CONTACTTRAFFICABOUT TOM VANDERBILTOTHER WRITING CONTACT ABOUT THE BOOK

Archive for May 22nd, 2009

How to Cover a Car Crash

I’ve got a piece in the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review discussing the way car crashes are discussed in the media, prompted in part by some recent academic studies on the issue. It’s behind a paywall (it’s a great issue, I’d recommend a purchase), but the magazine has graciously offered to let me post the PDF here for those interested.

Here’s the lead:

The fatal car crash is, unfortunately, an all-too-familiar staple of local journalism. Each of us can summon a grim collage of tragedy: the flashing lights; the fluttering yellow tape on the roadside; the “starburst” windshield; the phrase “he was too young” or “our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”

There is no denying this can make for arresting or poignant viewing or reading. And, unlike sensational reports of deaths that far outweigh their actual occurrence (e.g, in the months leading up to the attacks of 9/11, there was a rash of shark-attack stories, though we were soon to learn that our greatest threat did not come from the sea), the frequency of the coverage seems justified: traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death in the U.S. for people ages one through thirty-four.

But to people who try to reduce the number of crashes, there is often something missing from the picture: Context.”

And the PDF is here.

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Posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 10:41 am by: Tom Vanderbilt
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Traffic Tom Vanderbilt

How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.

Please send tips, news, research papers, links, photos (bad road signs, outrageous bumper stickers, spectacularly awful acts of driving or parking or anything traffic-related), or ideas for my Slate.com Transport column to me at: info@howwedrive.com.

For publicity inquiries, please contact Kate Runde at Vintage: krunde@randomhouse.com.

For editorial inquiries, please contact Zoe Pagnamenta at The Zoe Pagnamenta Agency: zoe@zpagency.com.

For speaking engagement inquiries, please contact
Jenna Meulemans at the Knopf Speaker Bureau.

Order Traffic from:

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For UK publicity enquiries please contact Rosie Glaisher at Penguin.

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