Hacker News Comments on "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)" Amazon Repository

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Hacker News Comments on
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

Tom Vanderbilt · 3 HN comments

HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)" by Tom Vanderbilt.

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Amazon Summary

Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? Or that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? That our minds can trick us into thinking the next lane is moving faster? Or that you can gauge a nation’s driving behavior by its levels of corruption? These are only a few of the remarkable dynamics that Tom Vanderbilt explores in this fascinating tour through the mysteries of the road. Based on exhaustive research and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe, Traffic gets under the hood of the everyday activity of driving to uncover the surprisingly complex web of physical, psychological, and technical factors that explain how traffic works, why we drive the way we do, and what our driving says about us. Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He shows how roundabouts, which can feel dangerous and chaotic, actually make roads safer—and reduce traffic in the bargain. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots. The car has long been a central part of American life; whether we see it as a symbol of freedom or a symptom of sprawl, we define ourselves by what and how we drive. As Vanderbilt shows, driving is a provocatively revealing prism for examining how our minds work and the ways in which we interact with one another. Ultimately, Traffic is about more than driving: it’s about human nature. This book will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. And who knows? It may even make us better drivers.

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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.

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Feb 05, 2019 · ojbyrne on The Zipper Rule on German Roads

Excellent book that mentions this as well as other counterintuitive facts about driving: https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307...

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Feb 28, 2012 · mryan on Mercedes to introduce Siri in its vehicles

Many of the factors affecting traffic jams are a result of human drivers. This animation demonstrates two causes of traffic jams - 'waves' and zip merging:
http://trafficwaves.org/tanim.html
I think it is rather easy to see how a central algorithm would be much better at a) maintaining a safe distance from the car in front, and b) merging quickly and fairly.
Route selection is just one of the things an algorithm could do.
Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt, has many interesting things to say on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/03072...

⬐ joering2
should be a good read, thanks!

⬐ Someone
Also, the 'safe distance from the car in front' could be dramatically decreased. Reaction times of computers are way lower than those of humans, and also less variable. A car could signal that it is going to brake to a car following it with a meter of space between them, and brake a ms later, trusting the following car to do follow its speed decrease.
Lower inter-car distance on highways will also mean lower air resistance, and hence, higher mpg.
I doubt that the net effect on fuel consumption will be substantial, though. Chances are that people will want their driverless cars to drive faster, so that they can live farther away from work. IMO, the only thing that will help there is pricing (fuel, road use, etc)

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Aug 26, 2008 · breily on The Traffic Guru

If you found this article interesting, I heartily recommend the author's book 'Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do' [1]. Most of this article is pretty much an excerpt of one chapter, but the book goes in a lot of directions.
[1]: http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/03072...

Hacker News Comments on Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

Hacker News Stories and Comments

Hacker News Comments on
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)