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Road Jerks
Science is proving that, once again, when you analyze human behavior, even "bad" behavior, it's often done for a good reason even when that reason isn't always clear. Case in point: people are jerks in traffic because being a jerk works, and, surprisingly, it works for everyone. At least until the tail-gaters get involved. Ellen. :)
The problem is that there's more than one way to be a jerk. Someone driving sixty-two in the left lane who refuses to move over and let faster traffic pass is a jerk. Someone who merges at forty-five and makes the entire right lane slow down is also a jerk. And neither of these people help the flow of traffic...
Really, the conclusion of this study should be "the best highway flow happens when drivers maintain highway speed and a three-second gap".
Posted by: DensityDuck on July 30, 2009 03:07 AMWhat about some jerk tailgating you with bright lights that literally blind you to the point where it is hard to drive on a 35 mile residential street at 11pm on a Sunday night? Pissed me off to the point where I gave that ass&^$ the middle finger. Kind of immature but I don't let people mess with me on the road.
Posted by: catherine on August 10, 2009 03:24 AMWhat about some jerk tailgating you with bright lights that literally blind you to the point where it is hard to drive on a 35 mile residential street at 11pm on a Sunday night? Pissed me off to the point where I gave that ass&^$ the middle finger. Kind of immature but I don't let people mess with me on the road.
Posted by: catherine on August 10, 2009 03:24 AMWhat about some jerk tailgating you with bright lights that literally blind you to the point where it is hard to drive on a 35 mile residential street at 11pm on a Sunday night? Pissed me off to the point where I gave that ass&^$ the middle finger. Kind of immature but I don't let people mess with me on the road.
Posted by: catherine her on August 10, 2009 03:24 AMDD - I'd say that it's best when everyone moves at roughly the same speed. Slower traffic to the right and get out of the passing lane if you aren't actively passing someone. Speed differential seems to be the biggest impediment, at least from what I see. If a bunch of traffic is moving along 10mph faster than everyone to the right of them, then someone slows them down, everyone has to brake. Each person down the "train" has to break harder and more, then there's a lag prior to them being able to speed up.
IIRC, that's the source of many traffic jams right there.
Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on August 10, 2009 10:45 AM