Six Worst Traffic Jams Known To Mankind

We came across this article by shmee150 via thesupercarkids.com

I know we all like to think that we have sat in the worst traffic jam EVER! but get a load of these and start considering yourself lucky!

Lyon-Paris, France - February 1980

Bad weather, as well as masses of winter travelers returning to Paris created a traffic jam that became 109 miles long. Imagine that.

 

Bethel, New York - August 1969

This jam lasted three days, and was caused by over 500,000 people going to Max Yasgur’s famous farm for the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. The traffic stretched back for over 20 miles and performers had to be flown via helicopter.

 

Sao Paulo, Brazil - June 2009

On June 10 2009 It was reported that there were more than 182 miles of traffic jams over 522 miles of road.

 

Kyoto, Japan - August 1990

In Japan, on August 12, 1990 more than 15,000 cars crawled along for greater than 84 miles on a highway between Hyogo and Shiga prefectures, caused by a mix of holiday revelers heading home and residents evacuating the city due to a typhoon warning

East/West Germany - April 1990

After the Berlin Wall, dividing the East and West of Germany had fallen, the holidays at Easter saw a large number of Germans desperate to reconnect with friends and family members located in the former East or West sides. April 12, 1990 saw a ridiculous 18 million cars on a roadway that usually averages half a million vehicles in a day.

Interstate 45, Texas - September 2005

The traffic jam that Interstate 45 saw was 100 miles long and congestion reportedly lasted 48 hours. It was caused by Houston residents evacuating due to Hurricane Rita approaching. The large number of people, thought to be 2.5 million meant that many motorists were left stranded for as long as 24 hours on the 300-mile route from Galveston to Dallas. The mass evacuation as clogged up as it was, is said to have probably saved the lives of many. 

An autonomous car just drove across the USA

STEPHEN LAM/Reuters/Corbis via wired.com

An autonomous car just drove across the USA.

Nine days after leaving San Francisco, the car rolled into New York City after crossing 15 states and 3,400 miles to make history.

99 percent of the driving was done by the car on its own, a human behind the wheel only when it was time to leave the highway and hit city streets.

This amazing feat, by the automotive supplier Delphi, underscores the great leaps this technology has taken in recent years, and just how close it is to becoming a part of our lives. 

You’d have to look twice to spot the cameras and LIDaR around the car; the radars are hidden behind plastic body panels. Even the trunk looks ordinary, which is quite a feat—Delphi packed all the necessary computers in the spare tire compartment. That was intentional, Owens says. “We were kind of going for the remarkably unremarkable look.” The reason for this modesty is any tech Delphi pitches to automakers has to be unobtrusive and production-ready. 

Today, most of the world’s major automakers are working on autonomous technology, with Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Volvo leading the pack. Google may be more advanced than anyone: The tech giant says its self-driving cars are so far along, they can recognize and respond to hand signals from a cop directing traffic.

Most automakers are taking a slow and steady approach to the technology and plan to roll it out over time. Most expect to have cars capable of handling themselves in stop and go traffic and on the highway within three to five years. Cars capable of navigating more complex urban environments will follow in the years beyond that, while fully autonomous vehicles are expected to be commonplace by 2040.

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Plans For Super Highway Means Ultimate Road Trip Could Be Possible From Britain To USA

A 12,400 mile super highway is being proposed that would take you from Britain to America in what would be the ultimate road trip.

The idea has been put forward as a way to improve Russia's tourism, with the hope that people would be more willing to travel through the country having a much more desired destination at the end, like the States.

The Siberian Times report that the route would be based on The Trans-Sibera Railway, going through cities like Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Vladivostok. Not exactly most sought after tourist locations it must be admitted.

Head of Russian Academy of Science says that the project is 'ambitious and very expensive' and that it not only gives the chance to improve roads in the country, but also the railway.

"It will solve many problems in the development of the vast region. It is connected with social programs, and new fields, new energy resources, and so on. The idea is that basing on the new technology of high-speed rail transport we can build a new railway near the Trans-Siberian Railway, with the opportunity to go to Chukotka and Bering Strait and then to the American continent." Vladimir Fortov, the Head of the Russian Academy of Science

The real selling point for the rest of the world, is that you could theoretically travel, by car, from Britain via the Channel Tunnel and then all the way to the USA.

With it being 12,400 miles, it could take more than 200 hours to get over there, and that is probably only as far as Alaska. However, you'd just have to make a road trip as epic as that.

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