Traffic Tech

Topics:  Traffic Tech Opinions expressed by Bill Crittenden are not official policies or positions of The Crittenden Automotive Library. You can read more about the Library's goals, mission, policies, and operations on the About Us page.

Bill Crittenden
January 19, 2010

Okay, it's not the most interesting stuff I've ever posted. Actually, it's among the least interesting. But it does illustrate an interesting point about what I'm doing here. Traffic Tech is one of the many newsletters and publications put out by the NHTSA over the years.

While it's not the most interesting reading for the average "Car Guy" it is important stuff to keep around for historic context: the studies reported on in Traffic Tech were important in decisions that municipalities, states and the federal government have made that affect how we drive. It's not the oldest stuff I've got, either, but remember that part of what I do is to preserve the present for future historians.

Anyway, the NHTSA seems to have "lost" quite a few of these documents over the years. The online archive begins at #82, and there are missing issues along the way as well as missing PDF files where only the texts are available and missing photos that are supposed to go along with the text versions.

We've seen what has happened to even the most historic of archives when left in the hands of bureaucrats (the Apollo moon landing tapes come to mind), so I'm going to try and get my hands on as much of this US government stuff as possible before it slips through the cracks, possibly forever.

I'd say "enjoy," but unless you wear thick glasses and a pocket protector, you probably won't.