Today’s video comes from CGP Grey and finishes our traffic and car theme for today. It helps walk through some of the most common traffic related problems and why we can sometimes experience backups that appear out of nowhere! If you’ve ever driven (or will drive!) you’ll have to deal with traffic sooner or later. Maybe knowing why it pops up can make it a little easier to deal with? …no, I didn’t really buy that either.
Sticking with today’s theme of traffic and car related materials, Traffic Simulator gives you and your students a chance to see how slight changes in road systems, driving patterns, and other factors can lead to major back-ups on our roadways.
The initial pattern on the website is a steady circle of traffic (ring road), and you can manipulate different factors such as the total number of cars on the road, the number of those that are trucks, and the acceleration of those vehicles to show how each affects the traffic in a closed system. Once you’ve played with that and messed up rush hour, you can try the other traffic patterns, such as adding an on-ramp (above), off-ramp, construction, hill, or detour to see how each can also change the traffic. Different elements can again be manipulated to test the roads and demonstrate how different factors can lead to traffic nightmares.
Explanations of some of the physics and psychology of traffic are provided through the links on the sidebar, as well as different ways to use the simulation. Traffic Simulator is a wonderful tool for seeing how traffic patterns can shift and change and what affects them, as well as providing students with some problem solving as they work through how to alleviate the traffic and find the ideal conditions for each roadway.
If you’ve driven, especially around big cities, you’ve hit traffic. Sometimes it’s very easy to see where it comes from — construction, an accident, a rogue bull(!), but other times, it’s a total mystery. How does that happen? Today’s infographic sheds some light on how one small action by a couple drivers can have a big impact on the entire traffic pattern. [VIA]
If this is interesting to you and you’d like to experiment further or get more information, check out today’s website and video posts too!
I live in New Jersey so traffic and gridlock are nothing new to me — even in South Jersey where roadside stands are more common than a road’s exit! I am sure at some time you’ve been in this situation before too. You’re moving along with the flow of traffic then suddenly there are brake lights ahead, and everyone slows down, almost coming to a stop as you creep along for miles on end with no accident as the cause and the traffic station only telling you that the cause is “volume”. Today’s infographic breaks down one of the many ways that these traffic back-ups can happen so if anything else maybe you’ll be a little more understanding while you’re stuck on the expressway in park next time! [VIA]
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