Squirrel Hill Tunnel making headlines (Pittsburgh, Aspinwall: home, live, safe)

[TechieTransplant]

So Trisha Pitman has remarked how backed up traffic has been inbound the past two mornings through the tunnel. Greater than usual.

The thinking in the local media is that people are taking time to look upward in the tunnel because the roof is exposed.

[greg42]

Hey, rubbernecking knows no bounds.

The other day there was an accident on the way home on 279. It was in the median, actually from the southbound lanes, but a fire truck came up behind us on the left and people were of course moving out of its way. Then, despite what they no doubt had already seen (because I had seen it before I moved over), they moved BACK into the left. I finally attributed it to they wanted a better view. (They actually had to move back right because that fire truck blocked the left when it arrived.)

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by greg42

Hey, rubbernecking knows no bounds.

The other day there was an accident on the way home on 279. It was in the median, actually from the southbound lanes, but a fire truck came up behind us on the left and people were of course moving out of its way. Then, despite what they no doubt had already seen (because I had seen it before I moved over), they moved BACK into the left. I finally attributed it to they wanted a better view. (They actually had to move back right because that fire truck blocked the left when it arrived.)

In one of my rants recently, someone told that driving is easy, and I said that is consistently the point I'm making.......driving shouldn't be difficult.

I guess what I don't understand is......I get in my car during rush hour, and my focus is probably never more sharp. I had a father who was a fireman, I've driven through every weather occurence you can imagine, and I just can't get over the fascniation with looking around at things like this. I avoid the tunnel going to work, but even if I drove through it, I can't imagine slowing at all to look at anything.

[cheezit34141988]

No joke, I was coming home yesterday from Wilmerding through the tunnel at 7pm, and the traffic was backed up all the way around the curve, due to people slowing down and looking up at the extra 5ft of space.

As soon as I passed under it, traffic sped up considerably.

Ridiculous.

[BrianTH]

As I recall looking around while driving is attributable to an instinct to look around for possible predators, prey, or sexual partners. Rubbernecking is one example of a specific staring instinct triggered by the identification of something that might be predator/prey/partner. In that sense it is the same sort of thing as staring at an attractive person.

So in other words, people are looking for The Tunnel Monster.

Edit:

Reference:

http://news.yorku.ca/2011/12/15/can%...rain-to-blame/

[ML North]

This discussion warrants the consideration that traffic jams are complex highly-coupled systems that exhibit some very odd dynamics. A vehicle slowing down at any point in the system can produce a non-proportional response elsewhere in the system (e.g. a car reducing its speed by 2 mph entering a tunnel can cause a vehicle 1000 ft before the tunnel to slow down my 10 mph).

That happens in part because the "safe" traffic density and flow velocity are interdependent, such that vehicles can safely travel at closer distances at lower speeds. So subconscious distractions that result in barely noticeable reductions in speed at a given point can and do cause long traffic jams. Decent mathematical models (both stochastic and deterministic) have been developed which confirm the existence of such phenomena, and if I get the time and motivation I'll run a couple simulations for the Squirrel Hill tunnels.

This paper has a decent explanation of the methodology and the various terms in the conservation equations that are used for modeling traffic flow.

[gg]

I think the traffic jams are a godsend for safety sake. This year I really can't believe the driving I am seeing on the roads. There are wrecks everywhere and so many not paying attention. Not sure if it will make the news, but I just saw a Jeep rolled over on 28 around Aspinwall. Might be a death involved, but not sure since I was traveling the other way. The traffic jams slow people down to a snails pace. That is actually comforting considering how poor drivers are in the US. It really is shocking the amount of deaths on the road and these traffic jams no doubt save lots of lives. If people weave in and out in the jams they are still going slow enough to not cause a death. The problems occur when the traffic dies down enough to get the flow going. Hope things don't improve for statistical reasons. Just too many deaths on the road.

[cheezit34141988]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I think the traffic jams are a godsend for safety sake. This year I really can't believe the driving I am seeing on the roads. There are wrecks everywhere and so many not paying attention. Not sure if it will make the news, but I just saw a Jeep rolled over on 28 around Aspinwall. Might be a death involved, but not sure since I was traveling the other way. The traffic jams slow people down to a snails pace. That is actually comforting considering how poor drivers are in the US. It really is shocking the amount of deaths on the road and these traffic jams no doubt save lots of lives. If people weave in and out in the jams they are still going slow enough to not cause a death. The problems occur when the traffic dies down enough to get the flow going. Hope things don't improve for statistical reasons. Just too many deaths on the road.

So YOU'RE the guy going 45mph on the freeway outbound in the morning!

[gg]

Originally Posted by dtrtrggr13

So YOU'RE the guy going 45mph on the freeway outbound in the morning!

Thankfully I never have to be on those roads, or at least almost never. 28 is horrible and when they get it complete there will be WAY more deaths on that road in and around Pittsburgh. The false sense of security that people will have with more room and all the giant SUVs that for some odd reason feel they can drive fast and all is well because they have some huge vehicle is one nasty recipe for disasters. Also the police in our entire region don't care about speeding except tiny little pockets, like by the O'Hara Borough Building or odd little places like that. Get on the big roads and drive 100 mph if you like without regard to anyone. It is one horrific mess. If it wasn't for the traffic jams the numbers would be much worse. Arriving safe is more important than 5 minutes earlier, but seems that idea has been thrown out the window. I can't get over the amount of people that fly from red light to red light. Where are they going? Nowhere is the answer.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I think the traffic jams are a godsend for safety sake. This year I really can't believe the driving I am seeing on the roads. There are wrecks everywhere and so many not paying attention. Not sure if it will make the news, but I just saw a Jeep rolled over on 28 around Aspinwall. Might be a death involved, but not sure since I was traveling the other way. The traffic jams slow people down to a snails pace. That is actually comforting considering how poor drivers are in the US. It really is shocking the amount of deaths on the road and these traffic jams no doubt save lots of lives. If people weave in and out in the jams they are still going slow enough to not cause a death. The problems occur when the traffic dies down enough to get the flow going. Hope things don't improve for statistical reasons. Just too many deaths on the road.

Here's a good report on the subject: The Benefits of Reducing Congestion

You're head is in the right place, but traffic accidents highly correlate with the level of congestion. Of course once a traffic jam has formed, the cars in it may be less likely to be involved in a fatal crash, but that's not true for the cars approaching, avoiding, and departing from the traffic jam.

This concept is captured in the following paragraph from page 5:

Traffic congestion contributes to highway crashes. As highway crowding increases and motorists jockey for position at exits and entryways, the potential for crashes increases (Figure 2). While accidents are more likely to be fatal at higher speeds, fixing bottlenecks can nevertheless reduce the number of all types of crashes, thereby saving lives and preventing injuries.

There's a great figure on page 6. The caption reads:

This figure illustrates the relationship between traffic volumes and crash rates. Congestion increases as the volume-to-capacity ratio approaches or exceeds 1.0. A greater level of traffic volume relative to the capacity of the highway increases the risk of a crash.