Many traffic signs have become like placebos, giving false comfort to the afflicted, or simple boilerplate to ward off lawsuits, the roadway version of the Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts box that says, “Warning: Pastry Filling May Be Hot When Heated. — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
“The pursuit of a kind of absolute safety, above all other considerations of what makes places good environments, has not only made those streets… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
Human attention, in the best of circumstances, is a fluid but fragile entity. Beyond a certain threshold, the more that is asked of it,… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
Many traffic signs have become like placebos, giving false comfort to the afflicted, or simple boilerplate to ward off lawsuits, the roadway version of… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
“This is the reason the whole ‘keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel, use the hands-free handset’ idea is a… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
The way humans hunt for parking and the way animals hunt for food are not as different as you might think. — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
“This raises the interesting, if seemingly outlandish, question of why car drivers, virtually alone among users of wheeled transport, do not wear helmets. Yes,… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
“'Can you imagine, 30 years ago, saying nobody will make coffee at home?' Nancy McGuckin, a travel researcher in Washington, D.C.” — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
Men may or may not be better drivers than women, but they seem to die more often trying to prove that they are. — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
“There is a simple mantra you can carry about you in traffic: When a situation feels dangerous to you, it's probably more safe than… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
As Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert argues, 'You can't adapt to commuting, because it's entirely unpredictable. Driving in traffic is a different kind of… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
“It's probably no accident that whenever one hears of a smart technology, it refers to something that has been taken out of human control.” — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
The road, more than simply a system of regulations and designs, is a place where many millions of us, with only loose parameters for… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
