Traffic Safety [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Leonard Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

Book Description "Traffic Safety" applies the methods of science to better understand one of the world’s most pressing public health problems. More than a million people are killed annually in traffic worldwide. This 2004 book is even better than the author’s 1991 classic "Traffic Safety and the Driver". The present book covers many safety policy topics. "Traffic Safety" goes to the heart of the problem, with unconstrained analyses of the inadequacies of government in one of its chief responsibilities – to protect life. A dramatic development since the earlier book is that the United States has fallen far behind other countries in traffic safety. Prior to the mid 1960s, the US had the world’s safest traffic. By 2002 it had dropped from first to sixteenth place in deaths per registered vehicle, and from first to tenth place in deaths for the same distance of travel. Over 200,000 more Americans were killed in traffic than would have died if the US had matched the safety progress in such better performing countries as Britain, Canada, or Australia. This topic is treated in detail, and explanations are offered for the ongoing US failure.

Editorial Reviews

Review

.. well written and easy to understand. -- insightful and thought provoking. -- Transportation Research Forum, Vol 44, Issue 1, 2005

Drivers will learn tips for being safer - but chapter "The Dramatic Failure of U.S. Safety Policy" is the showstopper. -- Journal of the American Medical Association - JAMA, August 10, 2005

Evans is a brilliant scientist whose work deserves to be read. -- The Lancet, October 16, 2004

It is truly an enjoyable and easy book to read. Evans has included some great stories to illustrate concepts. -- Choice (American Library Association-ALA), February 2005

The encore is even better than the original 1991 classic, "Traffic Safety and the Driver" -- Israel Medical Association Journal, January 2005

highly readable, entertaining, and educational volume on the scientific evidence regarding road safety interventions. -- British Medical Journal, February 12, 2005

From the Publisher

The author’s 1991 book "Traffic Safety and the Driver" received world-wide acclaim, and has been repeatedly called a ‘classic’. Readers of the August 2004 "Traffic Safety" who were familiar with the earlier book are universally agreeing that "Traffic Safety" is even better.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 445 pages
• Publisher: Science Serving Society (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975487108
• ISBN-13: 978-0975487105
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, strongly recommended, April 20, 2005

By 

Richard A. Young - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traffic Safety (Hardcover)

My field of expertise is driver performance and traffic safety, and as a specialist in this field I can strongly recommend this excellent book. Leonard Evans is widely recognized as the world expert in this area, as far as the basic physics and research data on traffic safety issues are concerned. I bumped into him at the recent 2005 SAE meeting and told him I thought his new book was even better than his first (which was great as it was) -- and he replied "Of course it is better, I have had 10 more years to study the problem." Seriously though, his first chapter is available from hist website http://www.scienceservingsociety.com, and it alone will improve your whole attitude, if you are working in or interested in the area of traffic safety, and whet your appetite for the rest of the book. Note that this book does not have the usual avenues that large book companies have for widespread announcements and distribution, and its important messages should be given widespread attention in my opinion, so I would recommend you order it and let others know about it if you liked it as much as I did.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for researchers, clinicians, and engineers, May 26, 2005

By 

Dr. Michael D. Freeman (Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traffic Safety (Hardcover)

Leonard Evans has put into straightforward and easily understandable terms the reasons why traffic crashes are the most frequent cause of traumatic death in first world societies. His ways of turning problems inside out and examining real causes while identifying confounders helps turn even the casual reader into something of an expert in traffic safety.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Expert That the Experts Go To, October 5, 2004

By 

Mark L. Rosenberg (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traffic Safety (Hardcover)

This is one truly wonderful book by one of the world's safety pioneers, and one of the most brilliant minds in traffic safety today.