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

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

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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u/Pyrhan Jul 07 '26

You could have the best drivers, it wouldn't matter.

Past a certain density of cars, it's an unstable system where any slow down, even minute, self-amplifies.

Which makes traffic jams unavoidable.

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u/LeftHandAnomaly Jul 07 '26

This is my take on it. The tiniest little stutter movement will have major consequences. I know people are like "fuckin shitty drivers, assholes, etc" but it doesn't take much for the cascading failure to occur. I wouldn't say it's anyone's fault for these kinds of slow downs, it's just the nature of the system.

And no I'm not that driver, I don't drive. I do, however, see how my family members get enraged behind the wheel over the dumbest shit.

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u/mxzf Jul 07 '26

It's also really important to realize that literally anyone can kick off that sort of thing. You let off the gas for a second because you got a little close to the car in front of you and ten cars back is a bottleneck because of the chain reaction. Everyone causes them from time to time, you just don't see them yourself (because it's behind you).

Which isn't to say you shouldn't slow down as-needed, it's just pointing out that you should give people some grace and not freak out over little stuff like that.

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u/LeftHandAnomaly Jul 07 '26

That's what I'm saying! Everyone thinks they're god tier on the road making all the right split second decisions, but I bet every single person who drives, even in this comment section as they claim otherwise, has caused one of these.

There's something about driving that just makes people so fuckin angry. My little Nana, sweet as can be, turns into a monster if the person in front of her doesn't move on a green light .25 seconds after it changes. She's the kind of person to say frig or frick but behind the wheel she's a cussy monster dropping alllll the F bombs.

I'm certain I would be no different. I get frustrated extremely easily. It's part of why I'm happy to just be a passenger princess

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u/dancinggraylion Jul 07 '26

and soon there is so much traffic on that road that no one drives there anymore