Phantom Traffic Jams Explained

Stromberg focuses on the work of Benjamin Seibold, a mathematician at Temple University, and colleagues, who have developed a concept called the "jamiton" to explain the phenomenon.

Here's how Stromberg describes a jamiton: 

If there are enough cars on a highway, any minor disruptions to the flow of traffic can cause a self-reinforcing chain reaction: one car brakes slightly, and the ones behind it brake just a bit more to avoid hitting it, with the braking eventually amplifying until it produces a wave of stopped or slowed traffic.

The idea of jamitons raises additional questions about how much responsibility individual driving behavior impacts traffic flow. Stromberg also discusses a few of the options for preventing jamitons (spoiler: self-driving cars are one them).