Traffic

Traffic:  Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)
Author:  Tom Vanderbilt

Ironically, my introduction to the book came about while driving.  On a long distance trip I was trying out a new podcast, 99% Invisible, and was particularly fascinated by the episode about "the white stripe."  The interview subject was discussing how we see the roads we drive on, in this example epitomized by how long we drivers think the white dashes that mark our lanes really are.  I won't ruin it for you, but I will say it was sufficiently intriguing that when I stumbled upon "Traffic" at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up.

Since I started reading the book, I've started driving slower - both because its safer and because I'm looking at the road a little more closely.  The book is at times, overwhelming in the amount of data, or rather research conclusions that are presented.  While many of us know Murphy's Law and most of us have heard of real "laws" like Moore's Law, I lost count of how many different <person's name>'s Laws were listed or how many studies were cited in Traffic.  But its great to know that someone has measured the fact that we adjust the radio 10 times per hour with an average of 1.6 seconds per adjustment.

After reading this book, you'll find yourself slipping into a mediation on the billboard message, "You Aren't Stuck in Traffic, You ARE Traffic."  Vanderbilt thoroughly explores the concept of traffic from its origins, to how it is being combatted, how traffic will change in the future, analogies in nature, the economics, and of course the safety.  Vanderbilt gives an honest effort in tying all this together, but what is the thesis?  Traffic is really complex, mostly made so by human psychology and competing interests between the individual and the system as a whole.

Where does traffic come from?  That question depends a lot on who you ask.  Asking how to fix it gets even more complex.  In Traffic, we learn about Shoup and his theory that free parking is ruining society; or rather, because of the massive subsidies for roads and undervaluation of parking, we get lots of traffic.  First, without any parking spaces or place to put your car, there will be no traffic, second, people trolling for free street parking drive more slowly and have a higher accident risk thereby creating both traffic and major economic damage.  The theory continues.

In Traffic we get an inside look at the windowless rooms and quirky personalities that manage traffic in places like LA.  But we also get a look at how efficiently our roads operate and how people try to design them better.  Often designers are foiled by human psychology, but occasionally they take advantage of it.  For example, stop lights are quite dangerous - there is nothing but a social norm to stop people from running red lights (as is often done in, say, China, which is also really slows things down) - and inefficient in that, for a moment, everyone has a red while the intersection clears.  Why not use a roundabout that solves both these problems?  Or another question is why big, wide roads with huge lines of sight are more dangerous?  The work of a Dutch road designer, described as famous, showcases clever design and understanding of human psychology can lead to excellent results.  The designer created roundabouts, so traffic is always flowing, combined with his signature style of integrating the road into the community.  Not limited to roundabouts, the designer, instead of making huge sight lines with tons of space, which encourages speeding since it doesn't feel like we are going fast, makes the driver a part of the community.  That is, instead of wondering why you have to slow down from 55 to 30 on a two lane road going through an unincorporated town, you slow down to 20 mph naturally because the road is narrow and lined with shops and park space and the sidewalk has no curb and abuts with the road and you make eye contact with passing cyclists and pedestrians.

Perhaps the thesis that ties this book together is the examination of the relationship between individual people, how their psychology influences their behavior in cars, and their interaction with society while driving.  The diversity of issues addressed within the book make it difficult to write any sort of succinct review or summary.  Read the book, you won't be disappointed