Road pricing bill before Commons

[wendigo100]

I'm no Albert Einstein but I remember something from my physics lessons: 'faster flow=pressure low' everyone should be forced to get a professional race drivers license and then the speed limit could be put up to 120mph or more, that should get the country moving again.

HTH.

Another excellent point. At 120 mph you are only on the road for half the time of a dodderer doing 60!

[Bagpuss]

I'm no Albert Einstein but I remember something from my physics lessons: 'faster flow=pressure low' HTH.

Road flow doesn't work like that. As an analogy think of filling a milk bottle with tap water. You turn on the tap half way and the bottle fills with no spillage. Turn it on full blast and the water sprays out everywhere. Th e limited capacity cannot cope with the volume. Hence the 3rd biggest cause of traffic jams is tailgaiting at fast speeds. Which is the old getting to the front of the jam and nothing is causing it syndrome.

http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html

[Churchill]

I can't afford a helicopter or a private swimming pool, although both would be a great convenience for me.

I thought we all owned helicopters!

[gingerjedi]

Road flow doesn't work like that. As an analogy think of filling a milk bottle with tap water. You turn on the tap half way and the bottle fills with no spillage. Turn it on full blast and the water sprays out everywhere. Th e limited capacity cannot cope with the volume. Hence the 3rd biggest cause of traffic jams is tailgaiting at fast speeds. Which is the old getting to the front of the jam and nothing is causing it syndrome.

http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html

Nice graphical example it looks like a sort of caterpillar effect, it must be caused by the delay between the car in front moving and the driver behind reacting to it, but if everyone was more aware of what was going on in front and put their foot down a bit quicker (just like a race driver) and at the same time they didn't brake just because everyone else does we could eliminate some of this.

Racing school for everyone is my solution. HTH

[The Lone Gunman]

Nice graphical example it looks like a sort of caterpillar effect, it must be caused by the delay between the car in front moving and the driver behind reacting to it, but if everyone was more aware of what was going on in front and put their foot down a bit quicker (just like a race driver) and at the same time they didn't brake just because everyone else does we could eliminate some of this.

Racing school for everyone is my solution. HTH

In my experience it is the same cause over and over and over again.
Trucker gets up to bumper of vehicle in front and pulls out, never mind if he has room he is pulling out. It then takes him 20 minutes to actualy pass, thus reducing the road to 1 lane.
Slow poke arriving behind the truck in the second lane waits for a gap in the outside lane and pulls out, often into a gap which is way too small.
Slow poke then takes an age to pass the truck.
Sometimes it is just slow poke cruising in the middle lane forcing all faster traffic into the outside lane, but that usualy doesnt slow traffic.
Once traffic in the outside lane catches up with slow poke it innevitably ends up in a mobile jam.
If slow poke had any sense he would either speed up to join the outside lane, or sit behind the truck untill it pulled back in, but usualy the selfish gene takes over as he has every right to there and bugger everyone else.

This often leads to the problem of lane inversion where drivers doing the right thing pull out so as not to pass anything on the inside and have to slow to join the queue, thus leaving the inside lanes empty while slow poke passes the truck.

Tail gating would not happen if slow poke stayed where he was or waited for the appropriate gap.

[Bagpuss]

Nice graphical example it looks like a sort of caterpillar effect, it must be caused by the delay between the car in front moving and the driver behind reacting to it, but if everyone was more aware of what was going on in front and put their foot down a bit quicker (just like a race driver) and at the same time they didn't brake just because everyone else does we could eliminate some of this.

Racing school for everyone is my solution. HTH

I know you are joking but experiment leaving a big gap, it's amazing how little you have to brake even when those ahead are stop-starting. Unfortunately most people seem to drive by the car infronts brake lights.

[Churchill]

I know you are joking but experiment leaving a big gap, it's amazing how little you have to brake even when those ahead are stop-starting.

Also look at the brake lights of the car in front of the car immediately in front of you!

[Bagpuss]

Also look at the brake lights of the car in front of the car immediately in front of you!

i do, I suspect many people don't though, judging by some of the driving I've witnessed

[The Lone Gunman]

It has been my experience that if you leave a gap big enough for a car then another car will fill it.

Drive on the next guys bumper and observe half a mile down the road for trouble, thats my view. Brake lights on a motorway should never be seen.

[Churchill]

i do, I suspect many people don't though, judging by some of the driving I've witnessed

As I have a company car I was requested to attend the "DriveAlive" course. I thoroughly recommend it.

http://www.drivealive.co.uk/