Controlling emergent properties of traffic

[Ross Goeres]

When I lived in Maryland I found that my commute times when I was relaxed were
the same or shorter than when I was in a hurry (and it's better for the
nerves).  Others who repeated this "experiment" reported similar results.
Given that FRIAM sometimes discusses the mathematics of cooperation, you may
find this story interesting:

TRAFFIC "EXPERIMENTS" AND A CURE FOR WAVES & JAMS
http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/trafexp.html



 
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[James Steiner]

I read this paper years ago, and I have tried this on every occasion
possible--it seems to work. At the very least, it gives me something
interesting to do while stuck in traffic. At the middling, I can often
remove most of the stop-start traffic-waves I hit, leaving a line of
traffic behind me that may slow and speed up, but never actually
stops. At the very best, one or more other drivers near me start doing
it too, and together we can completely dissolve traffic-panic standing
waves and pulsed traffic waves--at least between our current location
and the next merge ramp behind us.

~~James

On 11/26/06, Ross Goeres <rawscores at yahoo.com> wrote:
> When I lived in Maryland I found that my commute times when I was relaxed were
> the same or shorter than when I was in a hurry (and it's better for the
> nerves).  Others who repeated this "experiment" reported similar results.
> Given that FRIAM sometimes discusses the mathematics of cooperation, you may
> find this story interesting:
>
> TRAFFIC "EXPERIMENTS" AND A CURE FOR WAVES & JAMS
> http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/trafexp.html


~~James
http://www.turtlezero.com
(JA-86)

[Phil Henshaw-2]

What would you call that intervention strategy?  

I think of it as intervening in the feedbacks of a system in a way that
requires smaller interventions for the intended result, and is less
likely to accidentally have an effect opposite the one intended, than
interventions designed to 'control' the undesirable symptoms directly.



Phil Henshaw                       ????.?? ? `?.????
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com
> [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of James Steiner
> Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 10:26 AM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Controlling emergent properties of traffic
>
>
> I read this paper years ago, and I have tried this on every
> occasion possible--it seems to work. At the very least, it
> gives me something interesting to do while stuck in traffic.
> At the middling, I can often remove most of the stop-start
> traffic-waves I hit, leaving a line of traffic behind me that
> may slow and speed up, but never actually stops. At the very
> best, one or more other drivers near me start doing it too,
> and together we can completely dissolve traffic-panic
> standing waves and pulsed traffic waves--at least between our
> current location and the next merge ramp behind us.
>
> ~~James
>
> On 11/26/06, Ross Goeres <rawscores at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > When I lived in Maryland I found that my commute times when I was
> > relaxed were the same or shorter than when I was in a hurry
> (and it's
> > better for the nerves).  Others who repeated this "experiment"
> > reported similar results. Given that FRIAM sometimes discusses the
> > mathematics of cooperation, you may find this story interesting:
> >
> > TRAFFIC "EXPERIMENTS" AND A CURE FOR WAVES & JAMS
> > http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/trafexp.html
>
>
> ~~James
> http://www.turtlezero.com
> (JA-86)
>
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