Anyone who drives a car, rides a bike or simply crosses the road experiences traffic. Traffic is an astonishing everyday phenomenon that brings together people from every walk of life and speaks volumes about who were are. In this detailed and endlessly surprising book, Tom Vanderbilt explains why traffic problems around the world are really people problems.
For most of us who are not brain surgeons, driving is one of the most complicated everyday things we do - no robot has been built that can cope with the complexities of driving on our roads. But what is it that makes negotiating traffic so difficult? In Traffic, Vanderbilt delves into the psychology of driving to reveal numerous examples of startling behaviour. For example, cyclists are in fact safer without a helmet – studies suggest drivers often drive further away from cyclists without helmets because they appear less anonymous; back-seat drivers are helpful - fewer car crashes occur when drivers get feedback from their passengers; and road signs designed to help drivers can actually hinder driving – when 95% of the signs on Kensington High Street in London were removed, pedestrian KSIs (‘killed or seriously injured’) dropped by 60 percent.
Though we all may think we are better than average drivers, Vanderbilt examines why we all behave differently when we get behind the wheel. He examines what causes “traffic tantrums” and why we think that being inside a car absolves us from any obligation to anyone else. He compares the driving of men and women, young and old and has travelled around the world to study traffic jams near and far. Why is it that some countries drive on the left and others on the right? Why do New Yorkers jaywalk more than people living in Copenhagen?
Through extensive research including first-hand interviews and detailed case studies, Vanderbilt expertly navigates us through these complexities of traffic and reveals what our use of the road says about us.
Tom Vanderbilt writes on design, technology, science, and culture for many publications, including Wired, Slate, The London Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, Artforum, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine and Popular Science. He is contributing editor to I.D. and Print, and contributing writer of the popular blog Design Observer. He is the author of two previous books: Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America and The Sneaker Book.
“Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What it Says About Us)” by Tom Vanderbilt To be published by Allen Lane on 28th August, 2008 priced £20.
