At one point I tried to do something like this on my commute (before I switched to using the train). I wrote a simple Android App which would plot time and position during the entire commute and I'd decorate it with 'all lane #1', 'all lane #2', etc. The idea was to plot the 'currents' which is to say which lanes were faster at which points of the commute. Needless to say there is a huge time dependency. There is also a 'kids' correlation where non-school days are faster than school days (which I found interesting). The train takes a bit longer (less than worse case driving, a bit longer than the median driving time) but being able to read totally makes up for that.
The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
31–40 of 62 posts
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#32Switching lanes in dense traffic does reduce flow and increase everyone's commute time. Cutting across a couple of lanes, exiting the road and then merging back in a few blocks later is even worse. If more people thought of driving as team-work rather than a race we'd all spend less time in traffic. This fellow argues that behavior that slows traffic down is a good idea because if makes him feel good. I'm sorry buddy…
I do agree that it isn't the best idea, but I find name-calling the worst way to support an argument.
Stupid people make me testy.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#33Switching lanes in dense traffic does reduce flow and increase everyone's commute time. Cutting across a couple of lanes, exiting the road and then merging back in a few blocks later is even worse. If more people thought of driving as team-work rather than a race we'd all spend less time in traffic. This fellow argues that behavior that slows traffic down is a good idea because if makes him feel good. I'm sorry buddy…
How about not going the route of "zen the #$%^ out." I prefer the drivers around me to be aware of their surroundings and conscious of their driving, not lost in dreamworld.
Driving in a congested freeway does not need all your faculties. Most people do it on auto pilot.
When you are fully alert, it leads to frustration , lane jumping and road rage. So I agree with GP that you need to mellow yourself down during long stop-n-go traffic. Not to the point of falling asleep on the wheel of course. But I don't think everyone needs to be combat ready either.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#34What I dislike about traffic isn't the delay so much as the cognitive load. I will often take a temporally longer route if it means I am not constantly watching for lane-changers cutting in front of me and then suddenly braking.
This is why driving is exhausting. There's always a few people who, evidently lacking any real stimulation in their lives, feel the need to constantly jockey for positions on the road, endangering everyone around them for a mere ego trip. It seems like many of these drivers view their driving habits as reflections on them as a person; e.g. they cannot appear weak by yielding to others (even if yielding produces an op…
There seems to be an implicit assumption that people who constantly jockey for position and those who value safety and orderly progress will end up using essentially the same driverless car OS.
Unless the field is heavily regulated, I imagine that car manufacturers are going to tune and market their cars according to their existing brand identities: safety, economy, performance, "thrill", and so forth.
It'd definitely be an improvement, but I also think it'll take decades to work out the kinks.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#35> ... the act of changing lanes, and thereby briefly overtaking the car which up until a moment ago was in front of you, makes you significantly happier than just sitting there like a passive schmuck. Which is why we all do it.
> In other words, if you want to understand utility functions, don’t talk to an economist.
It seems like talking to an economist works pretty well here.
If I am executing a poor strategy that doesn't actually help me get my job done any better, I shouldn't be happy about it. Especially if I know what I am doing is ineffective.
If you know that the stay the lane strategy that you are executing is optimal and that the lane switching doesn't help, then you should just stop being so frustrated. The high intensity switching won't get you there faster. Accept it, move on.
I liked my nexus 7 tablet a lot. One day I dropped it, the screen was smashed, and it was useless. I was a tiny bit sad (essentially, I lost $200), but then I just went an ordered another and moved on. Because I knew about the sunk cost fallacy, I could just unemotionally do what was optimal.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#36Switching lanes in dense traffic does reduce flow and increase everyone's commute time. Cutting across a couple of lanes, exiting the road and then merging back in a few blocks later is even worse. If more people thought of driving as team-work rather than a race we'd all spend less time in traffic. This fellow argues that behavior that slows traffic down is a good idea because if makes him feel good. I'm sorry buddy…
How about not going the route of "zen the #$%^ out." I prefer the drivers around me to be aware of their surroundings and conscious of their driving, not lost in dreamworld.
relaxing while driving is probably closer to hyperfocus than rage is.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regardless of their perceptions or actual travel speeds, the lane-switchers could be providing a much needed liquidity between the more dynamic right lanes (with entrances and exits) and the more static left lanes. Perhaps it's in doing so that they unwittingly ensure that everyone arrives at the same time. (Although it's almost certainly not the optimal time…)
I was thinking the opposite - lane switchers cause "turbulence" in the flow and hence contribute to slowing everyone down.
I don't know how it is elsewhere, but in the Toronto, Canada area, driving behaviours have gotten really bad over the past 20 years.
We have the worst kind of lane switchers. Here, they often jump into the short lane on the right, which is reserved for cars entering and exiting the road, to cheat back in. This is a real problem, because they slow down traffic even more when they have to force their way back in.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#38Changing lanes makes sense when there is a substantive reason to do so. The other lane moving faster is not substantive; it's observation. If you have no idea why it's moving faster, you have no idea whether switching will help.
But if you drive the same route every day, it is possible to find inflection points in the traffic patterns, where you want to go one way and a significant portion of the traffic wants to go another. Optimizing around these points is a good reason to change lanes.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why driving is exhausting. There's always a few people who, evidently lacking any real stimulation in their lives, feel the need to constantly jockey for positions on the road, endangering everyone around them for a mere ego trip. It seems like many of these drivers view their driving habits as reflections on them as a person; e.g. they cannot appear weak by yielding to others (even if yielding produces an op…
There seems to be an implicit assumption that people who constantly jockey for position and those who value safety and orderly progress will end up using essentially the same driverless car OS. Unless the field is heavily regulated, I imagine that car manufacturers are going to tune and market their cars according to their existing brand identities: safety, economy, performance, "thrill", and so forth. It'd definitel…
I think once we have good statistics on how different strategies affect traffic and accidents, some states will fairly quickly respond with requirements for how driverless cars must act based on that data.
Re: The utility of switching lanes when stuck in traffic
#40Switching lanes doesn't make me happy. Accepting the situation makes me happy. Angling for a few seconds benefit, dodging other anxious drivers etc makes me surly and unhappy.