Are YOU causing traffic jams? You might be and not know it.

[XZeroII]

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/05/the-science-behind-traffic-jams-infographic/#continued

I blame everyone except me because I only change lanes if I absolutely must. I stay in middle lane or right lane 99% of the time.

 

[mizzou]

I drove in Dallas once

will never do it again!

 

[her209]

America's Top 10 Most Congested Roads

FAIL. Doesn't even mention anything in Southern California. At the very least, the 405 deserves a top 5 spot.

 

[Proprioceptive]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

 

[kranky]

There's a place in town where two lanes merge into one (the left lane merges into the right). Traffic is usually light, speed limit is 50. If the right lane is going 50 with ample space between cars, there will be a stream of people who won't merge early because they want to go 60. They fly all the way up to the merge point, and now both lanes come to a near stop while people take their turns merging at 5 mph. If they would just merge early, everyone could keep going 50. It's about the only thing that makes me road rage, because it's not just one jerk driver, it's a sea of them, and it's so avoidable.

 

[CRXican]

America's Top 10 Most Congested Roads

FAIL. Doesn't even mention anything in Southern California. At the very least, the 405 deserves a top 5 spot.

seriously

 

[InflatableBuddha]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

We use them on some of the major highways in Metro Vancouver (e.g. Lions Gate Bridge and causeway; Hwy 99 leading to the George Massey Tunnel) and they're very effective.

We call them counterflow lanes.

 

[blurredvision]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

We have that on a major road in Lexington, KY and it works brilliantly.

 

[JimmiG]

The cause of traffic jams is this:

(a passenger in a subway or tram car takes up even less road space)

The personal car is supposed to be about freedom, but automobile dependency is not freedom of choice. You have no choice but to take the car and endure hours of traffic jams every day.

The car is great for some things, but it's not ideal for rapidly moving lots of people at once via a fixed route from point a to point b.

 

[lxskllr]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

They have them in VA. Weird if you aren't used to it, but it seems to work pretty well, and very error resistant.

 

[bhanson]

Reversible Lanes

Mind = Blown

 

[CallMeJoe]

There's a place in town where two lanes merge into one (the left lane merges into the right). Traffic is usually light, speed limit is 50. If the right lane is going 50 with ample space between cars, there will be a stream of people who won't merge early because they want to go 60. They fly all the way up to the merge point, and now both lanes come to a near stop while people take their turns merging at 5 mph. If they would just merge early, everyone could keep going 50. It's about the only thing that makes me road rage, because it's not just one jerk driver, it's a sea of them, and it's so avoidable.

Also one of my pet peeves.
In Greenville SC, there's one interchange (I-85S to I-385) with an exit-only lane that tends to slow as it approaches the interchange. All four lanes are frequently dragged to a dead crawl by drivers in the far left lane running full speed right up to the interchange then jamming their way across two lanes and forcing into the exit lane at the last moment.
The compression waves they trigger back up the interstate leave drivers coming to a dead stop three or four times, for no immediately obvious reason.
I'm sure every metropolitan area has similar problem areas.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

The cause of traffic jams is this:

(a passenger in a subway or tram car takes up even less road space)

The personal car is supposed to be about freedom, but automobile dependency is not freedom of choice. You have no choice but to take the car and endure hours of traffic jams every day.

The car is great for some things, but it's not ideal for rapidly moving lots of people at once via a fixed route from point a to point b.

:thumbsup: Truth.

Where did you find that graphic, BTW?

 

[bettlebrox]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

Depends on how it's done, on the Southeast Expressway (or parking lot) outside of Boston, they use what's a called a zipper lane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper_lane

I don't drive it often, maybe daily commuters on that road can comment on if they think it helps?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Or you could just live in a place with minimal traffic..

<--

 

[BoberFett]

The personal car is supposed to be about freedom, but automobile dependency is not freedom of choice. You have no choice but to take the car and endure hours of traffic jams every day.

The car is great for some things, but it's not ideal for rapidly moving lots of people at once via a fixed route from point a to point b.

When we lived in Minneapolis we were a one car family, my wife took the bus to work. Since we've moved to the suburbs she now has her own car and she's much happier. No more standing in the freezing sleet and a foot of snow waiting for the bus, only to be surround by the degenerates of society who are spitting in the aisle, acting like thugs, talking about all the people in whom they have "popped caps", etc. Screw public transportation, leave it to the poor.

As for traffic, I've always been suspicious of that "wave effect" they talked about, and imagine it's due to assholes who don't know how to drive with other people. Dumbasses that drive too fast, too slow, tailgate, speed up quickly then slam on the brakes rather than maintaining a more constant speed.

:thumbsup: Truth.

Where did you find that graphic, BTW?

