Surely on more than one occasion you have wondered why, with all the technological advances to improve cars, driving, and traffic, no one has managed to solve the problem of traffic jams on the road, since in some way these congestions can be avoided with all the real-time information we have about roads and other devices, we should have already solved this problem.
While it is true that when there is an accident and the road is blocked, there is not much that can be done about it until the damaged car is removed from the road, it is logical that traffic does not flow as usual. We must take into account that many traffic jams form without any accident or breakdown.
These jams can occur because a driver changes lanes abruptly and causes the car behind to brake suddenly, which leads to a domino effect of sudden braking, or simply because cars are traveling at different speeds, and some have to brake suddenly, these situations are known as phantom traffic jams.
Fortunately, the most widely used digital map in the world, Google Maps, would be working to launch a new feature that, by applying the science behind these phantom traffic jams, could prevent drivers from having to endure one again if they follow its directions.
This is possible because Google’s new tool collects real-time traffic information, and therefore almost instantly detects (or that’s the idea) the status of the road, whether everything is fine or if there are delays.
In the event of identifying delays caused by one of these phantom traffic jams, the Maps app would alert the user to them, and the innovation is that it would recommend the driver to adjust their speed to a specific one set by the platform to avoid being affected by the stops on the road.
Meaning, if you are on a highway where the maximum speed is 120 km/h, Google Maps may recommend reducing to 110 km/h and thus by reducing speed, when you reach the congested area you won’t have to brake suddenly, making traffic flow much smoother.
In this way, this tool that has not yet been launched globally could be the key to ending this type of congestion that arises out of nowhere and can delay our journey. However, it is crucial for drivers to follow the directions of Google Maps, otherwise it would never work.
