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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Nicola Davis Science correspondent

The Voorhees law of traffic: when overtaken slow cars seem to always catch up at a red light

Kit Yates Jason Voorhees
A blue car overtaking a red car.
The results depended on whether the cars encountered traffic lights on a set timer or with a sensor. Photograph: AKP Photos/Alamy

It is a situation experienced by many motorists: one driver overtakes another only to find the slower car is right behind them when they reach a red light. Now a researcher has used mathematics to reveal why the situation feels inevitable.

Dr Conor Boland from Dublin City University has called his work “The Voorhees law of traffic”.

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