> Traffic worsened because drivers weren't able to optimize their routes
This might explain a huge random traffic jam I hit in the middle of my town this morning.
I had no idea any kind of an outage was happening because I've intentionally scaled back my dependence on my phone. I always used to automatically pull up Google Maps to navigate no matter how short the trip. At some point I realized I was losing my ability to travel without being completely dependent on some company tracking my location and telling me what to do, so as part of my phone de-Googlification I switched to Organic Maps. And even then I try to navigate on my own without any GPS assistance as often as possible. I feel like navigating is a skill you can actually lose if you don't practice doing it.
After running an errand across town this morning, I decided to try getting back home via the biggest arterial through the city that I know about, and I immediately hit a huge westbound backup stretching at least a mile. It was a total standstill. I peeked ahead trying to see if there was some kind of accident or something and didn't see anything. Everyone was just sitting in this traffic jam, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.
I immediately flipped a u-turn and went 3/4 of a mile north to another westbound road I knew about. That one was completely clear of any traffic at all, and I was able to drive the speed limit all the way back.
The most-used navigation apps I know of suggest alternate routes when there's congestion, so why were all those people just sitting there in that jam while a parallel road less than a mile away was clear? Maybe it was this cascading effect of too many people conditioned into being told what to do by their phones while their phones couldn't tell them to take the other route.
> Maybe it was this cascading effect of too many people conditioned into being told what to do by their phones while their phones couldn't tell them to take the other route
There is a lot of people who couldn't navigate to a neighboring street without a direct directions even if their life depended on it.
Add to that what the most people doesn't have a slightest idea where are they, where are the cardinal directions and what they need to get from point A to point B.
> if you go to an alternate route it may also be congested, and it will all have been for nothing
Yeah, I get that there can also be a bit of a sunk cost thing along with regret minimization going on too. I think game theory suggests that you should switch routes the instant you hit significant congestion though, because P(congestion on the current route)=1 as soon as you hit it.
This might explain a huge random traffic jam I hit in the middle of my town this morning.
I had no idea any kind of an outage was happening because I've intentionally scaled back my dependence on my phone. I always used to automatically pull up Google Maps to navigate no matter how short the trip. At some point I realized I was losing my ability to travel without being completely dependent on some company tracking my location and telling me what to do, so as part of my phone de-Googlification I switched to Organic Maps. And even then I try to navigate on my own without any GPS assistance as often as possible. I feel like navigating is a skill you can actually lose if you don't practice doing it.
After running an errand across town this morning, I decided to try getting back home via the biggest arterial through the city that I know about, and I immediately hit a huge westbound backup stretching at least a mile. It was a total standstill. I peeked ahead trying to see if there was some kind of accident or something and didn't see anything. Everyone was just sitting in this traffic jam, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.
I immediately flipped a u-turn and went 3/4 of a mile north to another westbound road I knew about. That one was completely clear of any traffic at all, and I was able to drive the speed limit all the way back.
The most-used navigation apps I know of suggest alternate routes when there's congestion, so why were all those people just sitting there in that jam while a parallel road less than a mile away was clear? Maybe it was this cascading effect of too many people conditioned into being told what to do by their phones while their phones couldn't tell them to take the other route.