Traffic jams in PR provide a good demonstration of the rules of conformity and distortion of action that Asch found in his experiment in the 50's. He presented groups of people with a series of cards, each containing four lines. He then asked each person in turn which of the three lines on the right was the same length as the line on the left. However, all but one of the people in the group were his accomplices, and he arranged for them to all pick a line which was clearly not the longest. About 75% of subjects agreed with the group on the wrong answer at least once. But if even one other group member chose the correct answer, the level of conformity dropped to only a quarter of what it was before.

It's funny how when you're stuck in traffic, all it takes is one daring person to venture into the grass median. As soon as you see one car go by, immediately five more pile out into the grass behind him.

It's also curious that it always seems to be SUV's that decide that they are not waiting in line with all the peons and drive on the grass. I can picture the thought process: This is an off-road vehicle! This is a perfect chance to use it in its natural environment. Sadly, as some people discover, that thing you paid $40k for is not an off-road vehicle. It's a Camry with a big body bolted on. But yes, as you've shown, it CAN handle the rugged wilderness that dwells between highways.