Our obsession with cars

We prioritize the illusion of control over the reality of risk

When we talk about automobile accidents, it feels like it’s always someone else's fault.

We hear these stats about 40,000 Americans being killed annually and think they don’t apply to us. “It’s all the drunk drivers/teen drivers/texters, etc.”

The only problem with this argument is the fact that these high-risk groups share the road with everyone else. Yet when advocacy groups propose traffic calming measures or adding infrastructure that reduces speeds, they’re always met with resistance.

It’s because in the US, there’s this obsession with efficiency. We have this cognitive bias that driving is safe, but the reality is far from it. We're so focused on getting there quickly that we forget the importance of getting there safely.

“A developed country isn't where poor people have cars, it's where rich people take transit.” - Vishaan Chakrabarti

Imagine if we stopped ignoring the fact that driving was the second leading killer of children and teens (right behind guns, but that's another story).

I sometimes wonder what it would look like if we took real action to limit the speed, power, and weight of automobiles in the interest of public safety. Of course, the backlash would be the tired narrative that this is a denial of personal freedom.

We should be able to wield as much power and speed as we desire!

Source

We continue to ignore the fact that larger, faster, more powerful vehicles are the reason why pedestrian deaths have been on the rise.

Andy Boenau

from Urbanism Speakeasy made a point about how parents will freak out if someone gives their child a peanut, meanwhile “the most dangerous threat facing American children is the drive to school, not the snacks they share.”

Yes, death by peanut is preventable, but so it death by automobile.

We treat accidents like they are independent of each other instead of addressing the root causes. The way our towns and cities are designed is so backwards. We build wide streets where cars can go fast and then spend more money on speed bumps to slow them down. It makes no sense.

Some people think self-driving cars and EV’s will solve the problem, but this is not true. Electric vehicles will only make the problem worse because they’re even heavier.

Instead of looking to new technology to solve our problems why don’t we put more of a focus on the technology that we know works? We’ve tried to use enforcement as a solution to traffic safety, but it’s proven to be ineffective.

The solution is simple: more shared resources like public transit and better micro-mobility options for walking and cycling.

In places like Japan and Europe where pedestrian fatalities are in decline you see narrower roads and lower speed limits, you see expansive public transit, you see vehicles that are tested and rated for pedestrian safety. There are high fuel taxes so driving a big car is not affordable. They’re also rolling out things like intelligent speed assist which automatically governs vehicle speeds to the road limit.

My apologies if this sounds like a random rant, I’m not really sure what the path forward looks like. If policymakers did try to implement these things, I think the majority would resist. In much of the US, we’ve been brainwashed to think that the automobile always comes first, even if it means putting our children in harm’s way.

On a brighter note, I do have some hope for America’s future. I find myself going down these rabbit holes, stumbling on projects like Culdesac and Serenbe.

So yes, there are places where they’re prioritizing people over cars, I just wish there were more of them.

Until next time my friends,

<3 B

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