The Physics of Traffic Congestion

I won’t have much time for blogging today, so I’ll leave you with this short video clip, from New Scientist, of a Japanese experiment probing the “shockwave” phenomenon: traffic slowdowns that spontaneously appear without any obvious rhyme or reason.

Ah, human behavior… If it weren’t so complex and so demented, it wouldn’t be anywhere near so interesting!


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Comments

  1. I wonder if any of the drivers were using their cellphones during this test.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Bacon,
    Too busy today? You are like the harried parent who is too busy to entertain the kids so you show them cartoon DVDs.
    We will grow up dysfunctional and it will be your fault.

    Peter Galuszka

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Traffic is a non-newtonian fluid.

    RH

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