Bill Seeks Fines For Drivers Who Cut In Line

Tampa Tribune ^ | March 19, 2007 | RICH SHOPES

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A Broward County state senator has a message for pushy drivers who can't wait in line like everybody else stuck in traffic: Pay up.

Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, wants to make it a crime for drivers to cut in at the front of the line at exit ramps, accident scenes and anywhere else traffic backs up.

His bill is probably a year or more away from getting a vote by the Legislature but it's sure to ignite passions before then.

"You want to look at what causes road rage? That is it," he says.

The "rude jerks" can spark fights and shouting matches, said Geller, who admits to almost losing his cool a few years back.

Geller and his son were waiting at an exit ramp, heading to a Marlins baseball game when a driver, "whose time obviously was more important than mine," cut in front of them.

Slapping such drivers with fines as high as $90 might make them think twice before butting in, he said.

The bill was referred to the Senate's transportation committee but won't reach the floor this year for lack of a companion bill in the House.

Geller plans to push for passage again next year.

[HIDEK6]

I've seen multiple semi's do this and it gives me pure joy to watch it.

This maneuver really helps traffic move along because the traffic in the main lane doesn't have to stop to let the line-crashers in.

Unfortunately, the Highway Patrol can give the trucker a ticket for doing it..

[twigs]

This kind of thing makes me nuts too. But I don't want a LAW about it. Time spent in traffic is what made me start listening to novels on tape several years ago. I've gotten away from it, but my husband bought me a CD player and books on disk for Christmas. Bless him. And our library has a wonderful selection. Now I can actually enjoy the time in traffic, if I've gotten a good book. It doesn't help the overall problem, but my health at least doesn't take a hit anymore.

[HIDEK6]

There's no question at all that the fastest way to move traffic is to use both lanes right up to the point you have to merge.

That might be the fastest way for YOU to get moved through the obstruction, but it unnecessarily delays the considerate people who have merged into the proper lane.

Traffic can only move at one speed through the obstructed part of the highway. The perception of how fast "traffic" moves through this obstructed section of highway is dependent on how fast YOU are moving.

I notice that the lane-crashers on this thread are calling for courtesy from those whose "duty" it is to let them in.

I request the same courtesy from the crashers.

GET OVER AND WAIT YOUR TURN!

[gracesdad]

"That might be the fastest way for YOU to get moved through the obstruction, but it unnecessarily delays the considerate people who have merged into the proper lane."

If everybody on the road would have the good sense to use both lanes, I would not be jumping head of anybody no matter what lane I'm in, because both lanes would be used evenly. It's the stubborn people who for some reason think everybody has to move into one lane 5 miles before the choke point who create the situation where you have perceived butting in line. And if there's an exit ahead, you might be blocking folks who want to get off and possibly relieve some of the congestion.

The last time I was in this situation a tractor-trailer tried to cut me off as I passed but he was a little too late, although he did cut off the folks behind me as he climbed a steep hill at about 30 mph. I sailed on to discover that the wreck had already been cleared and he had been trying to block me from driving down an open road. Meanwhile, the right lane remained backed up for a couple of miles for no reason whatsoever as other idiots tried to block passing.

I am not talking about using the shoulder and there are absolutely situations where I wait my turn in line and would never consider trying to skip ahead. And on the occasions where drivers DO use all lanes until the obstruction, I do NOT try jump back and forth between lanes to move a few cars ahead. I wait my turn.

[zook]

I have a lot of respect for truckers and I try to give 'em all the courtesy and understanding I can. And I know that most are very good drivers.

But I've seen some who creep along in that left lane and won't even merge when some car in the right lane offers them the space! Maybe they have some rationale for it, but I don't see it.

[HairOfTheDog]

Ping :~D

I grin like a Cheshire Cat when I can pull out and block 'em. It makes my day.... really, it does :~D

[Larry Lucido]

The way to maintain maximum traffic flow when there is a restriction is to use all the road surface up to the point of the restriction.

Absolutely, and something no one seems to understand.

[Politicalmom]

So if someone misses an off ramp or tries to take the wrong one, and NEEDS to merge back in, they will be ticketed? That's stupid.

[HairOfTheDog]

I like to run them off the road. I don't care if they hit my old Jeep.

