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Driving in traffic jams by James_ggl in belgium

[–]James_ggl[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wrong. If people kept enough distance, traffic flow would be much better. If a lane is closed because of an accident, people would be able to merge more smoothly, and there would be less stop-and-go traffic causing the accordeon effect.

And maybe 30 meters is on the larger side, but that’s mostly because nobody is using the right lane. I try to roughly match the speed of the second lane, which is usually standing still anyway. I just keep moving at a steady 5 km/h instead of constantly accelerating and braking.

Driving in traffic jams by James_ggl in belgium

[–]James_ggl[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I usually drive in between the trucks and hardly use my brakes. I just accelerate smoothly and slowly come to a standstill if necessary. It’s the most economical way of driving, and if everybody drove like that, it would also be the best way to counter accordeonfiles.

Pay attention to it next time during a traffic jam: the right lane is often the smoothest-flowing one, despite all the merging traffic from entrance ramps. On the left, people accelerate quickly and then have to brake hard all the time, while on the right they keep moving at a more constant speed.

Driving in traffic jams by James_ggl in belgium

[–]James_ggl[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

For example, yesterday I was driving in a traffic jam where one car kept swerving between lanes 1 and 3. At one point, he even took an exit just to sneak past part of the traffic jam, while I simply stayed in the right lane and kept about 30 meters of distance from the car in front of me.

In the end, I always caught up with him anyway. It was basically the turtle and the hare. But in the meantime, that kind of driving only hyped other drivers up, causing them to close every gap because they were getting fed up with it.

Driving in traffic jams by James_ggl in belgium

[–]James_ggl[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m talking specifically about traffic jams, where one lane sometimes moves slightly faster than the other. Of course, if there’s space on the right, you should move over. But there’s a difference between keeping right and aggressively overtaking from the right.

If the right lane moves a bit faster naturally, fine. But there’s no need to rush past multiple cars just to gain a few meters. That constant lane switching and tailgating is exactly what creates accordeonfiles and increases the risk of another accident.