A second order upwind method for linear hyperbolic systems is studied in this paper. The method approximates solutions as piecewise linear functions, and state variables and slopes of the linear functions for next time step are computed separately. We present a new method for the computation of slopes, derived from an upwinding difference for a derivative. For nonoscillatory solutions, a monotonicity algorithm is also proposed by modifying an existing algorithm. To validate our second order upwind method, numerical results for linear advection equations and linear systems for elastic and acoustic waves are given.