Staus (was gaper's block)

[David Bergdahl]

RE: traffic slowdowns

In Germany 30 yrs ago the slowdowns on the Autobahn were called Staus--n.B.
the English plural--and I was told that it derived from the English word
"stall" but pronounced "shtao".  The most frequent reason given for them was
what CALTRANS calls TMC: "too many cars."  Any small item can cause a Stau:
merging traffic, an accident, smoke or fog on the road &c. ... or just
traffic.  I was told that speed limits would reduce them because with
unlimited speed traffic bunches up and therefore everything slows down.
Consequently the major roads started getting 135 km/St speed limits (approx
84 mph).
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"Raffiniert ist der Herr Gott aber Boshaft ist er nicht"
--Albert Einstein