5 thoughts on “Why do freeways come to a stop?”

  1. On this road, could it be the nearly vertical hills, the fact that the road seems to be floating in midair, and that the driver just noticed that he’s headed for Cleveland??

    Hey wait! I’ve been on that road!!

  2. If everyone just drove according to my one main road rule, this would NEVER happen. The rule is:

    Never do anything on the highway that causes other drivers to have to put on their brakes.

    I live by this rule. That means, stay with the flow of traffic or stay far right. Use turn signals when changing lanes. Learn how to merge properly, and especially how to receive mergers properly. Don’t weave in and out of lanes. Prepare for your upcoming exit so that you aren’t swerving across lanes at the last second. IF YOU MISS this preparation, drive past the exit, exit further down, turn around, and return. Maybe that will teach you to prepare better next time. Don’t know where you are going? LEAVE HOME EARLIER.

    How many things can you think of that cause others to have to brake? Start avoiding those things, and traffic will be a lot safer.

  3. So we need cameras setup to fine the idiot who started the whole slowdown. Or, get people to follow the 2 second rule, drive the speed limit and pay attention while they drive.

  4. The other issue is that people feel the need to stay one foot off of the car in front of them in traffic jams, further adding to the issue. If you get going at 5 mph, let the person in front of you get a few car lengths ahead…you won’t have to hit your breaks hopefully and they will get going again by the time you catch up to them- and if people behind you follow your lead, the line of traffic will pick up speed instead of staying in a ‘stop and go’ loop. But people cut in front of you and ruin this practice because they see an opening and just haver to be in front of the next guy.

    Freeways are designed in such a way that you should NEVER have to touch your brakes while drving on them, except of course in an emergency situation. If people knew how to pay attention, plan AHEAD for their upcoming exits, and stay moving at a constant rate, there would be far less backups, and no need to cause others around you to hit their brakes. But depending on the human race as a collective to do this is impossible, and traffic jams will always continue unless mechanically controlled.

    Very irritating phenomenon, not to mention costly for fuel consumption and wear and tear on vehicles.

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