Traffic

Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
Written by Tom Vanderbilt

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? Or that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? That our minds can trick us into thinking the next lane is moving faster? Or that you can gauge a nation’s driving behavior by its levels of corruption? These are only a few of the remarkable dynamics that Tom Vanderbilt explores in this fascinating tour through the mysteries of the road.

Based on exhaustive research and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe, Traffic gets under the hood of the everyday activity of driving to uncover the surprisingly complex web of physical, psychological, and technical factors that explain how traffic works, why we drive the way we do, and what our driving says about us. Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He shows how roundabouts, which can feel dangerous and chaotic, actually make roads safer—and reduce traffic in the bargain. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots.

The car has long been a central part of American life; whether we see it as a symbol of freedom or a symptom of sprawl, we define ourselves by what and how we drive. As Vanderbilt shows, driving is a provocatively revealing prism for examining how our minds work and the ways in which we interact with one another. Ultimately, Traffic is about more than driving: it’s about human nature. This book will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. And who knows? It may even make us better drivers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Vanderbilt writes on design, technology, science, and culture, among other subjects, for many publications, including Wired, Slate, The London Review of Books, Gourmet, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Vogue, Artforum, The Wilson Quarterly, Travel and Leisure, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Cabinet, Metropolis, and Popular Science. He is contributing editor to the design magazines I.D. and Print, and contributing writer of the popular blog Design Observer.

His most recent book is Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., Penguin in the U.K. and territories, and a number of other publishers in other countries. He is also the author of two previous books: Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), an offbeat architectural travelogue of the nation’s secret Cold War past; and The Sneaker Book (The New Press, 1998), a cultural history of the athletic shoe (republished in Italian and Swedish editions). His early writings for The Baffler have been collected in two anthologies, Commodify Your Dissent and Boob Jubilee (W.W. Norton, eds. Thomas Frank and Matthew Weiland), and he has also contributed essays to a number of books, including New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times (New York University Press); Supercade: The Visual History of the Video Game Age (The MIT Press), Else/Where: Mapping (The University of Minnesota Press, 2006), Quonset Hut: Metal Living for a Modern Age (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005), and The World and the Wild (The University of Arizona Press).

He has given lectures at colleges and business conferences, and has appeared on a wide variety of radio and television programs around the world, ranging from NPR’s Morning Edition to The Studs Terkel Show to CNN’s Business Today, among others.

www.howwedrive.com : Traffic, The Book

WORD OF THE DAY

oro·tund

Pronunciation: \ˈȯr-ə-ˌtənd, ˈär-\
Etymology: modification of Latin ore rotundo, literally, with round mouth
Date: circa 1799

marked by fullness, strength, and clarity of sound : sonorous
pompous, bombastic

at·tri·tion

Pronunciation: \ə-ˈtri-shən, a-\
Etymology: Latin attrition-, attritio, from atterere to rub against, from ad- + terere to rub — more at throw
Date: 14th century

[Middle English attricioun, from Medieval Latin attrition-, attritio, from Latin] : sorrow for one's sins that arises from a motive other than that of the love of God
the act of rubbing together : friction; also : the act of wearing or grinding down by friction
the act of weakening or exhausting by constant harassment, abuse, or attack
a reduction in numbers usually as a result of resignation, retirement, or death

Percier, Charles, 1764-1838. Fontaine, Pierre François Léonard, 1762-1853.

Recueil de décorations intérieures comprenant tout ce qui a rapport a l'ameublement, comme vases, trépieds, candelabres, cassolettes, lustres, girandoles, lampes, chandeliers, cheminées, feux, poêles, pendules, tables, secrétaires, lits, canapés, fauteuils, chaises, tabourets, miroirs, ecrans, &c., &c., &c. composés par C. Percier et P.F.L. Fontaine. Exécutés sur leurs dessins.(1801)