Traffic

While Traffic may not sound like the most exciting subject, Tom Vanderbilt gives it its due. The cover of Traffic was the first thing that enticed me to pick it up and browse through at the local Borders. It amounts to a Freakonomics for the road. I admit to some disappointment that it didn't hold up all of my libertarian ideals, but I will do what I can to see past that. I still found it to be engaging and informative. Vanderbilt contributed to some changes in my perception of a few traffic issues.

Vanderbilt starts Traffic with what might be one contentious issue when it comes to traffic. It comes from those lanes that force traffic to merge, most prominent for construction zones. These are made worse during heavy traffic and usually the lane that ends usually ends up being empty for the 500ft or so. Empty except for those punks who decide to merge at the last possible moment. These folks cause enough ire among the other drivers that they will not let these late mergers in. Most of thoses are the early mergers who are insensed at the ego of the later merger. I confess to being an early merger with a intense dislike of the late mergers.

My intense hatred has tempered since reading Traffic. Vanderbilt makes a case, one that is easy accept since he too used to be an early merger (he's like a traffic brother in that respect). The fact is late mergers actually help the flow of traffic, because they utilize all of the available road. In the end the amount may not be signigicant enough to end a traffic jam, but you have to hand it to them for being gutsy, even if it is ultimately for a selfish reason.

I am against metering lights for sure. To me they just move the traffice jam to the side roads. According to Vanderbilt, they are acually good and overall help the freeways move more vehicles during rush hour. It's compared to pouring rice into a funnel. If the rice is just dumped in there all at once, then it jams and less rice gets through. When the rice is poured at a slower, steady rate, more rice gets through the funnel much quicker. Metering lights do much the same thing, at least in theory. I'm notactually 100% against metering lights as much as I'm not sure I'm convinced that they really work. They still seem to just move the traffic jam and I've been on freeways with metering lights where traffic moves as if there were no metering lights. I'm willing t o accept the theory and trust that they work, but cynically.

The most fascinating chapter by far is entitled "When Dangerous Roads Are Safer". It makes sense when you think about it. On the windy mountain roads with a 1000ft drop and rusty & rotten guard rails we tend to drive more caustiously. In these instances we can percieve the true danger of the situation. It's the same with snowy roads. Though there tend to be more accidents, most are not near as fatal as crashes in good weather. Because we compensate for the perceived danger, the accidents that do happen, happen generally at lower speeds. It's this phenomenon that explains why so many accidents happen so close to people's homes. There is the fact that more driving is done here, thus there are more opportunties for accidents. In addition to that, people are more complacent on familair "safe" roads that they drive regularly. In these situations, folks pay less attention to the road and are less likely to notice dangers. They drive as if they are on a safe road, oblivious to the inherent dangers.

I liked the book as a whole. I did get bored in parts. The research appeared pretty solid, but Vanderbilt failed at times to keep my interest. I came away with a new understanding of traffic and an appreciation for what municipalities have to do in order to keep things flowing. After reading the book, I am now more in favor of toll roads, at least freeways. I think that actually has potential to cut traffic more that the metering lights. When the highway funds come out through taxes, nobody considers the cost, however, if folks have to use their wallets on a regular basis it might cut usage at least a little.

The Secret: Update

I read The Secret a couple years back and gave it a really bad review. Recently trolling through amazon.com I came across a review of the book that changed my perspectivc on The Secret. The review can be found here.

Crop Circle Mania

One of the most interesting phenomena of the last 35 years have been the crop circles. Most folks by now know how they are made, at least those who live in reality. If you want to go out and make your own, try the circle makers to get started. Here's a quick clip on crop circles. It's not revolutionary, but it's concise and the guy has cool hair.

Cannonball

The Cannonball races were the brain-child of one Brock Yates. Yates is the former editor of Car and Driver magazine. Inspired by the cross country antics of Cannonball Baker, Yates created a race. Not just any race. It was the greatest underground illegal race of all time. There was only one rule, "there are no rules". In total four races were run, plus a test run, during the 1970's; the final race being run in 1979. The book Cannonball is Yates attempt to document the event and provide a compiled history for posterity sake.

