Thursday, 16 January 2003 CST

Wave theory and practice

The Science Hobbyist Traffic Waves page is a great illustration of compression waves and how freeway traffic succumbs to them. This type of wave is also known as a longitudinal wave.

I've done the same kind of slow driving during heavy traffic for years, and it really does help. Not tapping your brakes seems to be the key. As soon as the person behind you sees your brake lights they automatically step on their brakes, creating the chain reaction of braking that actually produces a compression wave.

kherr @ 00:25 CST | link | general