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Even in times of low traffic, patrol cars are known to slow down the flow of cars in order to induce congestion. They do it because when there are so many cars

Even in times of low traffic, patrol cars are known to slow down the flow of cars in order to induce congestion. They do it because when there are so many cars on the freeway, it’s safer if the vehicles move along slowly. It seems that with our current infrastructure, even if we could reduce the number of car users it would not be by such a margin that it would become safe enough to not have these “traffic breaks”. https://youtu.be/zOjYQTkrdl8 https://youtu.be/zOjYQTkrdl8

karthikb 7y ago
The traffic break is usually used to scan the road for debris, or to create an opening for emergency services down the road to stage without having to completely shut the road down. Not typically used for flow management - having driven daily in SD, LA, and the Bay Area, I personally see it maybe once every 4-5 years.
- pfranz 7y ago
  It's just anecdotal, but I often saw it done in LA; weekly to monthly. Since I would get stuck in them I'd often seem them start or end them. I never once saw any correlation to road debris or emergency services. Any staging for construction or emergency services were done with a slow moving truck dropping cones or flares put down in a zipper-like fashion, corralling cars into open lanes or into exits.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    Yeah I see that kinda stuff at least a few times a year in the Bay Area. There's so much detritus on the roads I imagine they're just trying to remove the biggest of the hazards.
- bradlys 7y ago
  > The traffic break is usually used to scan the road for debris, or to create an opening for emergency services down the road to stage without having to completely shut the road down. Not typically used for flow management - having driven daily in SD, LA, and the Bay Area, I personally see it maybe once every 4-5 years. I've seen "traffic breaks" done to catch motorcyclists. Completely stops traffic with hundreds and hundreds of cars just to catch one guy speeding - not really worth it imo. Sometimes it's for debris but see plenty of pulling over too...

karthikb 7y ago

The traffic break is usually used to scan the road for debris, or to create an opening for emergency services down the road to stage without having to completely shut the road down. Not typically used for flow management - having driven daily in SD, LA, and the Bay Area, I personally see it maybe once every 4-5 years.

pfranz 7y ago
It's just anecdotal, but I often saw it done in LA; weekly to monthly. Since I would get stuck in them I'd often seem them start or end them. I never once saw any correlation to road debris or emergency services. Any staging for construction or emergency services were done with a slow moving truck dropping cones or flares put down in a zipper-like fashion, corralling cars into open lanes or into exits.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Yeah I see that kinda stuff at least a few times a year in the Bay Area. There's so much detritus on the roads I imagine they're just trying to remove the biggest of the hazards.
bradlys 7y ago
> The traffic break is usually used to scan the road for debris, or to create an opening for emergency services down the road to stage without having to completely shut the road down. Not typically used for flow management - having driven daily in SD, LA, and the Bay Area, I personally see it maybe once every 4-5 years. I've seen "traffic breaks" done to catch motorcyclists. Completely stops traffic with hundreds and hundreds of cars just to catch one guy speeding - not really worth it imo. Sometimes it's for debris but see plenty of pulling over too...