Want to know why you sometimes still get traffic jams when there are no accidents, construction work, or other obvious causes?
Some physicists did an experiment to find out, and apparently when the number of vehicles on a road passes a certain threshold, traffic jams emerge because of fundamental instabilities inherent in multiparticle interactions
In other words, just a few mildly inconsistent drivers on the road will eventually cause a traffic jam. Read more here.
Mr. Barlow's Blog 
March 31, 2008 at 8:56 pm |
That’s a pretty big traffic jam! You’d think that people would look before crossing an intersection!
June 9, 2009 at 12:34 pm |
Hi. I am working on a panel about traffic for a science festival and would love to use this image. Can you please let me know how i can get in touch with you to tell you more? Thank you.
June 9, 2009 at 11:13 pm |
Hi Suzanne,
I just found the image using Google, it is on heaps of other sites too. Not sure who posted it first.
Mr. Barlow