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February 24, 2009
We Are Traffic
I've just finished reading Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic. The key takeaway for me is that safety is not simply a function of engineering, but rather includes a very healthy dose of psychology and behavior, often in very non-intuitive ways.
Perhaps most perverse is the idea that as we add safety features to our roads and vehicles, safety does not increase as much as we expect -- because we promptly begin to rely on this technology and take greater risks...
Posted by Chris Smith at 12:47 AM
Comments
February 24, 2009 8:46 AM
al m Says:
The key takeaway for me is that safety is not simply a function of engineering, but rather includes a very healthy dose of psychology and behavior, often in very non-intuitive ways.
It's called living in modern day America, a litigious society full of people that sleep walk through life.
February 24, 2009 7:28 PM
Mike B Says:
We left our beloved Oregon last year and live in Germany across the river from Strasbourg, France. One of the first things we noticed was that they don't do "STOP" signs here - none, zero, zilch. They follow the usual principle that at a crossroad the car coming from the right has the right of way unless you're on a priority road. And we noticed that even speeders would always be very careful at intersections. And I suspect the reason is that without STOP signs there's more uncertainty as to what the other driver might do which requires all drivers to exercise a higher level of attention when approaching an intersection.
February 25, 2009 12:56 AM
jim karlock Says:
And I suspect the reason is that without STOP signs there's more uncertainty as to what the other driver might do which requires all drivers to exercise a higher level of attention when approaching an intersection.
JK Is there any real, high quality, safety data comparing accident rates with & without properly used stop signs?
Thanks
JK
