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Experiment recreates field observation

From New Scientist Shockwave traffic jam recreated for first time.

Yes, when a car taps its brake and a road is at capacity, shockwaves ensue. Yes not all drivers are identical, and yes some drivers are random. Candidate for Ignobel prize?

In real life, we don't drive on circular test tracks, and there are gaps, allowing traffic to eventually recover. One could have looked at race cars for a similar experiment.

Posted by David Levinson on March 6, 2008 07:44 AM |

Comments

I read of this "breakthrough" a couple of months ago I think, and I was amazed that the researchers considered this to be news! I know of similar research in Toronto in the late 80's that showed this shockwave effect in congested expressway traffic. Unless there is something more to this that I haven't read yet, it just isn't new.

Posted by: Don | March 6, 2008 02:14 PM

Something related, also read a few months ago (Subcritical Hopf bifurcations in a car-following model with reaction-time delay). The videos of the simulation are here.

Posted by: chi.lL.a | March 9, 2008 12:02 AM

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