The late great comedian George Carlin said that we all
think everyone who drives faster than us is a maniac, and
everyone who drives slower than us is an idiot. Itīs funny
and itīs true.
A new book out examines how different cultures help
determine different driving habits. The book, "Traffic,"
by Tom Vanderbilt, states, for example, that drivers honk
their horns all the time in Mexico but they donīt in Los
Angeles. Countries like France and Belgium have more
accidents than other European nations because they issue
fewer traffic tickets.
The psychology of driving is such that it tends to make
us anonymous, and that permits many people to behave more
rudely with their cars than they ever would in
face-to-face contact. But conversely, a broken traffic
light generally returns us to polite social behavior as we
take turns going through the intersection.
One theory presented that Iīll heartily agree with is
that improvements in car safety have prompted people to
drive more aggressively, resulting in more accidents. I
would add that the explosion of SUVs on the road has added
greatly to that tendency.
What does this have to do with the environment? Driving
fast, accelerating and stopping, idling in congested
traffic -- these are all great and largely underrated gas
guzzling causes, which of course contributes hugely to
carbon dioxide entering the air, resulting in pollution
and global warming.
One interesting suggestion is congestion pricing, which
would charge people to drive into high traffic areas. Such
a fee might reduce traffic congestion -- and would help
the environment as well.
Much of Vanderbiltīs book focused on the correlation
between aggressive driving and safety, which involves
environmental management as well. Safety and garbage
trucks is a huge ongoing issue, and one of the problems is
how the trucks affect the traffic around it. Aggressive
driving to go around a waste truck leads to increased
accidents.
If we really want to reduce our fuel consumption, we
have to change behavior thatīs ingrained in the American
fabric. And driving fast will be one hard habit to break.
Allan Gerlat is editor of
Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected
in
the Inbox archive.
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