How did we ever get to this degree of motor madness..?

EVER-INCREASING RESTRICTIONS ON CAR USE

A gradual tightening of the noose through ever higher taxation, ever more expensive parking, and ever more onerous restrictions in order to make driving progressively more expensive  

extension of no stopping zones

progressively reduced street parking

20 mph speed limits

wheel clamping

speed cameras & speed guns

random breath alcohol tests

suburban street closures and “slaloms”

other “traffic calming” measures,

congestion charges

ultra-low emission zones (ULEZ)

CYCLE LANES

ROAD-CHARGING (to replace “road-tax” revenues lost due to EV exemptions)  

How much longer will car owners put up with this ever-tightening stranglehold..?

 This is why I call it MAD CARS DISEASE..!

The following is based on “The Future of the Automobile” by Andrew Price

Global warming, obesity, gasoline prices, oil wars, urban sprawl, social isolation, the death of high street shops, rising cost of living – what do all of these problems have in common?   

THE AUTOMOBILE…!     

Automobiles are not the sole cause of these problems, but it is a major cause..!

Most people believe the hype that electric cars will solve all of our problems, but they will only solve one of the following issues – oil dependency – and there will have to be a MASSIVE increase in electrical power generation…

• OIL DEPENDENCY
• EXPENSE
• URBAN SPRAWL
• SOCIAL ISOLATION 
• “HIGH STREET” SHOP COLOSURES
• OBESITY
• CAR DEATHS AND INJURIES

I would add to his list “Roadkill” – the tragic massive slaughter of wildlife and our animal pets

For the sake of this argument, I will ignore the environmental issues about global warming, pollution, and the cost of gasoline, and the politics of importing oil and peak oil – since they get all of the attention, and instead focus on the much deeper and darker issues of living in a car dominated culture.

In principle a vehicle that can take someone wherever they want, whenever they want, is a liberating idea.   If you live in a rural area the ability to get to the nearest town within 20 minutes is a godsend.  Cars are good for those that live in the country, although they are not good for the country itself –  for example the slaughter of wildlife on the roads.   But cities and cars definitely don’t mix.   When cities try to provide for every adult (or even every 2nd adult) having their own car, an enormous amount of money is spent on building and maintaining of streets, roads, traffic lights, roundabouts, highways, freeways, multi-storey parking garages and open parking lots for every shop and office.

When you build massive automobile scale roads, small pockets of retail tend to pop up in the outskirts of the city in the form of strip malls, which are surrounded by expansive parking lots, divided by massive multilane roads always roaring with traffic, and abandoned sidewalks in an environment that is an aesthetic nightmare and hostile to pedestrians. 

a typical strip-mall

Car-dependent cities don’t favor small businesses.    When driving, it takes time and effort – slowly cruising in petrol-consuming low gears – to find a free parking spot.   In a car-dependent city where each small business must provide it’s own parking, it is massively inconvenient to drive from one store to another and park at each store.  Shoppers want to make the least number of stops possible during a shopping trip. Department stores and other big box retailers have a significant advantage as the consumer only has to park once and have most of their needs under a single roof, then they only have to pack their car once and return home. Local green grocers, bakeries, butcher shops, convenience stores, and other speciality retailers simply can’t compete with that.

Small businesses favour foot traffic – and thus, they favour the traditional city.  In a compact city you’re likely to walk past countless small businesses going about your daily business. It’s more convenient to simply spend 5 minutes of your time stopping by one of those on your way home than to go out of your way to a large supermarket.    This isn’t to say that large stores don’t work in traditional cities – they do, but local businesses can be more competitive purely because it’s more convenient to visit a small business in a traditional city.   It is more expensive and takes more effort to run a business in a car-dependent city. You have to ensure you build and maintain enough parking spaces for all of your customers, and you have an entire building to yourself to maintain.

Expense

In the suburbs of sprawl cities, if not in the centre, cars are a virtual necessity, and an expensive one at that..!  In a compact city you can simply walk to work or take public transportation. But in a car-dependent city these aren’t always conveniently available, so it becomes necessary – even essential – to own a car just to go about your daily life.

