Why We Drive the Way We Do

Posted Friday, 29th August, 2008 by Andrew Davis

Tom Vanderbilt was in town today, over from America to introduce his latest book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), so I popped along to meet him. What makes his book brilliant is the breadth of his interest, his insightful understanding and his writing style. I was absorbed. Read a sample here I definitely recommend that you put this on your Christmas list or buy it for your favorite back seat driver. At the time of writing it costs £9 on Amazon here

In the book you will find out that motorists drive closer to cyclists wearing helmets, why the further you live from the policeman the more likely you are to get a fine, why some people feel so passionately about late mergers (as two lanes merge into one) and what late mergers have to say about early mergers. From the shape of the red man on traffic signals to the shape of food so that one can eat single handedly – his observations will intrigue.

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Comments

Tom's book and Denmark

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 30/08/2008 - 16:29.

A couple of linked notes after reading your two blog entries. Admittedly I've only heard Tom on the radio and read reviews and extracts from his book - his piece on Monderman is excellent - but I was disappointed at his apparent readiness to blame human frailty for congestion (e.g. "digi-necking"), when in my observation many of our problems on the road arise from inhumane priority, vexatious regulation, and abysmal road design, which you are right to contrast negatively with the way they do things in Denmark, Holland and Germany. By the way Tom lists me among his "fellow travellers", so we're not deeply at odds. For your possible interest my website is www.fitroads.org where there is a link to my blog.