Cars and the Brain
What I like most about Tom Vanderbilt’s new book, Traffic, is that it takes us on a tour of our most cherished delusions. We all think we are better drivers than we are (yes, even you); we estimate the odds of our next accident by reflecting on the number of crashes we’ve been in before (not the number of near misses we’ve had); and the safer we feel (in SUVs, say, or on straight roads on clear, dry days), the worse we drive, and the more accidents we have.
It reminds me a lot of how we respond to hurricanes. We overestimate the strength of our homes (even people in trailer homes are confident they can ride out the storm); we base our decisions about whether to evacuate before a hurricane on what happened the last time we were told to evacuate for a totally different storm; and when it comes to “natural” hazards like weather, we are lulled into complacency by the illusion of control (unlike in airplanes, where we worry a lot about risks that are so small they are effectively zero).
Here’s the thing: Nearly 40,000 Americans die every year in car crashes. And a disproportionate number of the dead are young--people who should have their lives stretched out in front of them. Then there are the tens of thousands of other young people who survive accidents, but are maimed for life. So I think of car crashes like one giant, atrocious disaster that happens every year. And, as in other disasters, what matters far more than anything else (but gets the least amount of attention and research funding) is human behavior--not technology or steel or anti-lock brakes.
And there’s a quiz! What’s not to love? I scored horribly, I admit. Really just God awful. I could quibble with quiz-master John Tierney about whether it is really important to know the length of the dashed white lines on the highway...but the fact remains that I didn’t even have the right number of digits.
Check it out. Let me know how you did. Help me restore my delusional belief that I know all about driving. Thanks.
Tim said on August 14, 2008 at 10:03 pm
8/10. Missed the white line one and the Montana one.....
Keep up the good work with your blog and your Time articles. I do enjoy reading them.
יעקב אטרקצ'י said on August 25, 2008 at 6:31 am
good
Jens said on September 01, 2008 at 11:39 am
The quiz tests transportation engineering knowledge. (For designing a crosswalk: how many feet/second does a pedestrian walk? Silly, and has little to do with real live driving situations.
How about a question like: How often do pedestrians ignore crossing signals? How pedestrians jaywalk?
Why is jaywalking no-longer considered a punishable offense?
As a former racing driver who has never had an accident on public roads I found the test silly and useless.
Perhaps if people learned to drive properly, turn off their cell phones, not look at their GPS units, not “text” while driving, etc, there would be many less deaths.
Mark said on September 03, 2008 at 4:07 pm
On the Ramp
Leela said on September 05, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I was cruising at 6/10. But I didn’t actually know about half of those questions - I simply made thoughful guesses and got a few right! I’m in my 20s and consider myself a better driver than when I first started driving. I hope I never stop learning how to become better at it!