The Simple Solution to Traffic

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I am a firm believer that, in order for self-driving cars to truly be efficient and effective, we need to remove humans from the equation entirely. Oddly enough, this video about a "solution to traffice" does a great job of demonstrating why we need to just ban human drivers altogether. ;)
 
We're a long way from fully relying on self driving cars. When you live in a rural area there's often sections of one lane only and roads that are not paved. A lot of there factors before they can replace humans. What's going to happen when a bunch of them are hacked.

Now I think the best thing a self driving car can do is drive you home from the bar or a brewery.
 
Lol. I always give tons of room in front of me in traffic....so i can keep on rolling and everyone else behind me can follow suit....then that one guy cuts in cause "it looks like a faster lane" and fucks everything up. Welp, back to stop and go again.
 
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BroHamBone said:
Lol. I always give tons of room in front of me in traffic....so i can keep on rolling and everyone else behind me can follow suit....then that one guy cuts in cause "it looks like a faster lane" and fucks everything up. Welp, back to stop and go again.
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Always happens. Some douche thinks he is better than everyone else and squeezes ahead into my safety stopping distance.

The one I hate the most though are the ones who know full well that that mile long line in the far right lane of the highway is for the next exit, and they still drive to the very front and squeeze in, cutting everyone in line. I'm usually opposed to the death penalty, but summary execution is an appropriate punishment for douches like this.

Do they do this at the post office or while in line at the grocery store too? Parents must not have taught them any manners at all. Selfish pricks.
 
Maybe they should show this video at traffic schools or drivers ed for future drivers. Maybe they'd have some sense. Get them to understand simple things like this so they have an idea how to drive in traffic because it doesn't seem like basic drivers tests emphasize this enough. The reality is there's just too many fucking people on the roads.
 
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i do my part at intersections- i accelerate at the same time as the car in front of me. No delay time.
The only issue is that for a few hundred feet, i'm tailgating that car.

drivers at intersections delay in letting off the gas probably to create space between themselves.
of course, most are simply slow to react.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
The one I hate the most though are the ones who know full well that that mile long line in the far right lane of the highway is for the next exit, and they still drive to the very front and squeeze in, cutting everyone in line. I'm usually opposed to the death penalty, but summary execution is an appropriate punishment for douches like this.
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That paint on the road? You can drive across that. ;)
 
wait, i thought this was common sense?

oh that's right. it's stupid people who really don't know how to drive. and there's almost no such thing as a "safe distance" as most people think that's the perfect amount of distance between cars to merge... meh.
 
One thing the video seems to imply is that on and off ramps are better than intersections...this couldn't be further from the truth. They are as equally bad since most municipalities do not have an adequate area to merge. In fact the best on ramps I have seen were metered ones (one car per green light) with a long merge area. Yes it caused havoc on the street before the highway but at least the highway (and thus the most traffic) was operating somewhat more efficiently.

Also the yellow car intersection with all the interweaving cars is an idealized situation. There will exist many intersections where there can be no over/under pedestrian crossing (perhaps due to lack of space, lack of funds etc) and the cars will have to be sequenced with peds, bikes, and other unexpected crossings. I.E. this wont work nearly as well as depicted in the city.
 
The traffic wave travels at a velocity (backwards) based on density. MIT did a study. Of course they did. ;)

The problem isn't human drivers. The problem, as always when utopian solutions are presented, is humans.
 
I concur with the others that have said to eliminate humans. Humans are essentially stupid creatures. They can't see me on an 800+ lb motorcycle, but they can see a 2 foot space in front of my Jeep to try to shoehorn their shitty Beemer 3-series into.

In leiu of mass extermination, all humans should be neutered at birth in such a way that allows for the more brilliant of the species to reverse the process for procreation.
 