Most folks probably assume the Cannonball only refers to the Cannonball Run movies. That's only partially true. Until I saw this book, I thought the movie was just plain old fiction. Oh no, the races were real. Drivers traversing the country from New York City to Redondo Beach in as little as 32 hrs and change. Part thrill ride, part endurance race, the Cannonball is a drivers dream race. The first Cannonball Run film is based on the final race run in 1979; in fact many of the antics in the film come straight out of the race.

The book itself is a thrill to read. Brock Yates not only created the race, but he participated as a driver in each race. He one only the first one, run in 1971, with race car driver Dan Gurney at his side. Yates doesn't just give his account, but he pulls from numerous other drivers who ran the races and allows them to detail their experiences. I mentioned above the book was compile, because it was. The words from the other drivers are in their own words detailing the exciting events as they traversed the country. Stories range from brief descriptions of the drive to exciting run-ins with the law including tickets and even arrests.

Most of the contributers did a decent job of telling their story, there were few that didn't capture the excitement of the race. The short bitswere usually the least interesting and could have been left out. In the 1971 race Yates and Gurney had a run-in with a cop. They drove past a coffee shop doing about 120 or so. The cop was in the shop and just witnessed a car drive by at an obviously illegal speed, so he took off doing 140 in order to catch up. Yates and Gurney ducked into a gas station to fuel up and avoid the cop, but to no avail. He caught up and promptly wrote a ticket for $91. He then turned the conversation to how fast the Yates/Gurney car could go. They hadn't tested that out yet. When the got back on the highway, they cranked the baby up to 172 mph, just for a bit. They of course one the first of the Cannonball races, driving a Ferrari Daytona (pictured).

The other races had similar stories to tell. Races were held in 1972 and 1975. Yates had not committed to running another race until he met up with Hal Needham, a Hollywood director. He's heard about the races and approached Yates about doing a film, but he wanted to run another race to get stories for it. 1979 was the final race and in many ways the strangest. The original starting point had been the parking garage used by the Car and Driver employees Since Yates had been fired, they move the stating location to a restaurant in Connecticut. The destination remained the same, and of course the "rules". The race included Yates driving an "Ambulance" with a "Patient", who happened to be Yates' wife. The plan of course would be they could drive as fast as they want and not get stopped, or at least not ticketed. Another driver borrowed a police badge from his buddy. He was hoping to get the Cop "Fraternity" treatment. He was careful not to claim he was a cop, only imply by carrying the badge. Things didn't work out so well, since he ended up in the slammer for a few hours. He was finally let go, without the badge.

Those are just a couple of the stories found in the book. It's really a fun book, but more than that, it's a commentary on the traffic laws. Drivers covered 350,000 miles in the four races with one accident, which involved only the one car. The injuries from the accident ended up being quite minor. This is proof to Yates that responsible drivers can exceed the posted speeds and endanger only themselves. More than anything the race demonstrated the ridiculousness of the 55 mph speed limit (aka the double nickel). Yates acknowledges that not all drivers can drive at such high speeds, but those that can shouldn't be considered outlaws. The book is almost a libertarian manifesto for the road.

The book reads great for the most part. The stories are fabulous and exciting. For me it was similar to reading Into Thin Air where I felt like I'd actually set foot on Everest. In this case, I feel like I've driven across the country about 40 times, without a dull moment. What I didn't like was that the book seemed to climax with the first race. It's not so much a problem of the writing, but more the high of doing this illegal thing for the first time. The thrill kind of begins to diminish with each race. The 1979 race seemed very contrived, which it really was. It lacked the same magic of the earlier race. It did come with some really cool stories, but it was less thrilling in many ways. Maybe it just seemed like the drivers were trying too had and the fact it was for a movie. I'd still recommend this book to anybody for sure, but certainly people who love to drive and love cars, fast cars.