[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by davem4616

I-75 is a pretty busy race track, with a lot of folks that tend to weave across lanes trying to get ahead of the other fellow. 441/21/301 is a slower route up to Ocala from TV, but IMHO more enjoyable than the 'white knuckle drive' on I-75

I once read a traffic assessment that seemed to answer why the traffic piles up on the interstates and slows down when no accident is involved...not sure if it's completely accurate, but it sure made sense to me...it went something like this:

very few drivers actually travel at the speed limit...most are 10 + mph above the posted speeds, and some really 'bury the needle'...however, there are those that stay within the posted limit (and sometimes play 'speed cop' out in the left hand lane)

when those traveling at higher rates of speed approach multiple vehicles that are traveling at the posted speed limits, traffic begins to slow down and back up while the drivers that want to travel at a faster speed maneuver around the slower moving vehicles...once that begins to happen, there is a domino affect...as cars continue to come up to 'the pack' and more back up...further back drivers see the red tail lights and begin to slow down...and it just continues to mushroom....eventually the accordion factor sets in and we enter the stop, start, stop, go mode

now on the other hand, construction, trash in the roadway, a cop car to the side with lights flashing and an accident will also back the traffic up

add to it all that by the time infrastructure plans are actually funded and construction completed the new roads are often already insufficient to handle the volume of traffic that will be using the road

Very good post and probably very true. One of the reasons I fantasize that a giant hook would come out of the sky and grab those "speed cops" out of the left lane and dump them on a backwoods two lane road.