Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-383) and index.

Why I became a late merger (and why you should too) -- Why does the other lane always seem faster? How traffic messes with our heads -- Shut up, I can't hear you: anonymity, aggression, and the problems of communicating while driving -- Are you lookin' at me? Eye contact, stereotypes, and social interaction on the road -- Waiting in line, waiting in traffic: why the other lane always moves faster -- Postscript: and now, the secrets of late merging revealed -- Why you're not as good a driver as you think you are -- If driving is so easy, why is it so hard for a robot? What teaching machines to drive teaches us about driving -- How's my driving? How the hell should I know? Why lack of feedback fails us on the road -- How our eyes and minds betray us on the road -- Keep your mind on the road: why it's so hard to pay attention in traffic -- Objects in traffic are more complicated than they appear: how our driving eyes deceive us -- Why ants don't get into traffic jams (and humans do): cooperation as a cure for congestion -- Meet the world's best commuter: what we can learn from ants, locusts, and crickets -- Playing God in Los Angeles -- When slower is faster, or, How the few defeat the many: traffic flow and human nature -- Why women cause more congestion than men (and other secrets of traffic) -- Who are all these people? The psychology of commuting -- The parking problem: why we are inefficient parkers and how this causes congestion -- Why more roads lead to more traffic (and what to do about it) -- The selfish commuter -- A few Mickey Mouse solutions to the traffic problem -- When dangerous roads are safer -- The highway conundrum: how drivers adapt to the road they see -- The trouble with traffic signs--and how getting rid of them would be better for everyone -- Forgiving roads or permissive roads? The fatal flaws of traffic engineering -- How traffic explains the world: on driving with a local accent -- "Good brakes, good horn, good luck!": plunging into the maelstrom of Delhi traffic -- Why New Yorkers jaywalk (and why they don't in Copenhagen): traffic as culture -- Danger: corruption ahead--the secret indicator of crazy traffic -- Why you shouldn't drive with a beer-drinking divorced doctor named Fred on Super Bowl Sunday in a pickup truck in rural Montana: what's risky on the road and why -- Semiconscious fear: how we misunderstand the risks of the road -- Should I stay or should I go? Why risk on the road is so complicated -- The risks of safety -- Driving lessons.