Crash Course: If You Want To Get Away With Murder Buy a Car

by Woodrow Phoenix

A work of graphic nonfiction exploring the powerful, often toxic relationship between people and cars.
Using the comic book format, this book vehemently dispels the notion that traffic accidents are inevitable and/or acceptable on any level, insisting that drivers own their responsibility, and consider the consequences of careless and dangerous behavior. It also addresses such timely issues as the use of cars as weapons of mass murder in places like Charlottesville, VA.

Genres: Urbanism, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Urban, History

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2020

Reviews

[Jerome Laviolette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerfull graphic novel exploring the double standards that prevail in car dominated culture. It shows with many examples the terrible car violence that, as a society, we are tolerating so we can preserve this inalienable right of freedom of mobility by car.

[Karla Strand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frightening and unique, this is a powerful reminder of the power, force, and responsibility of operating a car and the treachery of being a bicyclist or pedestrian anywhere near them. Clever, poignant, angering, but also true.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
Hyperbolic, and exactly the level of drama the title promises. I don’t disagree with his central thesis that cars are deadly and we as a society give them more leeway than pedestrians and other forms of transportation. Maybe I’m getting old but I’m left with the feeling while reading this that to make the kind of changes he’s talking about, you’d have to fundamentally restructure the entire way we use and think about transportation. And this method of dramatic and emotionally manipulative argument doesn’t seem to be the best way to accomplish it.
That’s the rub, I guess. I don’t disagree with the book, but reading it frustrated and irritated me. He says in the afterword he wrote this book to make people mad, so I guess he succeeded in his goal with me but was he trying to annoy the people who agree with him? And if not, how is further alienating those who disagree with you helpful?
I was left with the idea that this book was written for those who are into it to be kinda shitty and judgmental towards those who aren’t. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me horribly angry—as it was meant to. I just wish it had offered solutions to our car-centric, deadly society. It is a graphic novel and a quick read, although I had to take breaks so my simmering rage could cool. Everyone needs to read this book.

[Ilya Nepomnyashchiy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a truly wonderful distillation of all the issues I have around American car culture and the design of our streets. Seriously, if anyone wants to understand why I'm constantly parading around yelling "ban cars", this is a great starting point. It's also beautifully packaged as a graphic novel.

From the author's afterword: "I wrote this book to make you mad. The inadequate laws, the crash reports, the road raging, distracted, and hit-and-run drivers; the data is all appalling...You should not be okay with the fact that leaving your house on foot or on a bicycle carries with it the risk of serious injury at any time. Nobody should die crossing a street because someone nestled in a car is too comfortable to pay attention. This should disgust you. It is outrageous. It disgusts me. We have to stop allowing drivers to escape the immensity of their responsibilities. You should be thinking about death every time you start your engine. Everybody else around you has to. What makes you special?"

I can not recommend this book enough.

[Talynn English · Rating 3 out of 5]

connecting with (and reading about!) people who are equally as angry about car-centric cultures has been really generative for my own understanding of placemaking and relationships (with both people and space)

i think it’s always so important to interrogate why we do things a certain way, the urgency and priority that different areas in a city receive, and whether there is something else we could imagine.

i dont know if i necessarily agree with some of what is/how some information is presented, particularly the claim that people only desire cars for its speed and grit; as well as the discussion of ‘whose bodies are more subject to regulation and surveillance on roads’ without explicitly naming the racial violence that is inflicted on Black bodies. if you did not know who Sandra Bland was before reading this book, i am not confident that you would truly understand the depth of violence that was committed against her as a Black woman.

there needs to be a medley of perspectives + approaches as we dream up a different world, so i take this read with a grain of salt and with a more expansive understanding of how car culture is steeped into our cities.

ps. i really wanted to finish a book for march but left hand of darkness has been taking too long! so glad i did it hehehehe

[atlantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important essay analyzing how deeply car culture is embedded within our society, and how it has made us so selfish to the point where we focus more of our attention to how these cars make us feel instead of how safe they are on the road. I think this book does a good job of opening your eyes to how much of our world has been dominated by cars, and why that's unsafe. Even though cars have gotten bigger and faster, there have only been more deaths involving cars ever since.

I liked the essay, but it's pretty stream-of-consciousness in the first half. You think it's going one way then it goes another way without diving too deep into it before moving onto the next thing. I was expecting the author to fully examine how cars can be utilized for specific types of violence since he brings up Sandra Bland and Philando Castile, but he didn't go anywhere with it after bringing it up. I was curious on how car culture played into racism and white supremacy, but I didn't get much.

