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Traffic Waves

Traffic Waves

wbeaty
5 HN recommenders · discussed 2013–2022
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About this video

A short video from the trafficwaves.org site showing how traffic jams and standing waves form, including the fight between cheaters and blockers at an exit-lane backup. It also touches on how individual driving behavior affects the flow.

Why it appears in the archive

HN likes it as a fun, clear explainer of traffic waves and of the benefits of leaving gaps while driving.

AI-generated summary and labels from the source dataset; verify important details against the video. Source & credits.

From the Hacker News discussion

wildrhythms · 2022-04 · strong rec

One of my favorite videos of all time on this topic: Traffic Waves [VIDEO] (Not new information, but a fun video, and it's something truckers have known about for decades)

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thunderbong · 2015-05 · rec

I don't know if you've seen this video[0]. It helped me understand traffic waves quite a bit [0] [VIDEO]

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xbryanx · 2016-04 · rec

William J Beaty's video on Traffic Waves (linked in the article) is an enjoyable summary of some of these ideas: [VIDEO]

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tobmlt · 2018-09 · rec

You beautiful zen traffic wave surfer you. This, a thousand times this. Somewhere on the web there is a great video of a guy doing this pretty effectively. I guess it's maybe five years old now but worth a watch. I think this wsj vid may contain excerpts from the original: [LINK] If everyone could just relax out there, some of those traffic standing waves would diffuse away to nothing. Ahhh... When I get in bad traffic and struggle against the urge to tailgate I play a game where I try and give enough space to where I just roll up to the car in front of me as it is starting to move again. This gives me a time-local goal to aim at instead of fixating on supposed "bad actors" I might want to judge instead. Edit: I found it! (from 2008 it appears) [VIDEO]

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TheSmiddy · 2018-12 · rec

I leave massive gaps constantly now, it lets me see farther ahead so I can switch lanes when I see a problem coming and my average trip time is definitely shorter because of this. I really like this video for describing some of the advantages of "zen driving": [VIDEO]

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socillion · 2013-06 · reference

Original copy at [LINK] A video from there, omitted from OP: [VIDEO] OP is a cut-down version of this site, which has been up for a decade or two. I'm curious if it's a legitimate copy.

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