& FREE Returns

FREE delivery Wednesday, February 2

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

$$29.72 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE delivery Thursday, February 3

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Stone Tree Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$39.24
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: TheWorldShopUSA

Added

Not added

$41.07
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Books Unplugged

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Peter D. Norton

Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City (Inside Technology) Paperback – January 21, 2011

by Peter D. Norton (Author)

29 ratings

Part of: Inside Technology (21 books)

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$21.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$54.39

$467.44

$54.39

Paperback

"Please retry"

$29.72

$26.95

Enhance your purchase

The fight for the future of the city street between pedestrians, street railways, and promoters of the automobile between 1915 and 1930.

Before the advent of the automobile, users of city streets were diverse and included children at play and pedestrians at large. By 1930, most streets were primarily a motor thoroughfares where children did not belong and where pedestrians were condemned as “jaywalkers.” In Fighting Traffic, Peter Norton argues that to accommodate automobiles, the American city required not only a physical change but also a social one: before the city could be reconstructed for the sake of motorists, its streets had to be socially reconstructed as places where motorists belonged. It was not an evolution, he writes, but a bloody and sometimes violent revolution. Norton describes how street users struggled to define and redefine what streets were for. He examines developments in the crucial transitional years from the 1910s to the 1930s, uncovering a broad anti-automobile campaign that reviled motorists as “road hogs” or “speed demons” and cars as “juggernauts” or “death cars.” He considers the perspectives of all users—pedestrians, police (who had to become “traffic cops”), street railways, downtown businesses, traffic engineers (who often saw cars as the problem, not the solution), and automobile promoters. He finds that pedestrians and parents campaigned in moral terms, fighting for “justice.” Cities and downtown businesses tried to regulate traffic in the name of “efficiency.” Automotive interest groups, meanwhile, legitimized their claim to the streets by invoking “freedom”—a rhetorical stance of particular power in the United States. Fighting Traffic offers a new look at both the origins of the automotive city in America and how social groups shape technological change.

Print length

396 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The MIT Press
Publication date

January 21, 2011
Grade level

12 and up
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

8.69 x 5.86 x 0.8 inches
ISBN-10

0262516128
ISBN-13

978-0262516129
See all details

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Peter Norton
6
Hardcover
17 offers from $16.46
Chris Bruntlett
32
Paperback
15 offers from $26.00
Angie Schmitt
68
Paperback
42 offers from $18.58
Jane Jacobs
990
Paperback
in Urban & Land Use Planning
92 offers from $4.00
Jeff Speck
508
Paperback
78 offers from $5.98
Charles L. Marohn Jr.
109
Hardcover
43 offers from $16.15

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this exquisitely researched book, Norton guides us through the complex and passionate debates that cleared the street to make way for the car. These decisions made decades ago still shape our cities, so they are vital to understanding the future of the automobile, as well as its past."--Zachary M. Schrag, author of "The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro"

"This is rigorous scholarship the history of technology, and the history of the automobile in particular, will truly benefit from. Norton's fascinating, in-depth history shows the automotive revolution was fought in the streets, reshaping the use of public space and impacting perceptions for generations thereafter."--Gijs Mom, author of "The Electric Vehicle: Technology and Expectations in the Automobile Age"

"We forget that the search for mobility in urban areas has also led to a massive increase in mortality. "Fighting Traffic" makes the linkage between mobility and mortality explicit. This is a cutting edge work in mobility history and a major contribution to urban history."--Clay McShane, author of "Down the Asphalt Path"

Review

We forget that the search for mobility in urban areas has also led to a massive increase in mortality. Fighting Traffic makes the linkage between mobility and mortality explicit. This is a cutting edge work in mobility history and a major contribution to urban history.

―Clay McShane , author of Down the Asphalt Path

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press; SECOND PRINTING edition (January 21, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 396 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262516128
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262516129
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.69 x 5.86 x 0.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #801,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #577 in Automotive History (Books)
- #933 in History of Engineering & Technology
- #982 in Social Aspects of Technology

Customer Reviews:
29 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Peter D. Norton

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Peter Norton is a historian of technology at the University of Virginia. He wrote Fighting Traffic to show how American city streets became places for cars instead of for people. He wrote Autonorama to show that autonomous vehicles won't solve our problems — and that fortunately we already have much better ways to achieve safe, healthful, inclusive, affordable, and sustainable mobility.

