Lesson for Ken as army ants charge without congestion
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Your support makes all the difference.Ants have discovered the secret of beating traffic congestion: it's all in the lane discipline.
A study by biologists at Bristol and Princeton universities has found uncanny parallels between the problems faced by New World army ants and the millions of commuters who drive into London and other large cities every day. There, however, the similarity ends: for while the ants keep in lane, move at a constant speed and act unselfishly, commuting drivers do not.
The ants' rush-hours come, says the study, when they "stage huge swarm raids ... with up to 200,000 virtually blind foragers forming trail systems that are up to 20m wide and 100m long.
"These massive raids are severely time-constrained. At most, they begin at dawn and end at dusk, when the colony emigrates, under the cover of darkness, to a new nest site."
According to the study, published by the Royal Society, New World army ants, Eciton burchelli, have developed a simple way of avoiding congestion and traffic jams.
They lay down trails of pheromones to guide others and form tightly disciplined but fast-flowing lanes of traffic which move at uniform speed. This allows them to move in a continuous stream and they rarely encounter congestion.
Although their trails seem to mimic human roads, that is where the likeness ends. Unlike humans, ants are never selfish or unpredictable, said Professor Nigel Franks, the report's co-author.
This is the most important lesson that Ken Livingstone and his planners in London could learn as they put the final touches to Britain's first experiment in congestion charging, a month from now.
"Ken could take some comfort from this, because it shows that extremely altruistic army ants can arrange smooth traffic flows. But with selfish humans, people need legislation to do that," said Professor Franks, an animal behaviourist at Bristol.
"The outcome of congestion charging could be entirely unpredictable. Whether it will cause more congestion in other places remains to be seen."
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