Obesity

Research has linked obesity with driving and therefore obesity must be linked with sprawl since OB-Cities encourage people to drive rather than walk.   For most of history the majority of people were thin because, in a compact city, you naturally walk while going about your daily business – the way people have been living for most of human history.   But, aside from car-dependency, I suspect there are other factors at work that cause suburbanites to be on average fatter than their central city peers.  It could be just a matter of nutritional education, but also I suspect there is something about the nature of sprawling suburbs that encourages sprawling bodies. Maybe because living in low-density suburbs encourages sloppiness in dress, habits, and appearance and that most of ones contact with others is limited to those of a similar slovenly dispensation..?       

Green spaces

Car-dependent cities occupy far more space than traditional cities, because in accomodating for the roads, highways, freeways, and countless parking spaces, everything is more spread out.  Then, as an antidote to these unsafe, noisy, and asthetically unpleasing parking lots and roads, the planners tack on these bland “greenspaces”.   Greenspaces are not like parks where people can have picnics and children can play. “Greenspaces”, which waste land, are designed to create the illusion that people are living in the countryside.   A traditional city has pleasant plazas and is esthetically pleasing enough that you don’t need ‘greenspace’ to buffer against it:

Social isolation

Despite car-dependent cities segregating the haves and the have-nots (the motorists and the non-motorists) based on where they can go, car-dependent cities isolate the community. Part of the charm of living in a community is the chance encounters you have with other people in that community. In a traditional city, as you go about your daily business you get to learn and recognize the locals you see every day, you can encounter friends on the street, have chance encounters with business owners that recognize you as you walk past them daily on your way to work or shops.   Everyday is something new – a busker playing a violin on the corner with his violin case open seeking donations, someone asking for signatures to pass a new law, or handing out free samples to promote the opening of their new business. You take note of that new store popping up on your street, because you don’t drive by the community, you’re part of the community.

Not only that, car-dependent cities are less tourist friendly. If you’re targeting international tourists, not every one of them are legally able to drive in your country, and the ones that can may not want to attempt it – especially if you drive on a different side of the road and have different road rules. You also have to consider domestic tourists that fly in. They didn’t bring their car with them, so once they are at their hotel, most would rely on walking or public transportation to see the sights and attractions – only a few would rent a car.  

Freedom

A lot of people argue that cars give them freedom, which is true to a point. But cars only give you freedom in an environment built for them – and cities are not the best environments for cars. In a traditional city – where you can walk or use public transportation more conveniently than driving – you no longer need a car to freely move around the city. This does not mean that you have to give up your car – you can still keep it for the occasional drives in the country or when you need to buy a big item from a hardware store. The major difference is that in a car-dependent city, a car is neccessary for freedom. In a traditional city, a car is optional, and while useful at times, owning a car is not associated with freedom.

The second type of freedom that is important to discuss is financial freedom. Cars are expensive, and the lower your income, the more of a burden they become and the less money you have to save or spend on other things. If you are able to live your daily life car-less, you can still rent a car on the weekends when you need one. This is much cheaper than having to worry about car payments, maintenance, and parking, while still giving you personal freedom when it’s needed. The other advantage of rentals is that you always have the choice of choosing the vehicle most appropriate to your immediate need, whether it would be a minivan, a sportscar, or a pickup truck.

Conclusion

Cars are a good idea for people that live in the country and they work, but cars in cities simply don’t mix. I have focused on the consequences of building cities around cars and what the impact is. By making you aware of the long-term issues of car-dependent cities I hope that we can begin to counter act them. When possible, choose public transportation or walking over driving – and try to limit your driving to when you need to go off the beaten path – for example, weekend drives in the country. Support your local urban shops rather than your suburban ones. If you’re looking to buy a house, look for one in a walkable area to support that style of development. More human-scale development that is walkable and pedestrian-friendly won’t come until a demand grows for it, and each small effort can help. By doing so, we can save money, increase our quality of living, reduce pollution, and decrease our dependency on oil. In a future article on my blog I will discuss practical solutions for developers and city planners for building safer traditional cities.