This did not need to be a comic. The visuals don't enhance the reading experience at all and are pretty repetitive. It's all streets, intersections, and road markings. I feel like the book doesn't utilize the fact that it's a comic. Why is it done in this medium?

Decent essay, not a great comic. Would still recommend though since it's still an important read. I think it's necessary to understand how truly dangerous our obsession with cars is, and how the self-centered nature of this obsession will only lead to more damage in the long run.

[Maxwell Sprigg-Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this! It might not land with a lot of people, though, which might be part of the problem.

[Pamela Vollans Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will never look at walking or driving in the same way.

[Sanjida · Rating 5 out of 5]

An elegant, angry manifesto. I am already a soldier in the war on cars, if you're on the fence, you should read this and you may become one too.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphical creepily illustrated essay about car culture that asks why we tolerate drivers killing & injuring thousands of people a year with their cars. Mostly takes a philosophical psycho-cultural perspective on why we choose do drive cars, & why we accept their costs. Doesn't really go into the ways that car-centric transport choices are chosen for us by the transit decisions of our local, state, & national government. Makes a good case for driving slower & more carefully, but that is not really the main point. The endnotes contain the supporting statistics & are worth flipping to. Personally, I probably didn't need to read this book, since I already hate driving (which is probably why I never clean my car, or repair cosmetic damage on it). The illustrations of streets empty of cars or people were creepy; I couldn't decide if it was meant to evoke the dream of the open road free of any other people or vehicles getting in the way, or the isolation of the person in the car driving alone on the streets & highways. The emptiness of the visuals reminded me a bit of the Men's Recovery Project video "the Humans".

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not done reading this but have to say I'm in love with it.

The graphic novel style is stark and beautiful presenting a unique view on the world that places the reader squarely in the art. The art's viewpoint IS that of the reader.

The information presented is squarely on point providing a clear and nearly-succinct prose definition of American Car Culture, its source, and its outcome.

UPDATE: The work holds through to the end. I am struck by the author-as-graphic-artist who chose to maintain the simplicity of the graphics. That really helps place the reader in the frame to become a part of the story.

And it's not a pretty story. There is no gore in the art. Abstracted pedestrian figures broken on the pavement, yes, but . . . abstracted. I feel this allows the reader to maintain concentration on the text, to continue the narrative flow. It's effective.

I did find the transition from one topic to another a bit distracting in that it took me a while to realize things had shifted to a new perspective. I put that down to my preference for the standard prose approach of distinct chapters rather than a continuous text.

This had the additional effect of making me feel, at times, that the author needed to "take a breath," that is, give me - the reader - a chance to rest and consider the content. Yes, I put the book down occasionally and walked away but, without chapters, I felt I was leaving in the middle of a sentence.

Even so, this is not a big thing and it ultimately does not distract form the overall quality of the work.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Car-first culture is absorbed into American bodies from birth. This is the first book I’ve read that meets the problem at that visceral depth where it lives, in our nerves, in our gut reactions to the slightest inconveniences and in our absolute numbness to the violence of motordom.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading.

[Dan Lafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone aware of the many detriments of our culture, I was thrilled to come across this graphic novel that calls into question our society's blind allegiance to the almighty car. Because so few people are drawing attention to this vital issue (despite 40k car deaths per year in the US), such a book is a much appreciated addition to the discourse.

Phoenix touches on a LOT of subjects related to the negative aspects of cars. At 200 pages, the book is perhaps too short to give the necessary focus required for each of the different points the author makes. For instance, I would have liked to see more attention given to the idea of urban sprawl and car infrastructure in relation to car reliance, declining public space, and social isolation. That said, this book is a good introduction to many anti-car sentiments and will hopefully inspire readers to further explore these ideas on their own.

The brilliant artwork serves as a haunting reminder of what our cities and much of our rural spaces have become in the wake of our car-centric lives.

[Erok · Rating 5 out of 5]

With so few words, this book articulates and simply explains driver entitlement and the damage it causes better than anything I've read on the subject. The anger and emotion that he captures towards how we blindly accept traffic violence as the necessary price for convenience is how we should all feel when 40,000 Americans PER YEAR are killed on our roadways. Instead these lives get shrugged off, and treated about as seriously as people take the responsibility of driving. This is a call for not only fixing our roads, but for the personal responsibility of how the decisions you make behind the wheel come with the power to kill and maim, and at the bare minimum, to recognize this and stop driving like an asshole.

