While hunting down Damien's reference I found a short note in the Sep
2, 1999 issue of Nature about a paradox I have often experienced while
driving, so I thought I would share it here:
> From these results, we suggest that drivers are responding to an
> illusion: namely, that the next lane on a congested road appears to
> be moving faster than the driver's present lane, even when both lanes
> have the same average speed. This occurs because vehicles spread out
> when moving quickly and pack together when moving slowly. A driver can
> therefore overtake many vehicles in a brief time interval, but it takes
> much longer for the driver to be overtaken by the same vehicles.
>
> Other aspects of human perception may accentuate the impression that
> the next lane is moving faster. Differential surveillance can occur
> because drivers look forwards rather than backwards, so vehicles that
> are overtaken become invisible very quickly, whereas vehicles that
> overtake the index driver remain conspicuous for much longer. Moreover,
> a driver is more likely to glance at the next lane for comparison when
> he is relatively idle while moving slowly.
>
> Even if attention was not focused in particular directions and was evenly
> spaced in time, human psychology may make being overtaken (losing) seem
> more salient than the corresponding gains. Furthermore, misconceptions
> about randomness can make runs of overtaking and being overtaken seem
> unduly prolonged. Our study highlights the effects of congestion and
> the increasing importance of the illusion, given that the number of
> miles travelled by vehicles is increasing at a much faster rate than
> the amount of roadway.
I have in fact found that if I keep a running count, plus or minus, as
cars pass me and I pass them back, I do find that the actual progress
of the other line relative to my own is much less discouraging than my
instincts suggest. This has helped me stay calmer while driving.
Hal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:04:22 MDT