Living

<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)" by Tom Vanderbilt   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • How tall are you in Smoots? 10/5/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, October 5, 2008 Study of traffic offers surprising concepts for accident prevention By Tony Bizjak Sacramento Bee "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)" by Tom Vanderbilt Danger lurks on the road, for sure; but it may not be where we think it is. Stop signs, for instance, can lead to bad crashes. But a curvy, cliff-side road with no guardrails may have few mishaps. Why is that? Buckle up as we take an insider's look at road dangers, inspired by author Tom Vanderbilt's new book, "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)." This is no surprise: Intersections are crash magnets. Half of all crashes happen there, including one of the deadliest -- the broadside. How do you cut crashes at intersections? Stop signs and traffic signals are the all-­American way. But they're not a guaranteed defense. Plenty of drivers simply don't obey them. Most of us assume a green light makes it safe to go through an intersection. So we fail to look both ways before entering. It can be a fatal mistake. When cities switch from stop signs to traffic circles and roundabouts, drivers get upset and complain, but studies show that crashes drop, Vanderbilt writes. Traffic circles eliminate the riskiest thing drivers do in intersections -- cross in front of oncoming traffic. They also create a psychological trick: With cars mixing in from different directions, the circles heighten the sense of risk, as does the lack of a guardrail on a curvy mountain road. Drivers react by going slower, steering more carefully and staying more focused on what's going on around them. (This doesn't account for drivers who think circles are their personal Le Mans race course.) An upside to crashing? A small collision isn't completely bad, especially for a too-confident driver who may mistakenly feel invulnerable. No one's advocating going out and smacking into anything. But traffic engineer Hans Monderman was delighted when his son had a minor mishap: "I think these small accidents help in avoiding severe accidents." Monderman and others in Europe are known for counterintuitive ideas on safe streets, such as removing all the so-called safety devices: signals, stop signs, street striping, warning signs. What happened? Drivers started thinking for themselves. They acted responsibly and had fewer crashes. Monderman sounds like a wild and crazy guy. He famously turned one busy intersection in a town center into a mixing ground of cars, bikes and pedestrians. No stops. No rules. But there was hidden order amid the seeming chaos. Monderman had an interesting way of showing it to visitors: He'd walk backward, eyes closed, through the intersection as cars steered calmly around him. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

1. Fire destroys Silver Lake landmark 2. Tree clearing, mud slide angers Everett neighbor 3. County tackles bikini barista rules 4. Six people injured in Machias car crash 5. Edmonds councilwoman dies at 59 6. Search for missing hiker called off 7. Later start for school day unlikely in Marysville 8. Extended tax credit should spur home sales 9. Hopes for Snohomish excursion train may hinge on railway purchase 10. Designing a new business 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Gough on track to keep job • Jazz vocalist headlines NPAC • Mountlake Terrace makes football history • Tax revenue sagging, city budgets lagging • ‘Touch of Magic' show opens at Gallery North • Jackson repeats as South champs • Holiday Bazaars Calendar • Meadowdale storms back to grab title • Edmonds moves to Fire District 1 • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million