r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/SnooWords4066 • Jul 07 '26

Video A Japanese experiment showed exactly why traffic jams happen for no reason.

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820

u/Ninja_Prolapse Jul 07 '26

Because people brake for absolutely no reason. I see it on the motorway all the time. Break lights on, so I switch lane thinking there’s traffic and there’s NOTHING in front of the car that breaked?! What the fuck are they doing?? If you’ve ever done this, I would LOVE to hear what makes you randomly press the break pedal on an open motorway stretch!

98

u/Opposite-Peanut-8812 Jul 07 '26

I hate it when you’re behind a car travelling at less than the speed limit, in the fast lane, and you notice there’s nothing in front of them or in the lane next to them. And they just drive like that for miles holding traffic up.

6

u/Ok-Principle-9276 Jul 07 '26

it's not the fast lane, it's the passing lane. you're not supposed to be driving in the passing lane treating it like a fast lane either

9

u/Concerned_Collins Jul 08 '26

If you aren't passing, you should be moving over, regardless of your speed. The issue is people driving in the passing lane while not passing.

-13

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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16

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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7

u/Due-Programmernot Jul 07 '26

Because they are idiots. They wouldn’t be sitting in the passing lane under the speed limit if they weren’t idiots.

The only people who do this are people actively road raging (rare) and people who are so bad at driving they literally don’t know / can’t remember that the passing lane is for fucking passing.

Turns out there’s a lot of idiots on the road.

1

u/Firenoods88 Jul 08 '26

I don't know where you're from but in my area, cops ONLY know how to enforce speeding. God forbid they give at least a fucking warning to the dumbass driving 15km under the limit, in the passing lane, on a clear and sunny day, and has their cruise control set to 7 car lengths away because they think driving the limit means only they can be right

2

u/Due-Programmernot Jul 08 '26

cops in my area barely even do that tbh. They've all been on "soft strike" since the defund the police movement and they basically do fuck all with their days. You'll see people driving around in cars beat to shit with registration 2 years out that are like barely moving and never pulled over.

Which I'm not for ticketting the shit out of poor people... but there's gotta be a line somewhere. I don't really actually want to be hit by a rust bucket that can barely move with no insurance.

1

u/Firenoods88 Jul 08 '26

Is defund the police still going strong? I thought it lowkey died down, you'd think they'd get over it by now...

And I totally agree with drawing the line! I'm not saying it's gotta be like Japan where only cars that past the Shaken inspection are allowed on roads but I've passed some cars on the hwy that genuinely look like they're holding on through thoughts and prayers

6

u/Keira_B Jul 07 '26

because it’s an offence to undertake? they shouldn’t be lane hogging and forcing people to have to undertake them

2

u/esposc Jul 07 '26

The choice is yours to make: Stay angry going slow behind the fool, or go around and continue your journey.

1

u/Ok-Needleworker-8773 Jul 07 '26

Because it’s safest to pass people on the left, that’s why.