"Dr. Conor Boland explained that red-light timing can erase small speed advantages, allowing a slower car to catch up again and again. He noted, 'You pass a car, and then a few minutes later, it ends up beside you again.' This phenomenon is partly psychological, as we remember surprising moments when the same car shows up again, but it is also built into how traffic works."
"Dr. Boland's work, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, is called 'The Voorhees law of traffic,' named after Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th films. He stated, 'Every time it would happen in traffic, I would point it out. I kept saying it was like Jason Voorhees - no matter what you do, he somehow keeps appearing.'"
Researchers have developed a mathematical model to explain why cars often reappear beside each other at red lights. This phenomenon, named 'The Voorhees law of traffic,' illustrates how red-light timing and stop-start driving can negate speed advantages. Psychological factors also play a role, as drivers tend to remember surprising encounters with the same vehicles. The model shows that small delays and differences in driving behavior lead to a statistical pattern where cars frequently end up near one another across multiple intersections.
Read at Mail Online
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