In Door to Door, Edward Humes explores “the magnificent, maddening, mysterious world of transportation.”

Many of those who read the book will be surprised by what he has to say about various myths and whether or not each is true. For example:

1.Adding lanes to freeways eliminates traffic jams: FALSE

2. A year on the road in America inflicts more casualties — deaths and serious injuries — than all the Americans killed and wounded in all the wars we have ever fought: TRUE

3. Larger, heavier cars are safer: FALSE

4. Only a tiny fraction of accidents are accidents: TRUE

5. The power sea power in the world is Denmark: TRUE (in terms of economic power, not military power)

6. It takes only 160 giant container ships to create as much h smog and particulate [pollution as all the cars in the world, and there are 6,000 such ships carrying goods around the globe: TRUE

7. Los Angeles drivers spend an average of two weeks stuck in traffic each year: TRUE

8. The most subsidized form of transportation in the U.S. is public transit: FALSE

9. The most subsidized form of transportation in the U.S. is the private car: TRUE

10. From 30 to 60 percent of drivers on congested streets are creating traffic jams because they are searching for parking: TRUE

11. Each year 53,000 Americans die ten years sooner than they would if it were no tailpipe emissions: TRUE

12. The World Economic Forum ranks America’s transportation infrastructure first in the world in overall quality: FALSE (the U.S. ranks 16th in the world)

13. Investment firm Morgan Stanley calls the car our most massive waste of opportunity and the world’s most underutilized asset because, on average, the American car sits idle 92 percent of the time while costing each owner $1,049 a month: TRUE

Please click here to check out my review of Door to Door, published by Harper/An Imprint of HarperCollins (2016).