Your Eyes Made This Traffic Jam

From the video's description

A crash on the hard shoulder, every lane still open, and still a jam. When drivers look at a crash, they ease off the gas. The car behind brakes a little harder, the next one harder still, and the slowdown runs back up the road. Fewer cars get through, only because people look.
One fix used in Germany: a mobile green screen wall next to the crash, about 2.1 m high and up to 100 m long. It hides the crash from cars, but a truck driver sits higher and can still see over it.

Sources: Knoop, Hoogendoorn & Van Zuylen, "Capacity Reductions at Incident Sites on Motorways", European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research 9(4), 2009 (with all lanes open and an incident on the hard shoulder, the queue discharge rate drops by 30%); Landtag NRW Drucksache 16/10404 (2015) and Land NRW press release, 7 Sep 2015 (the mobile screen walls: 2.50 m frames, 2.10 m high, up to 100 m; from a truck the crash is not always hidden).

3D scene is a reconstruction built in Blender. Simulated traffic.

3D models (CC BY 4.0)

• "Volkswagen Golf 8. GTI (A8)" by GT Cars: Hyperspeed
• "2016 Volkswagen Polo", "Ford Focus Sedan" by BHP3D
• "2023 bmw 3 series", "Mercedes Vito Utility Car" by solid3ddd
• "Tesla 2018 Model 3" by Ameer Studio
• "2023 Volvo XC60" by tonielpro520
• "Kia Sportage" by karaman.arman
• "Volkswagen Passat B5" by Ruletă
• "FREE // Honda E (Detailed Interior) 2021" by Alex Murias
• "Range Rover Sport 2018" by diw3d
• "2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 RST" by Ddiaz Design
• "James Scania R440" by zairiq-123
• "Semi Trailer" by NoblecatSoft
• "Mighty Oak Trees", "High Detail Elm Tree Collection" by Jagobo
• "Five Birch trees pack" by lolipop_1707
• "Wind Turbine" by Sket_h
• "Rural Brick House with Barn and Chicken Coop" by Vitalii.Sandula
• "High-speed train" by Andrew (omg1024)
• "Bicycle Collection Free" by Nicholas-3D
• "Rigged T-Pose Human Male" by Mike Alger
• "Dutch crash attenuator attachment" by Holywood
Cockpit: "Volkswagen Golf GTI (2025)" by geyges (Sketchfab Standard licence).
Textures, plants and sky: Poly Haven (CC0). Sign lettering: Overpass (SIL Open Font License).
Sounds (CC0, Freesound): kyles, JPBILLINGSLEYJR, and the channel's own.

Car makes and logos shown belong to their owners. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.