Taken by Melanie Rawlins, October 2000
Why do we drive?
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Taken by Melanie Rawlins, October 2000
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The trends represented on this website are merely the effects of different actions that humans partake in. The bond that they all have is transportation. So how do we reverse these trends? Clearly, people need to get where they are going. We can not eliminate transportation, but how do we make it more efficient and better for the environment, and therefore, for our lives in general? Finally, where do we draw the line between blaming or trying to improve technology versus blaming or changing society's attitudes about car travel?
The mentality of Americans certainly reinforces the need for the automobile. Privacy, independence, power, control, these are all things we have believed we are entitled to all of our lives. When we are in public, these are compromised; however, there is a way to be in public, but separated. If we are in our cars, we are in control, we are independent of other drivers, we have a substantial amount of privacy, especially because we perceive ourselves to be alone in the car. In fact the car is a bubble, a sealed environment, a shield from others.
A great majority of people refuse to abandon their cars or even alter their habits if given the choice of having a better system of public transportation. The problem with this is that our society is one that caters to the wants of the majority. Therefore, as long as the majority say they want more cars, that is what they are going to get… along with a polluted air and water and a disrupted habitat for wildlife.
How do we offer public transportation to people who don't want it? How do we ask people to move closer to their jobs when they like their 1.5 acres of wooded land? How do we ask people to bike in to work when it is raining, snowing or cold? The problem is that we put our faith in technology. The majority of Americans believe that technology is going to solve the problems. And in fact, improving technology is a way out. But it shouldn't be the only way out. Even though it is easier to build a more efficient car than it is to change the perceptions of a society, that doesn't mean we should spend our time only building better cars. It is important to reinforce to Americans that cars, no matter how efficient they are, are hard on the environment for many reasons, including quality of life. We can send messages to people through legislation, television and paper advertisements, schools, toys, and by utilizing many other tools that infiltrate our lives every day. Cars are all around us. In order to change that, we need to challenge that just as much as it is reinforced. Only then will the trends of RI begin to reverse.
Sources:
Risk Mentality: Why do Drivers Take the Risks They Do? Drivers.com. 11/20/00.
Car Busters Magazine. 10/15/00.