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On 25 Mar 2004 at 23:13, Greg Merritt wrote: > 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. Clearly true, but I'm talking about an amount of traffic that is clearly WAY below this threshold, and driving behavior that limits us to flow rates way below what we COULD achieve if drives actually drove and made rational decisions. I guess the whole concept I'm suggesting is really pretty silly.... Rational behavior, what was I thinking? > 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. 45? Really? I guess I'm surprised that it's that low, or is that just a real world average including typical irrational driving behavior? > 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. Right, I completely agree that there's NO point in fighting to pass if there's no clear space ahead. > -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.) Agreed. Facinating, complex and frustrating. I've tried to read a couple of real articles on it, as well as one book I picked up momentarily. Both rapidly filled with partial differential equations which completely killed my interest. So you get (have?) to work with these guys? I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, but I think it would be interesting to be nearby so you could listen in occasionally. I DO wonder how much of the theoretical stuff actually gets put into practice. Can you tell us? -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org