It's like a zipper, people!

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to California and started driving all of the time was that people have really bad instincts when it comes to driving and preventing unecessary traffic jams.

The top things I've observed about how people drive and how their behavior causes non-jams:

• Merging - Quite simply, people don't know how to merge. When you step back and think about it, it's really simple. Let the guy on your left go and then hope that the guy who was behind him let's you go. Don't try to cheat, it's like a zipper! If you cheat, the zipper gets stuck. The result is traffic where none should have occurred.



• Rubber-necking - When there's an accident on the other side of the road that doesn't effect the line of traffic you are in it seems that there is an irresistable human urge to slow down and try to figure out what happened instead of keeping your eyes on the road down which you are traveling.



• Go Faster! - Everytime you see that guy who has a need to be right on the tail of that guy in front of you you inevitably see him have to step on his brakes. If you're right behind this guy you inevitably are forced to step on your brakes so you don't rear-end him and you can bet that this process continues on throughout the line of cars following you. If everyone is stepping on their brakes, you can intuitively understand that there is going to be a traffic jam or an accident.
  

Moral of the story: slow down, keep your eyes on the road, and remember, it's like a zipper people!

See William Beaty's detailed and fascinating explanations of the mysteries of traffic here:

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