That's the way I figure it.... They're in a Lexus, I'm in an old pickup.... they aren't gonna hit me.

[Larry Lucido]

Nobody would be so down-to-the-bone stupid as to suggest that both lanes shouldn't be used until the merge is required.

You'd think not, but apparently they are that stupid.

[longtermmemmory]

What are they going to do to the little old lady who is just trying to merge into the line and nobody will let her in?

[mutantcoil]

I stopped letting other drivers upset me years ago. I feel much better when I get home.

[HairOfTheDog]

If she's 'trying to merge' into a line of stopped cars at 40 mph, they'll ticket her, I suppose. If she's really trying to get in, not buzzing by everyone, someone will let her in.

[dfwgator]

I stick to the "let only one in" rule.

[HawaiianGecko]

Emergent waves are nothing new to engineers, particularly civil engineers or anyone versed in fluid dynamics. The following article is the most simple I could find in 5 minutes to explain the phenomena.  http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html  by William Beaty, EE.

BTW: I used to work with GE Reentry Systems while replacing the MMII with the MMIII (Mk-12 RS) at Malmstrom AFB in the late '60s.  I remember you boys being from King of Prussia PA.  The following is really for others, not you specifically.

Invisible accidents Have you ever been driving on an interstate highway when traffic suddenly slows to a crawl? You inch along for many minutes while waiting to see the accident which must have caused the jam. At the same time you also curse the "rubberneckers" who are causing the whole problem. But then all the cars ahead of you take off at high speed. The jam is over, but no accident, no police cars, nothing. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!! A traffic jam with no cause? In the rear-view mirror you see all the poor saps behind you still stuck in the jam. But why? If all those people could just speed up at the same time, the whole traffic jam would evaporate. Why don't they ever do that? What caused the mysterious slowdown in the first place?

After experiencing many of these "invisible accidents", I came up with the following explanation. To best understand this, imagine that you look down on traffic from an aerial view point. Pretend you're in a Traffic Reporter's helicopter looking downwards. figure 1. Cars lining up behind an accident Above in fig. 1 I've drawn a one-lane road, an accident, and a row of cars stuck behind the wreck. Other cars are approaching from the left and stopping too. Suppose that the "wrecked" car (the red one above) has simply become temporarily stuck. Maybe it spun out on ice. What will happen when the red car moves and unplugs the flow? figure 2. A wave of 'condensed' traffic creeps backwards Refer to fig. 2 above. In the top row (fig. 2A) the flow is suddenly unplugged. But not all the cars can move, since most cars are stuck behind drivers who are stopped. Figure 2B shows the traffic a few moments later, and figure 2C shows it a few moments after that. Notice the orange car in 2A, and see how it eventually becomes unjammed in 2D and begins moving. At the same time the red car in 2A approaches the jam and is swallowed up.

A MOVING WAVE OF "JAM"

After the wreck is removed, there seems to be no reason for the traffic jam to persist. Yet it does. The reason for this is sensible: if I am stuck behind a car that is stopped, then I have to stop too, and so does the car behind me. All the cars in the jam are in this situation. Even though the wreck is gone, they remain locked at standstill because if they want to move, they ALL have to move at once. They never do, because each driver is waiting for the car ahead to move. If I am in the traffic jam, I'm not going to move forward because I have no room to do so. I'd bump the car ahead of me. We all think like this, so none of us can move.

When the car in front of me leaves, I still cannot accelerate instantly, so I will remain stopped for a moment. I must delay leaving for a moment. If I started up instantly, I'd stay too close to the car ahead of me, and that would not be safe. Each departing car must delay in the same way, and this causes the jam to "evaporate" starting from the forward downstream end. It evaporates in a wave which begins at the forward end of the jam, (near the wreck). The wave eats into the jam from right to left, yet new cars are piling onto the back end of the jam.

Starting at figure 2A, the cars depart from the jam in sequence. In 2B the wave of "evaporation" has moved away from the wreck site, and in 2C and 2D it is far from the wreck. But notice an interesting thing: even though the CARS THEMSELVES are moving from left to right, the "wave of evaporation" moves in the opposite direction. It moves leftwards as it eats into the traffic jam.