Some truth maybe, but they're intentionally distorting it to prove a point. The picture with the cars is zoomed in more to make it a appear worse than it is. Why couldn't they simply be honest? They'd still prove their point.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

3 tickets for speeding, illegal lane change, driving too slowly, failing to signal, etc = death penalty. Problem solved.

 

[Engineer]

We have that on a major road in Lexington, KY and it works brilliantly.

Too bad that the rest of Lexington can't time the lights worth a shit though. Roads in Lexington, especially roads like Man-O-War, are horrible with light timing and priorities. After I went to Boise, ID for 6 weeks last year and witnessed (by driving) their road system and light patterns/sensors/etc., it was a breath of fresh air compared to Lexington.

I do agree that Nicholasville Road works well with the reversible lanes. That was started by a grant many years ago and has proven, IMO, that it can work well. Just don't get caught in the wrong lanes at certain times of the day, lol.

 

[rockyct]

Depends on how it's done, on the Southeast Expressway (or parking lot) outside of Boston, they use what's a called a zipper lane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper_lane

I don't drive it often, maybe daily commuters on that road can comment on if they think it helps?

They are setting those up on the I-15 in San Diego. It's on the carpool/fasttrack lanes. The original part had two lanes for carpools/fasttrack that would switch direction based on the time of day. The new plan is four lanes, two each direction most of the time, then move the barrier over during traffic to create 3 in one direction.

 

[Patranus]

LOL. How am I suppose to believe that picture when L.A. isn't mentioned anywhere on the most congested list.

The 405 has to be somewhere on that list.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Some truth maybe, but they're intentionally distorting it to prove a point. The picture with the cars is zoomed in more to make it a appear worse than it is. Why couldn't they simply be honest? They'd still prove their point.

Ha, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out.

I tracked down some statistics:

Single-passenger vehicles use about 6x as much road space per passenger. http://www.vtpi.org/tranben.pdf (p.58)

Vehicles certainly have their optimal uses (carrying cargo; multiple destinations in a single trip etc.). I drive a bit, but I use transit for commuting and many other trips.

It's just unfortunate that many cities are laid out such that people must drive just to commute or go to a single destination; with more efficient land usage, many of those trips could be replaced with walking, cycling or mass transit.

 

[rudeguy]

There's a place in town where two lanes merge into one (the left lane merges into the right). Traffic is usually light, speed limit is 50. If the right lane is going 50 with ample space between cars, there will be a stream of people who won't merge early because they want to go 60. They fly all the way up to the merge point, and now both lanes come to a near stop while people take their turns merging at 5 mph. If they would just merge early, everyone could keep going 50. It's about the only thing that makes me road rage, because it's not just one jerk driver, it's a sea of them, and it's so avoidable.

I'll pick those a-holes. I've been known to stay right beside them so they can't merge. There is one spot where people do this and the next exit is 3 miles down the road and it makes it a bitch to get to where the other exit leads to. If the idiots had just gotten in the turn lane, they would have been fine. Now they have to go on an adventure.

I have fun punishing moron drivers.

 

[jteef]

Agree with you in principle, however, it doesn't work in practice. In germany the driving law says when a lane ends, you merge like a zipper; right left right left, like clockwork. And the people do follow that law like clockwork as the good germans they are. However, traffic still backs up for 10-15 kms when 2 lanes merge into 1.

This also has the added deception of the right lane always moving a lot faster in traffic than the left, which is kind of counter-intuitive to Americans. The reason is all the large trucks are on the right, so on the left you have 30 Smarts and on the right, you have 10 Smarts and 5 trucks, both with "equal" distances of traffic. You merge 15 cars faster if you're in the right lane.

There's a place in town where two lanes merge into one (the left lane merges into the right). Traffic is usually light, speed limit is 50. If the right lane is going 50 with ample space between cars, there will be a stream of people who won't merge early because they want to go 60. They fly all the way up to the merge point, and now both lanes come to a near stop while people take their turns merging at 5 mph. If they would just merge early, everyone could keep going 50. It's about the only thing that makes me road rage, because it's not just one jerk driver, it's a sea of them, and it's so avoidable.

 

[QueBert]

LOL. How am I suppose to believe that picture when L.A. isn't mentioned anywhere on the most congested list.

The 405 has to be somewhere on that list.

I've only driven on 1 highway on that list. I live in So Cal and I thought the 405 was bad until I was up in San Fransisco, it was so bad it made me wish I was on the 405. And according to the list it's only #5. SF was easily 2-3x worse than the 405.

 

[rcpratt]

Wow, I'm glad they took all that time to state the obvious. The reversible lane thing is intriguing though, I hadn't heard of that before.

Also, US-23 does not merge with I-75 anywhere near Detroit. Toledo, maybe. No idea what that's about.