[Trey Piepmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book and well worth a read if you want to be angry about cars. And you should be angry about cars. They're terrible for the world and humans in general.

The art was … ok. It seemed like it was made by drawing over photographs with a minimal style that doesn't look bad. The layout with the amount of words per page made for quick reading, but that also meant I ended up pretty much ignoring the art. I'm sure there was some meaning to it, and it's clear in some places where that's the case. But for the most part, it didn't seem to add much.

But, hey, it's worth a read and it definitely makes you think.

For the sake of record keeping, I heard about this book from this tweet.

[David Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and artful examination of the space we've yielded the cars, both literally in our cities and figuratively in how they shape our interactions with the world.

I recommend giving this book the patient and slow read it demands. There are clean breaks in the text, and it's a useful moment to put it down and contemplate. My one complaint with the book is really that these breaks (save the last one) are not clear until you read the page and recognize the non sequitur, and given how useful they are to pacing I wish it had been more obvious. But this was definitely an even more compelling read than anticipated.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manifesto. Quick read. Car culture is extremely dangerous to non-drivers (and drivers, but at least they stand a chance).

For a long time I have thought that vehicle "mishaps" should be penalized to the exact same extent as firearm "mishaps." That will likely not happen, but we can hope.

I realize author is a person of color, but I felt like some of the racial elements were digressive from the central point that vehicles are dangerous to pedestrians. Some of the segues in the book were rough generally. At first I thought they were marked with either gray or white text boxes, but that didn't seem to hold throughout.

[Dan Castrigano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. He channels my rage at cars in graphic novel form. It hits so many different points - the egos associated with owning big cars and driving fast, the racism associated with pulling over Black men and women, how big cars kill instead of injure... "Drivers get frustrated when pedestrians fail to behave with appropriate gratitude and deference for being allowed on a street." [p. 55] Finally, the list of SUV and pickup truck names on pp. 162-163 is amazing and terrible. "It's a good feeling to know you could, y'know, take it off road. If you had to." [p. 164]

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

5/10

I'll start by saying I am 100 percent on board with the message of this book. I found it by listening to the war on cars podcast.

I think the book starts WAY too abrasive. Anybody that isn't already sold on the premise will probably put it down and not pick it up after just a few pages.

It calms down as it goes on and the last quarter or so seems pretty approachable to general audiences, and could be pretty persuasive if someone makes it that far.

I guess I'd say if you're reading this for an alternate point of view from your own, keep a very open mind

[Kristen Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of the past decade or so is Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt (about the sociology and psychology of driving), so when I heard about Crash Course by Woodrow Phoenix on The War on Cars podcast, I figured it was right up my alley. It’s a graphic novel (which isn’t usually my favorite format) but the impact of the images is incredible. I highly recommend this exploration of what it means to be a pedestrian and/or a driver in a world built for cars.

[Tony Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quote is haunting and describes our reality perfectly:

“Nobody should die crossing a street because someone nestled in a car is too comfortable to pay attention. This should disgust you. It is outrageous. It disgusts me. We have to stop allowing drivers to escape the immensity of their responsibilities. You should be thinking about death every time you start your engine. Everyone else around you has to. What makes you so special?”

[Catie Holliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one that should be read by every driver. It'll piss a lot them off, but it brings up great points we tend to ignore or forget as we get older. There were portions on road rage where I felt called out, but if people read this and took it to heart, it would probably decrease the fatality and injury statistics he cites. The art style is simplistic, but effective. Well done.

[KileyV · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be fair, after reading this book I do feel angrier about the rights of drivers - which is what this author set out to do. But I found the illustrations unimaginative, the comic book font uninspired, and the narrative repetitive. I probably would have stopped reading it but I have covid and resources are limited lol.

[Karina Pineda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book on this topic needed to be written, and the fact that it was in the form of a graphic novel made it even more impactful. Thank you Woodrow for bringing attention to this. I can only hope that more people pick this book up.

[Jessica Vacek]

"Until we start to pay attention and admit just how failed and inhumanly out of balance our road environments are, we will not be able to change them."

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel kind of weird for saying this, but I feel like this would work better as a audiobook.

[wildct2003 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angry? Cynical? What would be the proper description of the tone of this graphic novel? It does raise some interesting points and perspectives. Worth a look.