According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, approximately one-third of the nation’s residents don’t have driver’s licenses. In her 2024 book “When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency,” disability advocate Anna Zivarts argues that not only is America’s car-centric infrastructure harmful to the climate, it also fails to meet the everyday needs of many Americans.
20% of Americans are children under the age of 18 and so don’t need to drive…
So the other 66% are driving.
That leaves only 14% of people who refuse to. I’d say that’s a pretty good reason to have a car-centric nation.
This isn’t Europe where everything is within walking distance of you, and it’s infeasible to do such a thing here in America.
Your childhood must’ve been very different from mine! I needed to get places as a kid, like school, friends’ houses, stores, parks, the library, and more.
@SwingingTheLamp @kitnaht In a functional community, kids can get to all those places by walking or biking. Sorry your parents raised you in sprawl hell instead of a real neighborhood.
Ah, but that’s the issue highlighted in the article: Most of the United States is not a functional community.
Seriously, people get so triggered and come in here saying the most ignorant shit. It’s actually worse than the vegan communities for how often it happens.
They still need a way to get around any transport would make that easier
And transport still needs what…think that through a little more…
The roads for mass transit are the same as they are for individual transit…and they aren’t specialized, they’re universal. A small car, bike, bus, or semi can all drive on the same road.
A train track can only be used by a train. Sidewalks can only be used by pedestrians and maybe bikers.
A road however – can be used by all shape and size of transport; including the transport that the last 14% need.
This doesn’t seem like a good-faith argument, because this is a pre-schooler’s take on transportation issues. Anybody with a passing familiarity with roads can see the holes in it.
Rails & trails. We have spent the last 50 years building “one more lane” to solve traffic & all it does is incentivize more cars. Roads don’t promote high density travel like a proper bike network in a city or a commuter rail network to connect suburbs together.
That’s nonsense. Nearly everyone under 18 needs transportation.
America isn’t Europe, but just like in Europe, most American trips are really short