The Green Bag

This is incredible:

http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/

The first thing that I noticed while watching the default view of the simulator is that I've been right all along. It only takes one idiot who doesn't know how to merge to cause the daily traffic jam. The effect of a single vehicle on traffic is really pretty amazing to behold.

The lane closure mode was kinda interesting, too. At its first setting, traffic moved along fairly normally, and things didn't get bad as I gradually increased traffic flow. However, if I made a sudden increase in traffic, or increased the speed limit from 80km/h to 100km/h (approx 64MPH), traffic jams occurred almost immediately.

There is also a link to a 3D simulation that shows a "phantom traffic jam" from first the driver's perspective, and then a helicopter view. I haven't taken the time to watch those, yet.