Traffic Wave Phenomenon Explained
Have you ever traveled on the road and suddenly traffics appear for no apparent reason, last for 20 minutes, and then disperse?
While normally traffic can be caused by accidents or roadwork, this singularity as explained by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), occurs as one motorist gets too close to the car in front, hits the brake, and then causing a ripple of brakes by the drivers behind.
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Traffic in Jakarta [ist][/caption]Andrew Howard, head of road safety at The Automobile Association says, "The first driver brakes and the one behind has to brake a little bit harder and so on, until somebody comes to a complete halt".
Edde Wilson of Bristol University, UK also adds, “The stop-and-go waves are generated by very small events at the level of individual vehicles," “It can just be bad lane changing, which increases to such an extent that the impact is much bigger than the original event which caused it”.
So next time this happens on the road don't be puzzled, there might just be a traffic wave.
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