On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 7:17 AM, Atwood, Robert C <r.atwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Ok that's one of my pet peeves now .. People who post a link to a lenghty, rather general, article as if that settles some specific point. Well, the articles are lengthy, I'll give you that. But they're also rather specific, up to the point of actual experimentation. I posted the links in hopes that people would find them interesting, and maybe to generate some discussion, or at least to add constructively to the discussion. > Does Bill Beaty's article, anywhere, actually compare the two situations under discussion .. i.e. most people merge early and a few use the open lane to try and merge late, versus everyone using both lanes and merging late? What is his conclusion? > In fact he does specifically discuss this situation. Very specifically, the notion of traffic merging as "zipper teeth". His conclusion is that it's not the people merging who are the problem, but people who don't leave enough space ahead of them. He's also discovered that in heavy traffic, one person can screw up the pattern for miles -- and one person can fix it. > Rudy Rucker did research on this too; perhaps I shall direct you to read all of Rudy Rucker's works in hope of finding out what he has discovered? > Perhaps people who are interested in the subject under discussion might find Mr. Rucker's works interesting. -- Nöt ënöügh ümläüts Chris Goodwin cgoodwin@xxxxxxxxx