The current self driving cars would not completely fix this problem. The example of the phantom intersection in a one lane highway would still happen due to the reaction time of the self driving cars. The cars would somehow have to form a network to tell each other what is happening so the car a mile behind the phantom intersection would slightly slow to allow the cars in front to pick up speed so it would not come to a dead stop.
 
ruffbytes said:
The current self driving cars would not completely fix this problem. The example of the phantom intersection in a one lane highway would still happen due to the reaction time of the self driving cars. The cars would somehow have to form a network to tell each other what is happening so the car a mile behind the phantom intersection would slightly slow to allow the cars in front to pick up speed so it would not come to a dead stop.
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I think the theory is that in future when these cars are more common that they would be creating a type of mesh network. Even still a small form of communication could travel down the line with milliseconds of response time instead of with humans taking several seconds.
 
The blocking of intersections is one that really pisses me off. There is one here that is particularly bad during rush hour at the end of the day. If anyone is in or has been to SWFL you'll know about Daniels Pkwy/Cypress Lake Dr and US 41. One of the primary issues being a traffic light for a Costco that is only 1/8 mile downstream from the intersection for traffic heading home. I think they now have it synced with the intersection lights so backups are not as bad as before.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Always happens. Some douche thinks he is better than everyone else and squeezes ahead into my safety stopping distance.

The one I hate the most though are the ones who know full well that that mile long line in the far right lane of the highway is for the next exit, and they still drive to the very front and squeeze in, cutting everyone in line. I'm usually opposed to the death penalty, but summary execution is an appropriate punishment for douches like this.

Do they do this at the post office or while in line at the grocery store too? Parents must not have taught them any manners at all. Selfish pricks.
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If you are in that long line waiting to get off, make sure your car is as far left in your lane as you can go. This seriously fucks up their view for openings down the line, and makes it WAY harder to try and cut in front of you.
 
Interesting video. But, blaming humans just seems too easy. Sure we make mistakes, but we also make cars, and make the computers for them to operate autonomously. My point is, if we take all the self reliance out of the human cycle, then what are we? Robots that need other robots?

In large Cities, i can totally see the need for this to a certain extent. Was just in Vancouver BC a few weeks ago, my daughter is attending college there, and i can tell you that city is crazy when it comes to driving, especially if you're in a full size extended van, cause that city was never setup for large vehicles. With all the people walking, and on bikes, then add the tiny cars zipping around on narrow roads, i could not believe i did not see anyone get splattered the whole time i was there. Somehow they make it work. Love the city, but holy shit, Detroit during rush hour is way easier, and at least the roads are made for full size vehicles.
 
Driving has been fun, and I have a sporty car, but I'm ready to let the car drive for me. I could be doing other more useful things while being transported. And I can't afford a personal driver ...
 
Removing human drivers doesn't change the fact that different cars accelerate and stop at different rates. It also doesn't alter the fact that increasing numbers of roads are so far past ideal capacity, no level of coordination will eliminate saturation issues.
 
In order for self-driving cars to succeed people must surrender their autonomy and self-reliance. For that reason self-driving cars will be heavily resisted particularly in America. One can say with near certainty that there will be unforeseen consequences with regards to the implementation of self-driving cars that will add to the resistance. The same people who were surprised at the resistance to google glasses will be similarly dismayed by the resistance to self-driving cars...
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
The one I hate the most though are the ones who know full well that that mile long line in the far right lane of the highway is for the next exit, and they still drive to the very front and squeeze in, cutting everyone in line. I'm usually opposed to the death penalty, but summary execution is an appropriate punishment for douches like this.

Do they do this at the post office or while in line at the grocery store too? Parents must not have taught them any manners at all. Selfish pricks.
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71 Hwy Northbound in Southern Kansas City seems designed for this. There are sections where the highway is two lanes each way, but there will be an entrance lane that turns into an exit lane a couple miles down. This is basically an invitation to all the douchey drivers to pass in the exit lane and then move back into the center lane moving themselves up in line while simultaneously moving everyone else back a position. The highway has multiple spots like this.

Also, here is a neat article on how racism and politics combined to make the highway even worse than it already is.
 
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Amazing, I've thought of this exact thing for years... I even nicknamed it the "Slinky Effect" :) Which leads to a pet peeve, people texting at lights not seeing it has changed, than accelerating and barely making the light while I have to stop... pisses me off every time.
 
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