Ants Are Practically Immune to Traffic Jams
> Whereas, when a trail is overcrowded, the ants restrained themselves and avoided joining until things thinned out.This sounds a lot like how traffic waves [1] occur. When there's a traffic jam ahead, you can often help clear it out just by slowing down to the average speed it's moving. Going a steady 10mph is much better than going 30mph for 1/3 of the time and then being stopped for 2/3 of the time. If everyone can start going smoothly at 10mph it will eventually speed up.Traffic jams occur because cars are arriving at some point on the road faster than they can leave that point. If the cars coming towards it just slow down to allow the cars there time to leave, the jam will clear.[1] http://trafficwaves.org/