Traffic
hideTraffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel. Traffic laws are the laws which govern traffic and regulate vehicles, while rules of the road are both the laws and the informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly and timely flow of traffic.
Organized traffic generally has well-established priorities, lanes, right-of-way, and traffic control at intersections.
Traffic is formally organized in many jurisdictions, with marked lanes, junctions, intersections, interchanges, traffic signals, or signs. Traffic is often classified by type: heavy motor vehicle (e.g., car, truck); other vehicle (e.g., moped, bicycle); and pedestrian. Different classes may share speed limits and easement, or may be segregated. Some jurisdictions may have very detailed and complex rules of the road while others rely more on drivers' common sense and willingness to cooperate.
Organization typically produces a better combination of travel safety and efficiency. Events which disrupt the flow and may cause traffic to degenerate into a disorganized mess include: road construction, collisions and debris in the roadway. On particularly busy freeways, a minor disruption may persist in a phenomenon known as traffic waves. A complete breakdown of organization may result in traffic jams and gridlock. Simulations of organized traffic frequently involve queuing theory, stochastic processes and equations of mathematical physics applied to traffic flow.
For more information about Traffic, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with traffic
Intelligent Traffic System Predicts Future Traffic Flow on Multiple Roads
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In urban areas, there’s almost always more than one way to get somewhere, but often it’s difficult to predict which road will be fastest. In an attempt to improve traffic flow and decrease ...
Optimized by Evolution, Ants Don't Have Traffic Jams
Mar 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- As highway traffic increases, you'd probably expect a traffic jam, where vehicles slow down due to the high density. While traffic jams are a common occurrence on our highways, high density ...
Counterintuitive physics may help everyone drive home quicker
Oct 02, 2008 |
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If you're trying to drive to a destination as quickly as possible, you might think that knowing the traffic conditions would help you choose the quickest route for yourself. Traffic reports and new GPS technologies ...
Hacker attack shuts down Twitter, Facebook also slows down (Update 2)
Aug 06, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
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(AP) -- Hackers on Thursday shut down the fast-growing messaging service Twitter for hours, while Facebook experienced intermittent access problems.
Of traffic jams, beach sands and the zero-temperature jamming transition
May 13, 2009 |
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Researchers in condensed matter physics at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago have created an experimental and computer model to study how jamming, the physical process in which collections of particles ...
Spies breach Pentagon fighter-jet project: report
Apr 21, 2009 |
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Computer spies have hacked into the Pentagon's most costly weapons program, a US newspaper reported Tuesday, raising the prospect of adversaries gaining access to top-secret security data.
New car tech: Not just crash protection, but prevention
Jan 28, 2009 |
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A car that can brake itself to avoid a fender-bender during the morning commute might seem far into the future. Except it goes on sale in March. That's when City Safety, a low-speed collision-avoidance technology becomes ...
Scientists reveal effects of quantum 'traffic jam' in high-temperature superconductors
Aug 27, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (35) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with colleagues at Cornell University, Tokyo University, the University of California, Berkeley, ...
Smarter cars are gaining traction (w/ Video)
Dec 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Lives can depend on a vehicle's moment-by-moment traction. New European technology promises to make cars as good as experienced, alert drivers at sensing and adjusting to wet, snowy or icy ...
Putting the squeeze on data
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Data compression is one of the fundamental research areas in computer science, letting information systems do more with less. It’s the reason the iPod nano can hold thousands of songs instead ...
Privacy concerns could limit benefits from real-time data analysis, researcher says
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 17, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Society will be unable to take full advantage of real-time data analysis technologies that might improve health, reduce traffic congestion and give scientists new insights into human behavior until it resolves questions about ...
Going vertical: Fleeing tsunamis by moving up, not out
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the minutes after a strong earthquake struck offshore of the Indonesian city of Padang on Sept. 30, fears of a tsunami prompted hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate the coastal ...
YouTube makes videos 'Feather' light
Dec 03, 2009 |
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YouTube launched an experimental "Feather" feature on Thursday that slims down online videos for delivery to places where the Internet is unable to handle heavy data traffic.
Video spurs explosion of Internet traffic
Nov 18, 2009 |
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Internet traffic will have increased six fold by 2012 in a five-year period as more users view and post videos online, delegates at an Internet forum heard on Wednesday.
Netherlands to levy 'green' road tax by the kilometre
Nov 13, 2009 |
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The Dutch government said Friday it wants to introduce a "green" road tax by the kilometre from 2012 aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent and halving congestion.
