They likely don’t. In most cases, congestion and gridlock are caused by “traffic snakes” and other phantom traffic jams. These are mostly predicated on drivers

They likely don’t. In most cases, congestion and gridlock are caused by “traffic snakes” and other phantom traffic jams. These are mostly predicated on drivers braking too hard because they were following the car in front too closely. In order to avoid stop-and-go traffic, you should try to balance the distance to the car in front of you with the distance to the car behind you. Allowing enough distance lets you slow down to avoid an accident without coming to a complete stop (as long as the person in front of you is doing the same). A lot of driver behavior is at fault for gridlock and traffic issues. It really comes down to poor enforcement and counterintuitive game theory that makes it more advantageous to disregard the rules.