Traffic Hacking : One driver improving traffic

ankurchaturvedi · 28th July 2016, 11:25

Bumping an old thread.

Tried to implement this in my daily commute from Thane to Matunga today. While the entire article may not be applicable to Indian driving conditions, some parts can be implemented. However it requires great road sense and an innate ability to read the road and traffic ahead. Also required is good situational awareness and spatial sense along with solid driving skills. Hey if a BHPian can't do all this, then who can?

My experience: The Sion flyover makes for a very painful driving experience with only one lane open for the southbound traffic. As a result there is always a big pileup of traffic at the base of the flyover right before the incline. Compounding the woes are the moronic drivers (especially cabbies) who cut in from the left into the "flyover lane". I have a running feud with these guys, but i will reserve that for another post.

. So now i know that in the morning i am going to face a huge jam. What did i do? I started slowing down about 1.5 Kms from the flyover (i gradually chopped speed). Also it was sort of a dance on the road because as soon as i dropped speed the car behind would try to overtake. In that case, i again increased speed and kept the cars behind me in the lane

. So this continued till the base of the flyover till the traffic area. Now in the traffic area using a combination of engine braking and half clutching i always kept the car in motion. At no point did i stop the car. Again this was an exercise as i had to keep enough distance from the car in front and also prevent other cars from getting in that gap. As soon as i started ascending the flyover, i stepped on the gas and zoomed away. Believe it or not, when i checked my RVM, i noticed a smooth but slow flow of traffic behind me without any stoppages.Also reached 10 minutes early. I am going to further experiment with this. I urge all of you all to try it at least 4-5 times before giving it up. We really can do this .

comfortablynumb · 28th July 2016, 11:57

Interesting article on a similar topic:

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160...affic-part-one

Cheers,
Vikram

ankurchaturvedi · 29th July 2016, 11:53

Day 2: (Ideal day for experimentation as heavy rainfall overnight caused traffic blocks on all major roads in Mumbai.
I started from home (Thane) at around 8:30 A.M. Normally in peak hour traffic during rains this journey takes about 2.5 hours. I have memorized the traffic islands and did pretty much the same i did yesterday i.e drive at a slow and steady speed and make the traffic flow smoother. The result- I ran into less traffic blocks and shaved off about 20-25 minutes of my travel time.

Mortis · 29th July 2016, 19:53

I remember one short lived comic strip in Sunday Mid Day about a Mumbai Police detective from a few years ago, cant remember the details. In that I think the cop had to go from suburbs to churchgate station to catch a suspect before he boarded a train and normally it would take an hour but they had only 40 minutes to reach. Thats when the main detective character made a statement like if he drives at a continuous speed of 40 km/hr it will take him less time to reach than driving fast and slowing down or something to that effect. I guess the author had applied a similar principle to what has been discussed in this thread

Mortis · 29th July 2016, 20:04

I remember one short lived comic strip in Sunday Mid Day about a Mumbai Police detective from a few years ago, cant remember the details. In that I think the cop had to go from suburbs to churchgate station to catch a suspect before he boarded a train and normally it would take an hour but they had only 40 minutes to reach. Thats when the main detective character made a statement like if he drives at a continuous speed of 40 km/hr it will take him less time to reach than driving fast and slowing down or something to that effect. I guess the author had applied a similar principle to what has been discussed in this thread.

But then again in our Indian traffic conditions, forget about people cutting you off and all that, the main issues will be lower speeds where in general you will not have much room km/hr wise to make such adjustments. The author from the original post talks about slowing from from 40 MPH to 30MPH. Here it will be slowing from 20 km/hr to 15km/hr. What I mean is in India the overall average speed will be lower and the speed gap you try to make will also be lesser. I dont know if its mentioned but Im sure the experiment was done on an automatic car since its from the US and here manuals are more common, but if successful will mean fewer gear shifts

