Traffic Life : Passionate Tales and Exit Strategies
Edited by Stephan Wehner
An Anthology
 
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174 Traffic Zoology in parallel lines but are doing more dicing than drafting [...] Cars that run alone, often stuck dangerously between two draft lines, will appear to drift irrevocably backward. Freed of the bonds of racing's formalism, the Aggregate Traffic Animals (ATAs) are born, rooted in transient sym- bioses between individual patches of drivers that will crys- tallise into the organs of the beast. But the circumstances have to be just right for one to emerge. The unholy Hierony- mus Bosch-style concert of homicidal applied-schadenfreude that may characterise your urban, intra-urban or sub-urban driving experience is not ripe ground for ATA growth: too frothy. The sociological and scatological dances of the megalopo- lis rushhour, too, are beyond the scope of this article, and are at any rate most likely best explored with deep com- puter simulations using high-tech software automata tools with average driver profiles linked to real world statistics of roadway usage coupled with a virtual army of ten thou- sand angry axe-wielding orcs battling an equal number of obedient clonetroopers. Rather, this field is perfect fodder for the amateur ethol- ogist, observing phenomena with a keen eye, an open mind and a sharp pencil. And, while much has been written about the wave dynamics of traffic jams and phase-transi- tions in traffic density, very little time has been devoted to the observation and cataloguing of persistent multi-car zoomorphia. Early Observations. The author first became aware of the existence of ATAs while making his way through the hinter- land of Canada on a long, mid-winter solo drive in a decrepit muscle-car from the seventies with no functioning radio. Due to his dangerous penchant for immersive daydream- ing in the absence of external stimuli, he began to parasite his driving decisions by locking in behind another car with comparable speed ambitions. By reserving a sliver of aware- ness for tracking the red brake lights of the 'lead' car for
  
Matthew Frederick Davis Hemming 175 changes in speed or direction, the author was able to com- fortably enjoy his trance while a hefty burden of road aware- ness was outsourced to the other driver, causing the front car to function as a sort of early warning mechanism for changing conditions (including the Mounties' speed-traps). The notion resurfaced while the author was wrestling a rented, dented German-designed locally-built economy ve- hicle down a twisting, pot-holed two-lane jungle highway through the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. As the jour- ney began he found himself hedged inside a short parade of other tourists, all driving their rental cars out of the air- port at around the same time at a hesitant pace, braking frequently to process the unfamiliar leafy darkness ahead. Fearing injury, the author laterally-leapfrogged the indeci- sive parade and drove on into the murk alone. Remember- ing his success in the far north, he latched on to the back of a local vehicle (a home-modded 'convertible' carrying ten people, standing room only), using its varying speed as an indicator of road conditions. Unexpectedly, this move was noticed by several of the other tourists, who began to fight to separate themselves from the melee and join the newer, more surefooted pack that was rapidly pulling ahead... By the time the author had reached his exit the im- promptu fleet of vehicles had become a persistent, home- ostatic phenomenon. The fleet had learned to manipulate the spacing between its components in order to remain per- meable to faster moving local traffic while defending its in- tegrity against more disruptive external vehicles. Pulses of communication signifying when the passing lane was clear rippled down the chain through a conscientious leaning into the gravel shoulder, assisting in the process of ex- pectorating invaders. Several of the original tourist vehi- cles ended up being swapped out for other vehicles without rocking the boat. Later on, even the leader was swapped out for another experienced local car. It was a fetching game, contributing to the welfare of all of its players in an interesting way, but it was not a true ATA. It was too conscious a contrivance to be anything more than a delightful spontaneous social event.

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