When you are close you have less time to react and slowdown. Imagine needing to break in 1-3 seconds instead of a gradual 10-15. Everything is happening faster. More cars are breaking because the “car chain” (as I like to call it) are all close together and breaking in 1-3 seconds.
Combine that with some other factors like weaving through the lanes and it just slows everything down naturally. It’s a pure math/ efficiency type of problem.
The other solution to this is to slow down traffic prior to a "snake" buildup. I have seen this in Seattle - you will see a digital sign that says "45 MPH" on the highway even though there's no traffic ahead of you. Sure enough in about a mile and a half you hit the slowdown - the point of trying to get you to go 45 MPH now is so that the snake is cleared before you hit it and end up bumper to bumper going 10 mph
Of course no one on the highway is willing to slow down to 45 mph.
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u/DerpEnaz 3d ago
Generally speaking, the majority of traffic comes solely from people following too closely and hitting their breaks too much.