Peter Norton is a historian of technology in the Department of Science, Technology and Society in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. Norton describes his job as being able to help “engineers learn from the past of engineering, because we can learn from our mistakes, but you have to know what your mistakes were before you can learn from them.”
Norton speaks with Coy Barefoot on Charlottesville–Right Now! about his article”Street Rivals: Jaywalking and the Invention of the Motor Age Street,” recently published in the Journal of Technology and Culture. Norton discusses the transition from streets being pedestrian-oriented to becoming the domain of the motorcar, and whose interests were really being served. He is also working on a book called “Fighting Traffic.” |