I'm half way through reading it. It fully merits its rave reviews.
Vanderbilt, the author, seems to have talked to ***everybody*** in
the world who matters.

It's essentially just about cars, nothing about tradeoffs between
cars and trains, or whatever, for example, although it does talk
about the accidents caused by the excessive number of helicopter
commuters in Sao Paulo.

Most of the stuff was not too surprising to me. Things get
publicised fairly soon after they have been discovered nowadays.
However, I wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a number of
people on this list who would refuse to believe some of the things
the book says.

I was surprised at the number of cars that US traffic engineers now
reckon can fit into a motorway lane. The numbers have been revised
upwards, substantially, twice in recent years, as has their optimal
speed. No wonder there isn't always room for two chevrons worth of
empty road between cars.

Jeremy Parker