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		23%
3 star		9%
2 star		5%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

John Duval

If you love history, but not if you have ADD

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

Seldom have I read a book that so profoundly changed my understanding of history. The author maintains a neutral tone, not showing bias towards or against any industry or interest group. It discusses at length how various advocates advanced their position, what approaches worked and what failed and why. Even so, I am left overwhelmed by the feeling that the auto industry has controlled the dialog. A bias that continues more by momentum today in popular media. I was also surprised to find the same arguments that are gaining traction today were tried and failed 100 years ago.

If you want to be an activist, on any topic, you need to read this book. How is it that something so overwhelmingly unwanted in the urban environment came to dominate the scene?

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Busy Boxer

Well researched with lots of juicy tidbits

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

A little dense, a little academic, a little repetitive, but thus far a terrific look at the evolution of our Motor Age. Fascinating parallels with the discussion taking place today.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Vince Graham

A thorough documentation of 20th century enclosure.

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

In 18th and 19th century Britain, Parliament passed a series of Enclosure Acts removing previously existing rights of local people to their use of the commons. In a dispassionate, straight forward manner, Dr. Norton reveals the story of how traditional rights to an individual's use of American streets(which comprise the largest portion of the public realm in any given city)were appropriated by "organized motordom" to benefit the growing ranks of automobile users. A masterful work of scholarship.

Though the author doesn't specifically state the connection (probably because he is so fair-minded and objective), the period covered (roughly 1910-39) corresponded with the rise of public relations. Norton's story provides a vivid example of how the new techniques of this field were used to manipulate public opinion and advance a political agenda. Fascinating! Highly recommend, especially for those working on pedestrian/bicycle accessibility, transit issues, architects, engineers, and urban designers, or anyone who simply loves cities.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Planner

This book is a well researched and documented history of ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book is a well researched and documented history of how our public streets became the domain of motorized vehicles over significant and violent opposition. It also a very readable and engaging book. It would surprise most Americans to learn how pedestrians,cyclists, and other non-motorized roadway users were criminalized for the benefit of the wealthy minority that could afford cars.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Luke H. Klipp

Great history on our rights-of-way

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

Peter provides as comprehensive a history on public rights-of-way as any I've ever seen. His work is thoroughly-researched and very well-organized. My only concern was that at times it was so dense that it was hard to follow; however, that was merely my experience of the book. It was absolutely worth the purchase and the read.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

brewstefer

The Original Take on The Birth of the American Car Massacre

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

For those of us that recognize the American automobile as a vicious and murderous machine in the hands of a people incapable of responsibility to one another, this book is an excellent Playbill for the unaccountable slaughter that would take place between 1900 and today. The description of the removal of pedestrians/cyclists from protected status to hunted roadkill reminds one of nothing less than the American native genocide, and as Mr. Norton demonstrates, this turnabout takes only thirty years of propaganda and industry low-lifes and money to turn the tables. But for those who realize that the person at the wheel deserves total responsibility for death and injury, one easily finds corroboration that the original response to the pleasure car reacted in the same manner of indignation to the killers behind the wheel that still run rampant and unpunished by American 'justice.' Eye-opening.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Rex F

Academic

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a very thoroughly researched book. Almost a third of the last part of the book consists entirely of the author's footnotes. I found it to be a little too academic for my taste but others may appreciate that facet of the book. It might make a good reading assignment in an urban planning course at a university.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

