I’ve written before about “Fake Traffic” and a developed theory called “The Wave Theory of Traffic” and I’m happy once again to write that scientists have used math and science to prove that ‘Phantom’ Traffic Jams exist and they’re working to mitigate them.
The MIT team found speed, traffic density and other factors can determine conditions that will lead to a jamiton and how quickly it will spread. Once the jam forms, the researchers say, drivers have no choice but to wait for it to clear. The new model could lead to roads designed with sufficient capacity to keep traffic density below the point at which a jamiton can form.
Via Boing Boing.
unlikelywords.com 
I anticipate the imminent formation of eleven-member (averaging 6 percussionists per group) reggae/Grateful Dead fusion bands at state universities and SLACs across the nation, all performing under the name Jamiton or a variation thereof. There will be much dancing (re-dubbed “fluid flow”), and intense discussions of precisely when during their cover of “You Enjoy Myself” the band hit its “sonic point” and Jamiton’s wicked jamiton began.
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I think there is also a pretty steady rate at which the waves travel–something like 11mph.
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