This is from yesterday, near Birmingham (FL110)
And that’s not even a proper traffic jam!
And I guess I was in there. 
Regards from Milton Keynes.
From a trip down to Gloucester I did a while ago:
Standing wave traffic jam – stopped traffic for a mile or so on the M5 with no discernible cause (and it won’t dissipate until there are less vehicles arriving than leaving)
What I always fail to understand about jams, especially those caused by an RTC on a motorway, is why the police cannot close the road 2 junctions back and then get the traffic off at one junction back. Normally you cannot move for hours. Equally why do drivers near to an exit not leave and allow everyone behind to do the same? What am I missing?
BTW I like the pictures and I am sure many of us have seen such things with no obvious reason for the jam.
There is a clever mathematical reason for why and how traffic jams form, though I don’t know what it is 
Fenland_Flyer wrote:
What I always fail to understand about jams, especially those caused by an RTC on a motorway, is why the police cannot close the road 2 junctions back and then get the traffic off at one junction back.
Because in the UK the police are not called ‘Plod’ for nothing…..
Or perhaps because it is not their responsability if stupid people act stupidly… As long as nobody gets sick or hurt, why should they care? Perhaps compare with ATC staff?
For an illustration, on every sunny Sunday afternoon from April till September this country sees a huge traffic jam with people getting home from a day at the coast. There are a thousand ways to avoid that, the simplest staying at home. If people absolutely want to have a traffic jam, why should public money and effort be spent on keeping them from it?
In spite of a stiff headwind, I once found myself overtaking some serious traffic on the famous ‘black saturday’ on the ‘autoroute du soleil’ and had to admit a feeling of satisfaction.
Now, some higher powers sensed my glee and shoved one these d.rned TGV trains underneath, outrunning me!
Will never ever board a train again..
Speaking of trains, one of the most satisfying times during my PPL training was during a solo cross country where I finally had “spare” time to text my instructor from the plane. The text said: “all is well, the train is overtaking me”. It was not a TGV-class train, a local people mover. Cherish the little things and all that.
Qualifying solo cross country, following the railway from Shoreham to Portsmouth in a Jackeroo biplane, non radio, 1964.
Diesel engine appears under nose. Then another. Then a coal wagon. Then 2 coal wagons.
My cruise 65 mph, and 20 kt headwind at 2000’. Thruxton – Shoreham – Portsmouth – Thruxton with fuel top-up at Shoreham. Airfields had a guy to swing-start engine, and I had an iron bar to hit magneto if several swings didn’t start the engine.
