Contents: Prologue; Why Does The Other Lane Always Seem Faster? How Traffic Messes with Our Heads; Why You're Not as Good a Driver as You Think You Are; How Our Eyes and Minds Betray Us on the Road; Why Ants Don't Get Into Traffic Jams (and Humans Do): On Cooperation as a Cure for Congestion; Why Women Cause More Congestion Than Men (and Other Secrets of Traffic); Why More Roads Lead to More Traffic (and What to Do About It); When Dangerous Roads are Safer; How Traffic Explains the World: On Driving With a Local Accent; Why You Shouldn't Drive With a Beer-Drinking Divorced Doctor Named Fred on Super Bowl Sunday in a Pickup Truck in Rural Montana: What's Risky on the Road and Why; Epilogue: Driving Lessons; Acknowledgements; Notes; Index
Exhaustively researched (over 100 pages of Notes) but written in a conversational, easy style, Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do is a fascinating look at something we probably take for granted but curse every day. Loaded with revelations, for example, you are not as good a driver as you think you are, it may not change the way that you drive but it will alter your perceptions of traffic. Vanderbilt doesn't focus solely on traffic, but also on how and where we park, illusions we encounter on the streets, and other interesting aspects of our life with cars. While focusing on American traffic, he also compares and contrasts it with European and Indian traffic norms. Unbeknownst to me prior to reading this book, Germans do not place bumper stickers or those oval "look where I've been" announcements (the most famous of those is OBX). He makes a point that if another driver honks their horn or displays some aggressive behavior toward you, it may actually be directed at your automobile's stickers.
The most important thing I took away from the book is that in a car, there is no feedback loop. You may think that you are a good driver, it's been a while since you had a speeding ticket or you haven't been in an accident, but without a third party, you really aren't aware that you are tailgating, you took a curve too fast, or you need to work on your braking distances. What you do know is that there are a lot of morons on the road. Until you have passengers who are not quiet when things appear wrong. Then, you lash out at them, when in reality they are giving you important feedback on your driving skills. Finally, while I abhor the legislators who want to ban cell phone use in cars, I have a much better understanding of the hazards of using a cell phone (with or without "hands free") while driving. I also appreciate Vanderbilt's comments on all technological options now found in most cars, like GPS. They all take your attention away from the road and your driving.
Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do may not make you a better driver, but it should raise your awareness and make you a more cooperative one.
Technorati tag: book review Tom Vanderbilt Traffic
Comment posted by Duffbert10/01/2009 03:42:51 AM
Homepage: http://www.duffbert.com
I found it humorous in this review that in your phrase ("100 pages of Notes"), you capitalized Notes. :)
Comment posted by Karl-Henry Martinsson10/01/2009 12:05:44 PM
Homepage: http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/TexasSwede
Unbeknownst to me prior to reading this book, Germans do not place bumper stickers or those oval "look where I've been" announcements (the most famous of those is OBX).
In Europe it used to be the law(?), or at least a very strong recommendation, back in the 70's that cars have one of those round white stickers with the country of origin. S for Sweden, D for Germany, etc. They were generally not used to show where you had been, though. Now the European Union have standardized licens plates with a section to the left where the country code is displayed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_European_Union
I remember when I was young, and we went to Germany on vacation, my dad had to stop and get a S-sticker and put on the car before getting on the ferry.
According to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_vehicle_registration_codes the rule is still in effect:
The country in which a motor vehicle's vehicle registration plate was issued is indicated by an international licence plate country code displayed in bold block uppercase on a small white oval plate or sticker near the number plate on the rear of a vehicle.
The allocation of codes is maintained by the United Nations as the Distinguishing Signs of Vehicles in International Traffic, authorized by the UN's Geneva Convention on Road Traffic of 1949 and the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968. Many vehicle codes created since the adoption of ISO 3166 coincide with ISO two- or three-letter codes.
In the European Union, vehicles from one member state do not need to display the oval while within another state, provided the number plate is in the common EU standard format, which includes the international vehicle registration code on the plate.
So I think the Germans don't use thos stickers becuase the country code is already on the license plate. In Sweden, as a a large part of the population originally was against joining the EU, there was (is?) and option to get a non-EU license plate.
Comment posted by Gregg Eldred10/01/2009 03:49:53 PM
Homepage: http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf
@Duffbert - The Table of Contents had it capitalized, so I just continued the trend. But looking back, I don't think that proper grammar/spelling/whatever would require that it be capitalized. Habit, I suppose?
@Karl-Henry - the book is loaded with the differences between the US and European drivers. It also includes some interesting facts concerning the roads and how we differ when we come into contact with other drivers (4 way stops, merging, parking, etc.). Thanks for the references to the country codes. However, other than those, I don't think that you (lumping all of Europe in "you") advertise on your vehicles like we do in the States. Thanks for the comment.
Comment posted by Karl-Henry martinsson10/01/2009 08:08:26 PM
Homepage: http://http.//www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/texasswede
@Gregg: The book sounds very interesting, actually. I just wanted to point out that the stickers people here in the US use for bragging about where they been actually are used in Europe to indicate where you are from.
However, it is not uncommon to see campers with stickers from the countries or cities they visited. But not using the national identification stickers, mostly flags or other stickers.
Bumper stickers are not as common, and you don't see "My son is a honor student at XYX High" or similar like you see here in the US.
So you are right, there is much less advertising on European cars.
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