Re: [T3] driving laws/styles RE: [T3] HELP

[Greg Merritt <gregm@vwtype3.org>]

<x-flowed>At 10:24 PM -0800 3/25/04, Scott Taylor wrote:
> every day there is a point where all lanes are filled with drivers
> all moving at around the speed limit, with a big pack of impatient
> drivers behind them trying to find a way through. Perfect


	I don't understand traffic so well, but I think it may 
sometimes be the case, when densities are high, that the right lane 
does not have the capacity to allow all of those (slower) lefties to 
come over and let you through.  At some point, the density would 
cross a threshold of too many cars per lane per mile, and the right 
lane's speed would plummet waaaay below the posted limit.

	In the real world, with real cars/drivers/highways, when 
you're shoving the greatest number of cars down the highway per hour, 
they're going at about 45mph.  This feels slow and frustrating to 
drivers, but the resource -- the highway -- is being shared and used 
at its absolute fullest.  Take out some of the cars, and those that 
remain can all go faster, but you are getting fewer down the road per 
hour.  Throw in a few more cars, and it all goes to hell -- nasty 
congestion.

	Sure, I do appreciate that sometimes 2 or 3 slower cars are 
clearly blocking a HUGE clear space ahead and they block 
faster-driving people behind them.  However, at times, it may be the 
case -- given real-world conditions -- that the highway simply cannot 
support all of those folks going that higher speed.

-Greg (...who is learning just enough about traffic engineering to 
realize how much he really does NOT know about traffic.  It's 
complex, and intuition is often misleading.)

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