Yeah, in theory it's great but every time I try it people just cut in front of me then slam on brakes causing me to have to brake then adjust then repeat ad nauseam. People suck.

Nicely demonstrated here: https://youtu.be/Suugn-p5C1M

Californians te the worst drivers in the world because none of them understand this simple concept. Every day I’m driving, I give more than enough space in front of me for someone to cut me off and I don’t have to brake. It’s simple. However, I’m constantly getting people riding my ass. Switching around me. And being over all menaces just because I’m leaving a roper gap between myself and the car in front of me. It’s wild.

Adaptive cruise control FTW. Matches speed with the person ahead of me (up to the max that I set) and maintains a gap that I can specify. It starts slowing down long before I'd notice the gap closing if I were doing it myself, so the +/- acceleration is a lot smoother as a result.

Preach truth, Krypty

Right, if you think about the creation of traffic as a negative speed wave which causes compression, and traffic alleviation as a positive speed wave which requires rarefaction, then it becomes clear why traffic is so stubborn. When people are so bunched together, no positive speed wave can propagate. Which is why you literally get to to the point where the original idiot slammed on the brakes and the traffic magically disintegrates. If everyone stayed 5 car lengths apart in traffic, that alleviation would actually propagate backwards as fast as the initial congestion.

Here's the (abstract of the) paper I was thinking of https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/opre.4.1.42

Appalling that I can't find a free version of a 70 year old paper. You might be able to find the full text somewhere... I would of course never encourage anything that might run afoul of the scientific publishing protection racket.

I couldn't find the paper I was thinking of that described the phenomenon of traffic propagating as a pressure wave, but I did find this paper (new to me) that describes a model for simulating how congestion spreads in urban environments (as opposed to an isolated highway, which IIRC the paper that most people reference models). It does have the full text available though, and it looks like a good read and has references that should get you going on the history of congestion research.

I am not an expert; I just found this with a few minutes of searching. If there are experts with better papers I'd be happy to hear from ya!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15353-2.pdf

I knew about the elastic band effect, but I was unsure if it was considered the same. But searching that I found about both:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion_effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_wave

Not a paper but a great video I watched about it by braintruffle: https://youtu.be/m74zazYPwkY

It's a great cover story until he meets someone at a party who loves that shit.

Lmao I remember seeing this exact scene as a kid, thinking as he was talking "oh that sounds cool as fuck" and then only from how the scene played out realizing it was supposed to be a significantly boring concept

Traffic John is what they called him.

Funnily enough, I'm planning on getting my licence at some point.

I've no interest in motorbikes, I would just love to learn how to ride one safely.

Yeah, it's frustrating.

I'm not entirely sure what the rubberneckers want to see either. "Oh look, someone critically injured next to someone who is likely deceased", because that isn't a day ruiner at the best of times.

Odd.

Secret is to play the game next to a semi. Some semis kinda do it too by engine braking as they see the wave approaching instead of waiting until theyre close to even slow

I think the issue is more or less slow drivers. One asshole is going 60 in a 70 in the left lane which caused people to pass them which in turn cause the cascade from the maneuvering around the slow person.

Slow drivers are far more dangerous than people don't 10 15 over the speed limit.

Yeah they could probably stand to lose the more southern of the two ramp sets at Delta Park, feels very extra and overall unhelpful (And I say this as someone who uses that ramp when headed north). Of course ODOT's solution, beyond replacing the bridge, is to widen I-5 south of the bridge - Which anyone with a brain and 50 years of highway traffic studies can tell us would directly contribute to worsening the problem.

This driver is distinct from that driver. We definitely have those too, and they have my sympathies. 10 seconds of engine death vs 10 seconds of brain death.