Do Our Cars Really Create Freedom?
The first time I tell anybody I'm trying to help Utah become the first car-independent state in America, I without fail get rebutted with,
"You're not taking away my car...They give us freedom to do whatever we want, and go whenever we please! I like to drive! This is AMERICA"
I'm not trying to take away people's cars. Even if that was the goal, which it isn't, it's not a possibility, and I'm not interested in destroying the American car. It has its uses. The goal is and always has been to create cities and suburbs where Utahns don't need a car to live functionally. There's a huge difference, and it doesn't in exist in Utah as of right now. Car independent cities are a reality in European countries and they are seen as so beautiful and functional, they become bombarded with tourism.
My dream of a car-independent Utah is often seen as a silly fantasy, as though I don't understand how the world actually works, and when I get a reality check, I'll understand that cars are the superior mode of transportation. Firstly, I care about the average motorist freedom, but I just don't think the average Utah driver realizes how little freedom they actually have with only their car as the option. Our infrastructure values the car over the pedestrian, and it's almost impossible for a person to live a normal, functioning life without a car in Utah. So, since this is the system we've built, let's evaluate the merit of it.
It's true, in a car, you can go whenever you want and wherever you want... and that's pretty much where the pros end. Especially because in a well designed city with walkable spaces, cycling and extensive public transportation, this is also... the same pro. You'll find people still use cars in these cities but often, these cities have such great infrastructure, the car is simply not the preferred mode of transportation. Amsterdam, Netherlands is a great example of this. So, beyond that single pro, the burden of the American car goes much deeper.
1. The Car is essentially our only real option. Is that freedom?
The severe promotion and design around the American car has created a loss of freedom within our Utah infrastructure. It is true, I could spend 3 hours everyday trying to get to work on train, bike and bus, but it is unsustainable. If the car is my only option to function... is that really a free society?
2. Driving a car is a heavy moral responsibility with deadly consequences.
320 people died on Utah roads in 2022. 118 of those people were pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. 10 of them were under 12. https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2023/01/06/pedestrian-traffic-fatalities-utah-2022
Trains are simply less dangerous. In the entire country of Switzerland, 22 people died from train accidents in 2021(https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/planes-trains-and-automobiles_fatal-traffic-accidents-in-switzerland-at-record-low/43403656)
And in all of America, over 42,000 people died from car fatality in 2021. (https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/auto-accident/car-accident-deaths/)
If the average Utahn is compelled to use a car to go to work, which is the case for 95% of Utah, they are under great duress to be completely focused and responsible with a 2,000 lb potential death machine. The people who die this year could be your fiance, or your best friend's toddler, or your reckless teenage son. Most people don't set out on their commute to kill a mother of five or paralyze a college student from the neck down, but we are simply imperfect and bored drivers. Not everyone should be on the road, and not everyone wants to be on the road. Car deaths can be massively reduced if we give Utahns functional and walkable cities, with more transportation options. Give Utahns freedom to say no to the grave responsibility of a car.
3. The Car is insanely expensive.
Maybe we're so privileged, or perhaps so blinded, we don't seem to understand how much money we throw into our cars just to live our lives. We've accepted this financial burden because there literally isn't another way.
a. Monthly Car Payments (often with interest) b. Insurance c. Logistical Maintenance d. Cleaning Maintenance e.Parking or traffic tickets f. Driver's license test or renewal g. Parking h. If you live in suburbia, likely multiple vehicles j. And of course... the ever volatile gas prices.
Given the national average, Utahns likely spend (give or take) around 10,000 dollars a year on their motor vehicles. Around 5,000 dollars in gas, and 5,000 dollars in general maintenance, insurance, and payment. That's for only one car. I like to compare the need of a car to a boat. I want everyone to have the freedom to buy a boat, but I'd like every Utahn to have the choice to say, "I can live my whole life without a boat and I don't want to take on the financial or maintenance burden." Can you imagine if you suddenly couldn't survive in Utah without a boat? Our infrastructure forces nearly every Utahn to take on this heavy financial burden. Insurance won't cover your accident? Say goodbye to your savings. Gas prices go through the roof? No more new shoes for the kiddos. Your teenager got into a wreck? Say hello to your new monthly insurance bill. Only those who wish to take on the financial burden of a car, should be obliged to do so, but Utah has not given its citizens this freedom yet.