28th July 2016, 11:25	#16
ankurchaturvedi BHPian Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Thane Posts: 73 Thanked: 81 Times	Re: Traffic Hacking : One driver improving traffic Bumping an old thread. Tried to implement this in my daily commute from Thane to Matunga today. While the entire article may not be applicable to Indian driving conditions, some parts can be implemented. However it requires great road sense and an innate ability to read the road and traffic ahead. Also required is good situational awareness and spatial sense along with solid driving skills. Hey if a BHPian can't do all this, then who can? My experience: The Sion flyover makes for a very painful driving experience with only one lane open for the southbound traffic. As a result there is always a big pileup of traffic at the base of the flyover right before the incline. Compounding the woes are the moronic drivers (especially cabbies) who cut in from the left into the "flyover lane". I have a running feud with these guys, but i will reserve that for another post. . So now i know that in the morning i am going to face a huge jam. What did i do? I started slowing down about 1.5 Kms from the flyover (i gradually chopped speed). Also it was sort of a dance on the road because as soon as i dropped speed the car behind would try to overtake. In that case, i again increased speed and kept the cars behind me in the lane . So this continued till the base of the flyover till the traffic area. Now in the traffic area using a combination of engine braking and half clutching i always kept the car in motion. At no point did i stop the car. Again this was an exercise as i had to keep enough distance from the car in front and also prevent other cars from getting in that gap. As soon as i started ascending the flyover, i stepped on the gas and zoomed away. Believe it or not, when i checked my RVM, i noticed a smooth but slow flow of traffic behind me without any stoppages.Also reached 10 minutes early. I am going to further experiment with this. I urge all of you all to try it at least 4-5 times before giving it up. We really can do this .
	(2) Thanks

28th July 2016, 11:57	#17
comfortablynumb Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 2,042 Thanked: 3,451 Times	Re: Traffic Hacking : One driver improving traffic Interesting article on a similar topic: http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160...affic-part-one Cheers, Vikram
	(1) Thanks

29th July 2016, 11:53	#18
ankurchaturvedi BHPian Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Thane Posts: 73 Thanked: 81 Times	Re: Traffic Hacking : One driver improving traffic Day 2: (Ideal day for experimentation as heavy rainfall overnight caused traffic blocks on all major roads in Mumbai. I started from home (Thane) at around 8:30 A.M. Normally in peak hour traffic during rains this journey takes about 2.5 hours. I have memorized the traffic islands and did pretty much the same i did yesterday i.e drive at a slow and steady speed and make the traffic flow smoother. The result- I ran into less traffic blocks and shaved off about 20-25 minutes of my travel time.
	() Thanks

29th July 2016, 19:53	#19
Mortis Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,322 Thanked: 1,402 Times	Re: Traffic Hacking : One driver improving traffic I remember one short lived comic strip in Sunday Mid Day about a Mumbai Police detective from a few years ago, cant remember the details. In that I think the cop had to go from suburbs to churchgate station to catch a suspect before he boarded a train and normally it would take an hour but they had only 40 minutes to reach. Thats when the main detective character made a statement like if he drives at a continuous speed of 40 km/hr it will take him less time to reach than driving fast and slowing down or something to that effect. I guess the author had applied a similar principle to what has been discussed in this thread
	() Thanks

29th July 2016, 20:04	#20
Mortis Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,322 Thanked: 1,402 Times	Re: Traffic Hacking : One driver improving traffic I remember one short lived comic strip in Sunday Mid Day about a Mumbai Police detective from a few years ago, cant remember the details. In that I think the cop had to go from suburbs to churchgate station to catch a suspect before he boarded a train and normally it would take an hour but they had only 40 minutes to reach. Thats when the main detective character made a statement like if he drives at a continuous speed of 40 km/hr it will take him less time to reach than driving fast and slowing down or something to that effect. I guess the author had applied a similar principle to what has been discussed in this thread. But then again in our Indian traffic conditions, forget about people cutting you off and all that, the main issues will be lower speeds where in general you will not have much room km/hr wise to make such adjustments. The author from the original post talks about slowing from from 40 MPH to 30MPH. Here it will be slowing from 20 km/hr to 15km/hr. What I mean is in India the overall average speed will be lower and the speed gap you try to make will also be lesser. I dont know if its mentioned but Im sure the experiment was done on an automatic car since its from the US and here manuals are more common, but if successful will mean fewer gear shifts
	(1) Thanks