Researchers at MIT have discovered that: tailgating does not make you move faster, on the contrary, it easily causes unnecessary traffic jams.
When driving to the street, you must have encountered a situation of “virtual traffic jam” : the road is clear, there are not too many cars, but the moving speed is slowing down, maybe because some cars in front are moving. tailgating.
Tailgating means driving closely to the rear of the vehicle ahead.
Researchers at MIT have discovered that: tailgating does not make you move faster, on the contrary, it easily causes unnecessary traffic jams.
Tailgating means driving closely to the rear of the vehicle ahead. This is an especially dangerous type of driving, which is the main cause of traffic accidents in Europe according to a YouGov study in 2011. Experts always warn drivers to leave the necessary distance from the car. ahead, to be able to respond promptly in emergency situations.
That is with long-distance driving. MIT professor Berthold Horn and collaborator Liang Wang also point out that the habit of tailgating is worse if you’re in city traffic or on narrow roads.
Horn said, for smooth traffic, cars need to keep the right distance on the road:
“Our research shows that, if all drivers kept the same distance between cars in front, behind and to the side, there would be no disturbance in the flow of traffic…”
The difference between keeping an equal distance between cars (above) and trailing (below).
Basically, when you follow the tail, you eliminate most of your judgment and handling, especially in the case of a sudden slow down of the car in front. According to the habit, the driver will brake quickly to avoid colliding with the vehicle ahead.
All cars following behind will experience the same situation in a chain reaction. Light leads to traffic jams, more serious accidents.
Horn and Wang are trying to help people raise awareness about tailgating, we need to pay more attention to the distance between vehicles.
They hope features on future models can overcome that problem, with a system known as “bilateral control” – which helps maintain a minimum safe distance between cars. car.
Horn estimates that, if the system is widely adopted, traffic congestion will be a thing of the past, traffic speed could nearly double. Until now, tailgating is still a dangerous habit to avoid.