Whether advanced driver training helps drivers in the long term is one of those controversial and unresolved mysteries of the road, but my eye-opening experience at Bondurant raises the curious idea that we buy cars—for most people one of the… — Tom Vanderbilt Copy Share Image
The relative ease of most driving lures us into thinking we can get away with doing other things. Indeed, those other things, like listening to the radio, can help when driving itself is threatening to cause fatigue. But we buy… — 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