There is a second important thing to notice. While some cars are still jammed, more cars are piling up behind them at the trailing end of the jam. Even after the wreck is removed, more cars are still "condensing" onto the back of the jam. The traffic jam is like a solid object whose front end is evaporating and whose back end is growing like a crystal. Cars move left to right, yet look at the the group of stopped cars. The stoppage is creeping slowly upstream, in the opposite direction to the moving cars. The accident is gone, but a "moving wave" of stopped cars remains behind. It's not a traffic jam, it's a shock wave which propagates through the "automotive material". It's a traffic-clot in the blood vessel. It's a travelling wave of traffic-condensation.

NOT CAUSED BY ACCIDENTS

These sorts of travelling waves are common during heavy traffic conditions. An accident isn't needed to create them, sometimes they are caused by near-misses, by people cutting each other off, by merging lanes at a construction site, or simply by extra cars entering from an on-ramp. In traffic engineering lingo, they can be caused by "incidents" on the highway. A single "rubbernecker" could cause one by momentarily stopping to look at something interesting. Whenever you slow way down in order to merge across a lane to get to your upcoming exit, YOU could create one.

Sometimes the traffic waves have have no real cause at all. They appear because tiny random motions can trigger large results. They are like sand ripples and sand dunes, and they just build up for no clear reason. They are like ocean waves caused by the steady breeze, or like the waves which move along a flapping flag. They just "emerge" spontaneously from the writheing lines of traffic. In the science of Nonlinear Dynamics this is called an EMERGENT PHENOMENON."

How long will the "traffic wave" last after the accident is cleared? Its lifetime depends upon the amount of traffic, and on the number of cars trapped in the jam, but sometimes these things can persist for many hours. When traffic is slight, the jam might shrink rapidly to nothing. But if traffic remains heavy, then there's no reason for the travelling wave to ever dissipate at all. Also, if the conditions are just right (if the "condensation" happens faster than the "evaporation",) then even a tiny wave could grow large and larger. Sort of like dropping a tiny seed crystal into a supersaturated solution. When traffic is heavy and unstable, slight braking by any driver can cause the traffic to freeze into a gigantic crystal. Like Kurt Vonnegut's end of the world story CAT'S CRADLE it's the "Ice Nine" of the highways.

So, next time you are commuting and you approach a stoppage, don't think of it as a stupid f@#$% traffic jam. Think of it as a pressure wave which has approached your car and engulfed it. Think of it as a simple living thing which is composed of cars rather than molecules. Stay hopeful that the Crystalline Amoeba poops your car out soon. Take an aerial viewpoint, and visualize the wave which is moving backwards as you move forwards.

A TIMELINE OF CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH

• 1993 - Single-lane simulation produces self-organizing emergent patterns: traffic jams
• 1998 - Self-organized "synchronous flow" discovered in heavy traffic
• 1998 - Physicists investigating traffic waves(they call them "the pinch effect.")
• 1998 - Traffic waves only appear during self-organized "sychronized flow"
• 2000 - Just one fluctuating vehicle can trigger jams
• 2004 - 1st accurate simulation of traffic waves: drivers must aggressively accel then brake hard.
• 2004 - New discovery: cruise control can erase traffic jams

 

[bmwcyle]

I was on I66 in VA. A MD unmarked police car tried to cut in. I ran in into the guardrail. He was pissed but he was a fish out water.

[gracesdad]

Amazing, isn't it? These self-appointed traffic cops who pull out to block the sensible drivers trying to use all the road are accomplishing exactly nothing except slowing everybody down -- sometimes when there isn't even a wreck or construction.

[gracesdad]

"Geller and his son were waiting at an exit ramp, heading to a Marlins baseball game when a driver, "whose time obviously was more important than mine," cut in front of them."

THIS is something I absolutely don't do. This is indeed rude and obnoxious. But we certainly don't need a law.

[B4Ranch]

When I lived in the Bay Area, I was one of those guys who would stop and change ladies flat tires or use my pickup to push stalled cars out of the traffic lanes. Yes, I had a military bumper stickers and the American Flag decal on my windows.

Glad that those Kalifornia days are behind me now.

[Xenalyte]

If you signal, I let you over.

If you don't signal, I assume you are in that spot because you are fond of that spot and don't want to leave it.

If you flip me off, I smile hugely and give you a big thumbs-up.