Rumble Strip

by Woodrow Phoenix

Rumble strips alert us to hazards. The noise, the jolt, the vibration of those grooves at the edge of the road wakes and prevents drivers from going off the edge of the road.

Sometimes we all need a wake-up over 1.2 million people are killed in road traffic accidents around the world each year. By 2020, road traffic accidents could outstrip stroke and HIV as one of the main causes of preventable deaths.

Whether we drive cars, ride motorbikes, pedal bicycles, take public transport or just walk, we all use roads and rely on each other to drive responsibly.

Rumble Strip surprises, challenges, asks us questions that badly need answers and makes us think about things we may prefer to ignore. Woodrow Phoenix’s dry, sometimes painfully mordant wit, backed up by accident statistics, personal observations and case histories, offers a trenchant analysis of the problems of road users everywhere and the risks we all take every day. With sharp, densely inked graphics, he immerses us in the narrative as if we are driving those cars or walking along those streets. He personalises the experience of the commuter, the driver, the pedestrian, the accident victim...because any one of them could be us.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Psychophant · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all I have to say that I may not be objective because I know and appreciate the author. To take that into account I have downgraded the book one star, as I wanted to give it five stars.

This book should be compulsory reading in Driving Schools. And pedestrians would benefit from it, too. Just as a wake up call.

It is not an easy book, and it is not entertainment. It is a reminder of how we have integrated death and a weapon (cars) in our culture, and we do not even realise it.

I have not discussed the imagery with the author, but it feels as if you were driving and you had your Guardian Angel telling you facts about the road, the other cars and even yourself while you keep going. That makes the harsh facts presented a bit more palatable, and it is integration what the author wants, not rejection. I think it is a great form to wrap a discourse, at times, disturbing.

The writing, a mix of actual data, common sense facts and personal anecdote, flows smoothly, just like the car drive itself. It is easy to read, except for those moments when you stop and reflect, or you slap your forehead thinking "me too!"

Yet it is not an anti-car book. Mr. Phoenix is an avid driver and loves to drive. But that makes his point stronger, because he knows what he is talking about.

[Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma obra necessária. Pena que os babacas que precisam lê-la não a lerão (mesmo tendo sido DESENHADO pra eles).

[Christof Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a difficult read for me. I had to pause it for a couple of months.
There doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel or any positive outlook.
But maybe this is the message that has to be brought across about cars.

The art and writing is great though and I love the idea and the concept of presenting it.

I originally wanted to read Crash Course: If You Want To Get Away With Murder Buy a Car, which I think is a later version of the book, but that one wasn't available on Kindle.

[Felipe Assis · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hq super original nunca havia visto algo do tipo. Pode se dizer que é um manifesto por um mundo sem carros, onde o autor nos leva a refletir diversos aspectos negativos de um mundo urbanizado tendo em foco a locomoção dos carros. O narrador é do tipo "flutuante", muito utilizado em textos reflexivos, e a arte é toda composta de ruas, avenidas e estradas vazias o que trás um contraste interessante a obra. Livro super critico também a usuários de carros, mesmo assim recomendo tanto para quem gosta quanto para quem não gosta de carros. O autor parece gostar muito do Brasil por que são recorrentes imagens de Brasília e Rio de Janeiro

[Jaroslav Kacmar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. More an essay than a graphic novel. Very interesting concept but while it has plenty of important points (first several pages are excellent) sometimes the "rant" goes on for too long. Also, while I get the point of the style, the illustrations could vary more for some specific topics. While I appreciate the effort made to create all the pictures, it feels like this could be great instead of good book if it was little bit more concise.

[Peter Bednár · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come for the cartoons, but stay for the end notes!

[Yiy2d2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good but a bit repitetive: blah blah caars bad blah blag but the way things were structured is soo cool the images not the best though

[camila rec · Rating 3 out of 5]

é uma hq muito interessante. aborda um tema importante e o autor fez uma ótima pesquisa. vale a leitura.

[Nosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

C’était super sympa. On se prend une bonne morale pendant 175 pages ! Mais c’est nécessaire.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rumble Strip is a relentless, breathless tirade against automobiles, their drivers and automobile culture, written and inked by Woodrow Phoenix, an author with a very personal chip on his shoulder -- his own sister and several friends and colleagues were killed by automobile drivers. The book is light on text, but the subject matter is very heavy, and the words flow on and on over the largely dull, backdrop art, without pause. That said, Phoenix makes many valid points about the wrongs of car culture and our society, such as: the insanity of taxi drivers and truckers, cars as extension of personal space / body (pg 83 of my edition, I've been saying this for years), car stress, 'road rage' being a term to easily dismiss violent actions by drivers that are really a larger part of society and life, how you can murder people with cars and get off virtually scot-free, how cars are weapons, automobiles as status symbols, the selfish hypocrisy of SUVs, how cities are designed for car drivers and not pedestrians/cyclists, and so forth. Beyond the understandably bitter vitriol Phoenix spouts, there are dark truths and important reflections which we as a society -- meaning all automobile-addicted societies -- should think about and use to plan better cities and better worlds. Ideally, these cities this world will be one where automobiles are put in their place as nothing more than tools, automobiles are re-designed, perhaps completely, and automobile drivers are educated so as to be less terrible. Rumble Strip also includes sources used for each 'section.' One of the interesting facts from these sources is that around 31 400 pedestrians under the age of 14 were injured in traffic accidents and sent to emergency rooms, in the United States, in 2002. In 2001, 521 were killed due to being hit by a motor vehicle.

*Personal Note: I am not a fan of automobile culture myself. I understand the benefits of automobiles, but I also understand the many, many negatives; from the environment, to stress, to quality of life, to entitlement issues, to community damage and separation from nature and life, to unnecessary danger and more.

*Note: I read this in French, and the translation was titled: <> (ACTES SUD - L'AN 2)

[Curtis M. Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommend

Clever use of stark illustration combined with direct, pointed commentary about how we have allowed traffic violence to persist year after year.

[Nux · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. SHould be made compulsary reading for drivers and drivers to be. I am keeping this one to pass on to my kids when they're starting driving school.
Written in a rather cold and cynical way, the points come across crystal clear and full of things that makes you think. Occasionally creepy.
Reading this I keep having flashbacks of things experienced or witnessed on the roads in the different places that I've been. Extreme driving in the middle east, between the crazy speeding locals and expats prone to road rages and the extremely slow "local-expats" who swerve between lanes for no apparent reason. Most acute memory was of a narrowly missed death by a huge Volga that was speeding on a pavement in Moscow while I was walking home one evening. Shudder!

[Anand Koppar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is definitely a must read for all drivers in India whether Rickshaw drivers or taxi drivers. They all can benefit tremendously from it. It actually is a scary account of the consequences of owning a car and what really goes on in the mind of the person driving a big car (read SUV).

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading this because it's just so damn good. It's even better this time round. This should be required reading for every new driver.