There’s nothing more frustrating than overtaking a car, only for it to reappear again minutes later when you pull up at a red light.
Now, researchers have devised a mathematical model to explain the infuriating phenomenon – and named it after a horror film.
Dr Conor Boland, from Dublin City University, said red–light timing can erase small speed advantages, allowing a slower car to catch up again and again.
‘You pass a car, and then a few minutes later, it ends up beside you again,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘The opposite also happens. A car overtakes you, and then you catch up with it again further down the road.’
He said the phenomenon is partly psychological – we tend to remember the moments when the same car shows up again because it feels surprising.
‘But it is also built into how traffic works. Traffic lights and stop–start driving naturally shuffle cars around,’ he added.
‘You might get ahead for a short time but small delays, red lights, and differences in how people drive tend to cancel that out. Over time, it means the same cars often end up near each other again. The effect isn’t horror, it’s statistics at work in everyday driving.’
Dr Boland said red–light timing can erase small speed advantages, allowing a slower car to catch up again and again
Across multiple intersections, these probabilities compound – creating an almost supernatural feeling of inevitability, he explained.
Dr Boland’s work, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, is called ‘The Voorhees law of traffic’.
This is a nod to the character Jason Voorhees from the American horror film franchise Friday the 13th.
Throughout the films victims run for their lives but Voorhees – renowned for his sinister slow–paced walk – somehow manages to catch up.
‘Every time it would happen in traffic, I would point it out,’ Dr Boland said.
‘I kept saying it was like Jason Voorhees – no matter what you do, he somehow keeps appearing.
‘Eventually my wife told me I should probably stop talking about it and actually do something with it.
‘That was the point where I sat down and tried to see if there was a simple explanation behind it.’
The name of the work is a nod to the character Jason Voorhees from the American horror film franchise Friday the 13th
He explained that when it comes to advice on how to really get ahead, trying to jump between lanes usually does not help as much as people think.
‘Any advantage is often short lived,’ he said.
‘In any case, staying in your lane and driving steadily works just as well and is far less stressful.
‘So in simple terms, whether you pass someone or they pass you, there is a good chance you will end up next to each other again.
‘That is just how traffic behaves.’
