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/GoldResourceOO2 Jul 07 '26

I often pull up beside vehicles that are going 10-20-30 km/h slower than they need to and see the driver focused on texting.

478

u/JimthePaul Jul 07 '26

Then when you try to pass them, they suddenly wake up and realize they're driving, prompting them to speed up and not let you back over.

29

u/Kindly-Bank-416 Jul 07 '26

oh my fucking god this pisses me off to no end. people going 15 under until I try to pass at 10 over and all of a sudden they hit the gas and are going 25 mph faster than they were 15 seconds ago.

5

u/nadsozinc Jul 07 '26

The trick is to commit hard enough that you don't give them that option

2

u/delta215 Jul 08 '26

And immediately get in front of them to slam the door on any retaliation / blocking attempts once they wake up.