Going Like Sixty
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Car crazy U.S. is also home to road rage, so it’s no surprise that Traffic: How We Drive, by Tom Vanderbilt is getting a lot of attention. The book is literally about weaving through traffic effectively. Merging, where multiple lanes reduce in number, is a big game. Courtesy dictates merging early, but Vanderbilt proved that merging at the last possible minute is the best strategy. Vanderbilt is also a big believer in round-abouts, something almost unheard of in the U.S. He also has sound advice on how driving slower can actually be quicker. The video shows how common sense and “experts” are dead wrong.
 It’s counterintuitive, but slower is faster. As individual drivers, we pursue our immediate interest, which is to get ahead as quickly as possible. But in traffic, this works against the system as a whole. As Phil Goodwin once described it in another context, “It is one of those cases where Adam Smith’s individuals pursuing their own best interests do not add up to Jeremy Bentham’s greatest good for the greatest number.”
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