John Forester

Forgotten war against pedestrians

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

Peter Norton describes a long-forgotten aspect of the appearance of mass motoring in America, the war between motorists and pedestrians. When neither motorists nor pedestrians had significant rules, the appearance of a road vehicle that went faster than ever before resulted in pedestrian deaths. These produced strong anti-motoring emotions, furthered by cartoons of young mothers and innocent children murdered by speeding cars. When this produced proposed legislation for car governors to limit possible speed to 25 mph or so, everywhere, Motordom found itself united. It united against pedestrians on streets, and for highways without pedestrians. By 1940 it had won these battles, with pedestrians limited to sidewalks and crosswalks of normal streets, and freeways accepted for high-speed travel. We achieved this result by producing the rules of the road, that combine rules for drivers of wheeled vehicles on roadways and rules for pedestrians on sidewalks and crosswalks into one set of reasonably equitable conforming rules. As a child cyclist in London, UK, of the 1930s, arriving in California in 1940, I never questioned the principle of roadways for wheels and sidewalks for feet, the battle had been forgotten.
American cyclists should benefit from that principle, but American Motordom managed to get cyclists classified with pedestrians instead of drivers, which created the nasty legal situation of bicyclists under American traffic law. And now anti-motoring bicycle advocates are breaking that principle by advocating non-traveling uses for roadways. The reasons for the war between motorists and pedestrians should again be remembered, with the proper division of street users into those on wheels and those on feet. Norton's book revives that history.
My short criticism is that Norton has not properly discussed the creation and role of traffic rules in achieving our standard of reasonably safe operation.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

J. adams

Fighting traffic the next battle

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

Fighting traffic is an instructive account of the social reconstruction of American cities that led to their domination by motordom – the powerful collective of interests dedicated clearing a path for the car. The most important period in the rise of motordom was the 1920s. Norton charts this transformation in terms of the insults that the competitors for road space traded with each other: motorists became “joy riders”, “road hogs” and “speed demons”, and their machines “juggernauts” and “death cars”, while pedestrians became “jaywalkers” and street cars became “traffic obstructions”. Norton explains how the road hogs won, how roads that were previously shared spaces were taken over by the car.
He attributes this victory to motordom’s awareness of the importance of shaping attitudes, the impressive resources that they had available to apply to this task, and their ultimate success in establishing that urban roads were, almost exclusively, for cars. By 1930 the battle had been won: “most street users agreed that most streets were chiefly motor thoroughfares.”
“Motordom”, Norton notes, “had effective rhetorical weapons, growing national organization, a favourable political climate, substantial wealth, and the sympathy of a growing minority of city motorists. By 1930, with these assets, motordom had redefined city streets.”
This is how he accounts for the dramatic change in attitudes, over a short space of time, about who should have the right of way on American streets: “From American ideals of political and economic freedom, motordom fashioned the rhetorical lever it needed. In these terms, motorists, though a minority, had rights that protected their choice of mode from intrusive restrictions. Their driving also constituted a demand for street space, which, like other demands in a free market, was not a matter for expert scrutiny.”
Norton’s account is not of mere historical interest. Today the five most valuable companies in the world – Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook – plus Tesla and Uber and all the major traditional car manufacturers, are promoting driverless cars. And they promise to reopen the argument over who should have the right of way on city streets.
They boast that their cars will able to respond with extreme deference to all pedestrians, cyclists and children encountered in the street, thereby liberating them to enjoy their pre-motordom freedom to venture safely into the road. But they concede that if this freedom were widely exercised in dense urban areas motor traffic would grind to a halt. So, who will command the streets in dense urban areas? The promoters of driverless cars are also the world’s preeminent shapers of public opinion.
PS A sixth star for clear and persuasive writing.

Arash Amiri

One of the best books on the history of traffic in the US that I could find.

Reviewed in Germany on August 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

It is short (the last third of it is pretty much all just references), but it is very informative. I learned a lot about the history of jaywalking (how it was constructed by the car lobby) and also a lot about the lobbying practices of the car companies.

Very insightful if you like to know more about how our cities became what they are today.

Darius Philipp Shahinfar

A must read for all interested in transportation and the history of transportation

Reviewed in Germany on April 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

Very Interesting book. Gives you insights about the strong interdependences between city development and automobiles and the history of this development.
Very recommendable!

Jeanne B.

Uninteresting

Reviewed in Germany on October 9, 2014

Verified Purchase

This seemed to me to be a topic that could be very interesting, and yet the book managed to say very little (what little it did say it repeated over and over again). I couldn't get through it.

See all reviews