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Tom Vanderbilt's book "Traffic" is a game-changer.Since reading this extraordinarily well researched book, I just smile when someone suggests that the way to ease traffic is to remove bottlenecks by building wider highways.I bought it as gifts for two friends and lent my copy to my cubicle neighbor.
Time and again, we hear that flying is safer than driving, yet most people instinctively feel the opposite, often because they at least have control over how they drive.The most interesting paradox that Vanderbilt discusses is that we are typically at the most risk of accident in "safe" situations and safer in the risky situations. You're a bad driver. In fact, one of the key ideas in Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic is that it is almost impossible not be a bad driver. An example with poor risk assessment is driving versus flying. I can't say that the book made me enjoy the experience more (or hate it less), but at least I got a better understanding as to why it happens. There are too many things that need to be done and the level of concentration to be good is hard to maintain (of course, there are degrees of badness).
On the other hand, if you're on a winding mountain road, you will take things slower, reducing your risk.I am only scratching the surface with what is covered in this very interesting book. But so am I. When people drive cars with great safety features, or are on nice straight highways, they tend to offset these safeties by behaving more dangerously (such as driving faster). Even if you leave the radio off, put the cell phone away and focus only on driving, it is difficult to keep that focus.Traffic deals with our behavior in Traffic and why we act as we do. A lack of personal contact can make a person more aggressive; people often assess risk poorly and so on. While in the middle of reading it, I was stuck in a traffic jam.
You may hate traffic, but you should enjoy Traffic.
Frequently, Mr. I loved the interplay between the (wrong) common wisdoms against the counter-intuitive facts. Vanderbilt makes what appear to be important concluding statements, but I found myself on several occasions scratching my head, thinking, "huh". Mr. Vanderbilt repeats quite a bit of his points throughout the book; the repetition goes beyond what's helpful as references to past points made while in the process of making new points. He also did an exceptional job of describing traffic calming (and anti-calming) theories and techniques. Why three stars instead of four or five.
Having already been familiar with Dan Burden's work on walkable communities, I knew some of this, but Mr. Cell phone usage is an example: Instead of demonizing this one activity, he puts it into a larger context of risky driving behaviors, such as how we are distracted simply by fiddling with the radio dials. Vanderbilt expanded my knowledge considerably. Some painful editing might have been a good thing.
I found the book delightful, engrossing, sometimes humorous. a. Mr. b. Vanderbilt's explanation that what we see in traffic depends on what we *expect* to see (and other factors) fascinated me. About midway, the delightfulness of the book's contents turned into a bit of a chore. Vanderbilt did a really good job of explaining the greys on topics that we tend to make black and white. as if there were critical pieces of data inadvertently left out, or the logic completely escaped me.
Mr. I'd love this book to be required reading for all city council members and their county and regional counterparts. c. Overall, though, I highly recommend this enjoyable book.
There are some drivers who choose to merge early, as soon as they see a sign indicating their lane is closed ahead (or is exit only etc)., others wait right up to the last second and then indiginantly try to merge into the freer flowing traffic of the next lane. That I take exception to. Vanderbilt's admission of being a 'late-merger', someone who waits till the last moment before exiting a closed lane and merging into a parallel one. The appeal of the book is that it resists that temptation.
The author talks approvingly of the work of Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman who supposedly hated traffic signs. Chapter Eight is a quick romp through two of the worlds' most congested cities Delhi and Beijing. Driving and Traffic are technically separate but closely related subjects and Mr. Traffic - Why We Drive The Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt seeks to explore this most mundane of everyday activities. I know I am aggressive, but unsafe.
Hence, 'women cause more congestion than men'.About half way through the book Vanderbilt shifts gears (I couldn't resist that pun) and focuses on traffic engineering and management. Chaper Six talks about the confounding observation that as more roads are built, traffic only seems to get worse. Women also tend to leave later for work than men and therefore drive right into already congested freeways. Vanderbilt provides a fascinating discussion of both.Traffic begins with Mr. The first few chapters of the book focus on driving, taking into account factors like cognition, culture, human psychology (and psyche), self perception of who you are and who you want to be, reflex times and the meaning of gestures and signals.
Women continue to handle a lot of 'non-work' trips, taking kids to school and soccer practice for example. I have been accused of being an aggressive and unsafe driver, much to my chagrin. The author explores the idea and travels around the US talking to traffic engineers and looks into the externalities of America's obsession with driving. Chapter Seven was my favorite, presenting the most interesting ideas in the book.
The author argues, by citing examples and urging the reader to analyze his own experiences, that roads deemed to be unsafe tend have a lesser proportion of fatal crashes precisely because drivers are a lot more careful when using them. A smooth flowing freeway tends to induce boredom and distraction, and distraction at 70mph can be fatal. This is a well researched book with a 110 pages of notes to satisfy the obsessive reader.
It is true however that your own perception of how you drive is much out of whack with your passenger's perspective. The writing itself is engaging and enjoyable. Chapter Five is provocatively titled 'Why Women Cause More Congestion Than Men (and Other Secrets of Traffic)' - but don't get offended yet, the author goes on to explain why that is so.
Women also tend to be engaged in what Vanderbilt calls "serve-passenger" trips, where they are taking passengers to places they don't have to be themselves and they tend to make several stops thus 'chaining' multiple trips. Both culture and corruption seem to affect accident rates and fatalities on the roads of these dense and, for a western driver, terrifying cities.Traffic could easily have been a work of pop psychology, filled with platitudinal wisdom. Highly recommended.
Some of the "how to be a safe driver" suggestions are scary. Vanderbilt is a good writer as he can make dry statistics interesting. However, for usable information, I was left wanting. This book seems like he was writing to politicians. The author is surely not a scientist, but he is most certainly is a socialist. Not that the hype, title and subtitle promised anything, I was expecting some usable driving tips and advice. Finally, not only did he make a few errors, but he really doesn't have a grasp of real world driving rules - such as, in all but one or two states speed limits are not absolutes, they are prima facie limits.
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