Re:Not that simple (Score 1)

As several people have pointed out this is not a new discovery, its been well understood for a long time and doesn't take much thought to understand the processes. A really quick google search found the following references: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/newstraffic.shtml http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/publicity/traffic.html These don't go back too far, but I remember watching a TV program about this and the scheme proposed for the M25 (UK) and that was many years ago. As usual the title is overly sensational. The actual NewScientist article does point out this is simply a physical demonstration of a theory that goes back 15 years and has been modeled in computer simulations many times before! I would think observing many of the worlds busy motorways is just as beneficial! The one thing that worries me is the suggestion that this can now be used to help understand how to reduce traffic jams. Using the computer models this has long been understood, its just not so easy to get motorists to abide by the requirements!