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Traffic Waves

wbeaty5 HN recommenders · 2013–2022
1M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2008-07-27

A short video from the trafficwaves.org site showing how traffic jams and standing waves form, including the fight between cheaters and blockers at an exit-lane backup. It also touches on how individual driving behavior affects the flow.

HN likes it as a fun, clear explainer of traffic waves and of the benefits of leaving gaps while driving.

Everyday physics & science demosTransit, cities & urban planning

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6 comments from Hacker News

@socillion2013 · in “The Physics Behind Traffic Jams”

Original copy at [LINK] A video from there, omitted from OP: [VIDEO] OP is a cut-down version of this site, which has been up for a decade or two. I'm curious if it's a legitimate copy.

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@thunderbong2015 · in “What Are Traffic Waves and Why Do They Happen So Much?”

I don't know if you've seen this video[0]. It helped me understand traffic waves quite a bit [0] [VIDEO]

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@xbryanx2016 · in “Can a single car break a traffic jam?”

William J Beaty's video on Traffic Waves (linked in the article) is an enjoyable summary of some of these ideas: [VIDEO]

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@tobmlt2018 · in “How America lost its love for the stick shift”

You beautiful zen traffic wave surfer you. This, a thousand times this. Somewhere on the web there is a great video of a guy doing this pretty effectively. I guess it's maybe five years old now but worth a watch. I think this wsj vid may contain excerpts from the original: [LINK] If everyone could just relax out there, some of those traffic standing waves would diffuse away to nothing. Ahhh... When I get in bad traffic and struggle against the urge to tailgate I play a game where I try and give enough space to where I just roll up to the car in front of me as it is starting to move again. This gives me a time-local goal to aim at instead of fixating on supposed "bad actors" I might want to judge instead. Edit: I found it! (from 2008 it appears) [VIDEO]

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@TheSmiddy2018 · in “After 48 hours we haven't seen any sign people are using Waymo's service”

I leave massive gaps constantly now, it lets me see farther ahead so I can switch lanes when I see a problem coming and my average trip time is definitely shorter because of this. I really like this video for describing some of the advantages of "zen driving": [VIDEO]

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@wildrhythms2022 · in “A smartphone app that allows public to submit evidence of speeding drivers”

One of my favorite videos of all time on this topic: Traffic Waves [VIDEO] (Not new information, but a fun video, and it's something truckers have known about for decades)

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