.
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Rarely is the advertised product in a promo picture so obviously exactly how it looks like in real life, and consequently, so unappealing as here. It seems they didn't even try to make it look edible. Okay, guess they relied on other parts of the picture drawing most of the attention.
Also, Detroit Mac, have you never had the 4 AM drunken pizza/hamburger/kebab? That's the only right way to end a night out.
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I've seen vending machines with Kosher hot dogs. Never tried one but I watched someone else buy one. Half the fun is watching the machine cook it and drop the hotdog onto the little shaped paper plate.
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