Authors:

Tom Vanderbilt Quotes

Men may or may not be better drivers than women, but they seem to die more often trying to prove that they are.

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
Men, Trying, May
Tom Vanderbilt (2008). “Traffic”, p.255, Vintage

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 into the myth of multitasking with little actual knowledge of how much we can really add in or, as with the television news, how much we are missing. As the inner life of the driver begins to come into focus, it is becoming clear not only that distraction is the single biggest problem on the road but that we have little concept of just how distracted we are.

Tom Vanderbilt
Thinking, Focus, Missing

Human attention, in the best of circumstances, is a fluid but fragile entity. Beyond a certain threshold, the more that is asked of it, the less well it performs. When this happens in a psychological experiment, it is interesting. When it happens in traffic, it can be fatal.

Tom Vanderbilt
Interesting, Attention, Psychological

When a situation feels dangerous to you, it's probably more safe than you know; when a situation feels safe, that is precisely when you should feel on guard.

Tom Vanderbilt
Safe, Should, Dangerous
Tom Vanderbilt (2008). “Traffic”, p.185, Vintage

The way humans hunt for parking and the way animals hunt for food are not as different as you might think.

Tom Vanderbilt
Thinking, Animal, Humanity
Tom Vanderbilt (2008). “Traffic”, p.145, Vintage

The road, more than simply a system of regulations and designs, is a place where many millions of us, with only loose parameters for how to behave, are thrown together daily in a kind of massive petri dish in which all kinds of uncharted, little-understood dynamics are at work. There is no other place where so many people from different walks of life-different ages, races, classes, religions, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, levels of psychological stability-mingle so freely.

Tom Vanderbilt
Lifestyle Choices, Race, Class
Tom Vanderbilt (2008). “Traffic”, p.6, Vintage

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 hell every day.'

Tom Vanderbilt
Different, Arguing, Driving
Tom Vanderbilt (2008). “Traffic”, p.141, Vintage

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
Simple, Giving, Comfort
Tom Vanderbilt (2008). “Traffic”, p.187, Vintage

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 most costly things they will ever own—with an underdeveloped sense of how to use them. This is true for many things, arguably, but not knowing what the F9 key does in Microsoft Word is less life-threatening than not knowing how to properly operate antilock brakes.

Tom Vanderbilt
Eye, Keys, Microsoft Word

You May Also Like: