DRIVERS caught in traffic jams should sit back and relax鈥攊t鈥檚 just an
illusion that other lanes are moving faster than your own.
Donald Redelmeier of the University of Toronto, Ontario, and Robert
Tisbshirani of Stanford University in California placed 120 students in a
simulation using real traffic videos. Most wanted to change into a slower lane,
believing that it was flowing more quickly, even though this was not actually
the case (Nature, vol 401, p 35).
According to the researchers, forward-facing drivers are fooled because they
spend more time looking at cars that are overtaking them鈥攚hich remain in
view鈥攔ather than the cars that they have passed, which are easily
forgotten. 鈥淣othing we found could reverse the illusion,鈥� says Redelmeier.
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