1

Changing Lanes
--Does changing lanes more frequently help you reach your
destination faster?
---

This experiment will test determine if the frequency of which one changes lane affects the time taken for
them to arrive at their destination. Through ANOVA tests, this test will determine if a certain frequency
of lane changing allows one to arrive at their destination quicker than the other frequencies.

Andy Liu
B6
D/C Statistics | 2015-2016
5/22/16

Table of Contents
Project Report

Works Cited

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Changing Lanes
Everyone, at one point or another, has sat in traffic and regretted the decision of settling
in a lane. As you glance to your left, you see the lane speeding by as you sit helplessly in your
lane, slowly lurching forward. Thus, this project will set out to discover if switching lanes more
frequently helps one reach their destination faster. While many other tests have been conducted
based off of this same question, this specific test will vary from those. In the other tests, lane
changing was arbitrary (Foer), but this experiment will test specific amounts of lane change.
Unfortunately, the results of other tests varied greatly due to either different experiment set-ups
(Silverstein) or a different conclusion was derived. For the average person, the question of
whether you should leave your lane or stick it out will be resolved. Hopefully, if the null
hypothesis proves true, there will be no difference in means for each category of lane change
frequency. However, if the null proves to be false, then there is indeed a difference in means for
lane change frequency. Meaning, if the null is true, there is no difference in times for lane
change frequency, but if the null proves to be false, there is a difference in times for lane
change frequency.
From the pool of LASA seniors, 30 seniors will be randomly selected (See Appendix A)
and document the times required for each of their drives to school from home (See Appendix B).
The 30 samples were selected by assigning each LASA Senior with a numerical value. Then with
a random number generator, thirty random numbers would be selected that correlated to any
student on the index. Unfortunately, the sample may not have accurately represented the entire
population as different drivers have varying levels of driving skill. Some subjects may have
acquired their license recently and have been driving for few months, while others may have

been driving for years prior to participating in this experiment. Therefore, the sample of 30
seniors does not accurately represent the entire class of seniors as a whole.
Samples will alternate between lane change frequencies daily, infrequently, frequently,
and very frequently, then record and report the time required to arrive to LASA for each day.
Once on any major highway (I-35, Mopac, 183, etc.), samples will begin alternating lanes that
correspond to their required frequency. Based off the amount of times a car will change lanes,
the amount of lane changes will correspond to a certain category of: infrequent (<3), frequent (46), and very frequent (>6). This experiment will set out to discover if amount of lane changes
affect time, either beneficial or detrimental.
Based off of the 30 samples, there were only 3 levels of frequency among all data points.
The experiment warranted an ANOVA test because there were more than two quantitative
variables being compared. Each time per lane change frequency was being compared against
one another, thus, an ANOVA test was required as more than two quantitative variables were
being compared. Before we can conduct an ANOVA test, we must check the assumptions first.
First, as stated earlier, the 30 samples were randomly selected. Next, we can conclude that the
times were independent of each other as one time cannot correspond to varying lane change
frequencies. Thirdly, based on the box plots, they are all approximately equal in size thus
variance is approximately equal. Lastly, there are no skews present in the box plot, thus the
distribution of samples are approximately normal (See Appendix C).
Based off of the ANOVA test (See Appendix D), I generated an F-Value of 2.228, total
degrees of freedom of 89 and a P-value of .114. Thus, since the p-value is greater than our
confidence interval of .05, we fail to reject our hypothesis meaning that there is no difference in
true mean of times per lane change frequency. Ergo, since we did not detect any significant

difference in times per lane change frequency, we did not conduct a Tukey HSD test.
Therefore, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that there is not a difference in true means of
times per lane change frequency.
In the end, changing lanes more frequently does not help one arrive at their destination
quicker. From the ANOVA test, there was no significant difference detected between the true
means of times per lane change frequency, meaning, no one frequency was shorter than the
rest. Based on my data, the times recorded were not significantly different throughout each
category. The differences per each category were all not significantly different from one another,
meaning no true mean was different. Ergo, the times per each amount of lane change
frequency were not significantly different, thus changing lanes more frequently does not help
one arrive at their destination quicker.
While the experiment attempted to be as accurate and bias-free as possible, many issues
were still prevalent throughout the process. If this experiment were to be repeated and replicated,
the first issue to be changed would be the length of data collection. Compared to the three days
allotted to gather data, the data collection time would be extended by a week or two. By
broadening the window of data, more data could be collected and the data points would allow for
further analysis and allow for less outliers in drive time. Secondly, the experiment process would
be revised slightly as to keep all samples as similar as possible. Rather than allowing samples
from throughout Austin, samples would be collected from a designated location and assigned a
specific route that all samples must take as well. By restricting the population parameters, the
samples and data from the samples would be as similar as possible as to avoid any outliers or
bias.

Works Cited

Foer, Joshua. "The Physics of . . . Changing Lanes." Discover Magazine. N.p., 28 Apr.
2005. Web. 10 May 2016.
McGinty, Jo Craven. "Traffic Engineers Say Slowing Down Will Get You Through a
Jam Faster." WSJ. N.p., 7 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 May 2016.
Silverstein, Jonathan. "Does Changing Lanes Get You There Faster?" ABC News. ABC
News Network, 5 Feb. 2005. Web. 10 May 2016.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

9
> table(Project$Type)
Frequently
Infrequently Very Frequently
30
30
30
> aggregate(Time~Type, Project, mean)
Type
Time
1
Frequently 22.06667
2
Infrequently 24.93333
3 Very Frequently 20.30000
> aggregate(Time~Type, Project, sd)
Type
Time
1
Frequently 8.796290
2
Infrequently 8.796290
3 Very Frequently 8.128918
> test <- aov(Project$Time~Project$Type)
> summary(test)
Df Sum Sq Mean Sq F value Pr(>F)
Project$Type 2
328 164.03
2.228 0.114
Residuals
87
6404
73.61

Appendix E