03 November 2016
Driverless Cars Will Reduce Traffic Tie-ups
Driverless Cars Will Reduce Traffic Tie-ups
Most traffic tie-ups are caused by the shortcomings of driver psychology. How many times have you waited in slow traffic, particularly on supposedly obstruction-free four or more lane divided highways. Sure, there are occasional accidents that hold up the progress of vehicles; but these have proven, seemingly more and more often, a small portion of the causes. When you reach a final resumption of speed after a long slow-down, there is usually no logical expanation in evidence--no accident or breakdown blocking the road, no natural disaster impeding the roadway, not even a pair of hitchhikers, one of whom is exposing her thigh.
There is often a confusing electronic sign suspended from an overpass, a rise in the pavement hiding the assuring view of continued miles and miles of divided highway lanes ahead, the sidelined wreckage from a prior accident, an automobile pulled-over by and next to a patrolman's squad car, an eye-catching bill board that requires more than an instant of contemplation--you name the distraction. Computers will not be diverted by these attention-grabbers and as they come to dominate the number of vehicles on the road, they won't have slower vehicles ahead of them to create delays they will have to negotiate.
Moreover, only human drivers will discomfort their passengers with their verbal expressions of frustration at the inability of other drivers to deal with the tie-up's cause or at the poor design of the highway and its signage, or even at the uneven justice of God that subjected them to a sudden rainstorm or other more serious exogenous event. Until the elmination of human drivers clears superhighway traffic, unfortunately, we will suffer from the limits on highway speed and flow caused by our own humanity--we are not just along for the ride.
Most traffic tie-ups are caused by the shortcomings of driver psychology. How many times have you waited in slow traffic, particularly on supposedly obstruction-free four or more lane divided highways. Sure, there are occasional accidents that hold up the progress of vehicles; but these have proven, seemingly more and more often, a small portion of the causes. When you reach a final resumption of speed after a long slow-down, there is usually no logical expanation in evidence--no accident or breakdown blocking the road, no natural disaster impeding the roadway, not even a pair of hitchhikers, one of whom is exposing her thigh.
There is often a confusing electronic sign suspended from an overpass, a rise in the pavement hiding the assuring view of continued miles and miles of divided highway lanes ahead, the sidelined wreckage from a prior accident, an automobile pulled-over by and next to a patrolman's squad car, an eye-catching bill board that requires more than an instant of contemplation--you name the distraction. Computers will not be diverted by these attention-grabbers and as they come to dominate the number of vehicles on the road, they won't have slower vehicles ahead of them to create delays they will have to negotiate.
Moreover, only human drivers will discomfort their passengers with their verbal expressions of frustration at the inability of other drivers to deal with the tie-up's cause or at the poor design of the highway and its signage, or even at the uneven justice of God that subjected them to a sudden rainstorm or other more serious exogenous event. Until the elmination of human drivers clears superhighway traffic, unfortunately, we will suffer from the limits on highway speed and flow caused by our own humanity--we are not just along for the ride.
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