I always have been fascinated in making processes more efficient and organized. At buffet lines, I am the one who sees that the ability to form two lines (one on each side of the table) is there, and I create that second line–cutting down the wait time for everyone in line. I am also extremely intrigued by human behavior and why we behave the way we do. When I saw the quote Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) underneath the title of a book called Traffic, I knew that was a book for me.
I initially did not think that it was going to be a book about automobiles and roads, but, much to my surprise, it was! I suppose that because my dad was “reading” it, that should have been a dead giveaway that the book really was going to be about what the title said it was going to be about, but still, I was pleasantly surprised.
Written by Tom Vanderbilt, Traffic is not only an examination of highway engineering but also an enlightening look at the psychology of human beings behind the steering wheels. For instance, even in the introduction he starts off by writing about the wonders of becoming a late merger rather than an early one. He writes about facts, such as how 12.7 percent of the traffic slowdown after a crash has nothing to do with wreckage blocking lanes, but rather by gawkers, but he also puts his opinion into his work.
This book is remarkably accurate and humorous. It makes you think about how you drive and how solutions that you think of to solve traffic problems, like simply adding another lane, will probably not work. I am surprised that there are not any other books that are truly like this– except a few textbooks. Anyone who has ever driven in traffic will enjoy some aspect of this book; I am sure that you also will learn something as well.
Named Amazon’s best of the month in July 2008, this book is a pleasure to read.
