Drivers are becoming better informed, thanks to more accurate and timely advice on traffic conditions. Some services now use sophisticated computer-modelling which is fed with real-time data from road sensors, satellite-navigation systems and the analysis of how quickly anonymous mobile phones pass from one phone mast to another. Providing motorists with such information is supposed to help them pick faster routes. But the latest research shows that in some cases it may slow everybody down.rnHyejin Youn and Hawoong Jeong, of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Michael Gastner, of the Santa Fe Institute, analysed the effects of drivers taking different routes on journeys in Boston, New York and London. Their study, to be published in a forthcoming edition of Physical Review Letters, found that when individual drivers each try to choose the quickest route it can cause delays for others and even increase holdups in the entire road network.
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