4. Traffic... need I say more.
Hate traffic? You can wait until they expand the freeways... again, and then oops, they're building another 2,000 houses near your area... back to the traffic again...round and around we go. Is it freedom to have to sit alone in rush hour traffic every morning and every night on your way back from work? Making a 40 minute commute sometimes transform into 1 hr 1/2 commute? What about your 30 minute commute turning into 2 hours after a highly trafficked football game? Or your 7 minute commute to the groccery store doubles because you hit every red light, and somehow everyone needs something at Smiths at the same time. With cities built for car declination, we free Utahns from traffic and save their precious time overall.
5. Parking...
Boy, is it annoying parking your car in a new place. You either have the expense of paying, or you're wandering around looking for free parking. You wasted time having to park 3 miles away, and you still had to walk. Sometimes it all goes wrong and you get a parking ticket, or your car got towed because you stayed a little too long. Are you going to burden a friend with your commute to and from the airport or pay to park your car there for 7 days?
6. Cars create absolutely hideous cities, highways and parking lots galore.
Cars take up space... a lot of space. What could be a pedestrian priority and scenic city with plenty of housing must turn into thousands of miles of asphalt, stoplights, gigantic flashy billboards, awful noise and parking.
A stereotypical American car infested city.
(1)
7. Cars make it difficult to know your neighborhood.
Most of civilization became communities because they were all working together, and seeing each other outside. We have no need to be outside, and if you have a garage, you may never see or know your neighborhood. We are isolated from each other.
8. Our lives are incredibly sedentary with our cars.
America is sitting their life away. We wake up, sit down to eat breakfast, sit down in our commute, sit at our desk job for 8 hours, sit back in our lonely car for through rush hour, go to the gym for an hour(if you're ambitious) sit down to eat dinner, and then finish your night with rest or a movie. With bad car infrastructure, people don't have to go outside to do anything beside recreational activity. Which frankly, especially in winter, is not compelling enough in daily activity. In fact, I could spend the entire day, and never step outside to walk around once. Humans are made to walk in functional spaces. Our addiction to cars are slowly killing us, making us sick or fat. Either we build cities that have built institutions that help us move or at least give us the easier choice, or we must be deliberately trying to exercise and put ourselves outside. It's exhausting, and most Americans aren't succeeding.
9. Every motorist is adding to air pollution
We deal with the guilt and health consequences of air pollution or the expense of getting an electric car, which still adds to traffic time to your commute... It's all pretty dismal.
10. Family trips are difficult.
Ever tried taking a sleeping baby out of a car seat? It's a nightmare. With the constant transferral of baby to car, and out of car to do normal activities, families become slaves to naptimes and their homes. This is very hard on families, particularly home-caring mothers. In walkable cities, you can stroll a sleeping baby without ever removing them in transit, and get on with your life. We as a society have forgotten that babies can sleep anywhere and mothers have never been more isolated in history. Seems more freeing to live in an infrastructure that doesn't need a car.
11. The forever chauffer
Want your children to be successful and go to college? Have swim lessons, and team soccer and dance lessons? Welcome to your new part time job. Driving your children literally everywhere until they are 16. In isolated suburbia where you must drive out of your neighborhood to function, it wastes everyone's time, a mother's sanity and certainly stunts the independence of children.
Are we very so free after all?
The average motorist who has not been introduced to the beautiful vision of a functioning mixed zone walkable and bikeable city is blinded because they've had no other options until now. It's not hopeless. With a Utah wide attitude shift, we can do amazing changes if we are open to mixed zoning and ridding ourselves of useless parking spaces. We can transform Utah.
Utahns should have the freedom to say, I don't want or need a car. I think the burden of the car is starting weigh on Utahns, and it's definitely weighing on me. I dread the thousands of hours of driving ahead of me for my children's extracurricular activities. There's a better way to live than this, and it starts with mixed zoning in city and suburban areas, removing thousands of parking lots, creating reliable and convenient public transportation, and making life so easy without a car, those highways only need two lanes, not 8. Yes, there's some freedom with the car, but there's more freedom away from it.
Citations
(1)https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-07/defining-the-worst-type-of-street-design
