It’s time to put traffic issues on cruise control

There is technology available on cars today which could help Toronto traffic issues, if not entirely cure them.

I am referring to adaptive cruise control available on new cars which automatically brake when the car in front brakes or slows down. If all cars were required to use this option, a huge improvement in traffic flow could be achieved.

What happens now is, when the car at the head of the line slows to avoid a crash or to even let someone into their lane, the entire line of traffic slows down.

When that happens, the gaps between the rear of the car ahead and the one following shrinks a good distance. When the lead car speeds up again, the expanding of the car spacing takes longer than the initial shrinking. Consequently, the lead car need only slow down 10 km/h, then after a short time, speed up again.

When this happens the spaces between all the cars shorten up one after the next and then slowly expand as traffic at the head of the line speeds up again. This respacing causes traffic back in the line to slow even further than the initial slowdown and may even come to a stop. The traffic has been transformed from a smooth flowing stream to stop-and-go or even stopand-wait.

If all the cars were bought new or purchased after market with adaptive cruise control, when a car would slow down, say 10 km/h, the entire row of cars would slow down at virtually the same time and maintain the original spacing.

Average speed and gas mileage would increase, commute times and accidents decrease.

The cost to implement a program like this is minuscule compared to billions of dollars for new infrastructure.