Car Enthusiasts Should Hate Car Dependency. Here’s Why.
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
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I’ve loved cars since I was a kid. I’ve owned 60 cars in my life and currently own 9. How did I go from being an absolute car fanatic to someone that can’t stand car dependency? In this video, we delve deep into the issues surrounding our automobile-centric society:
• The endless hours lost to traffic congestion.
• The threats posed to our children.
• The alarming fatalities from distracted driving and flawed vehicle designs.
• The troubling reasons behind bigger cars and the higher risks they pose.
• The questionable decisions of traffic engineers and the infrastructure built for speed over safety.
• Unveiling how the auto industry actively promoted car dependency.
• The disturbing history of how low-income neighborhoods bore the brunt of freeway constructions.
• The alarming shift from pedestrian rights to vehicle dominance.
• How the car industry redefined 'crashes' as 'accidents'.
• How other nations are getting public transportation right.
• And importantly, the crucial role car enthusiasts can play in reshaping this narrative.
Join me in exploring how it's completely possible to adore cars but advocate for a balanced and safer transportation ecosystem. 🚗💔🚆🌍🚶♂️🚲
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Table of Contents:
0:00 - Why I Loved Cars!
1:35 - The Geometry of Cars
2:28 - Children and Cars
3:38 - The Death Toll
4:18 - Drivers Getting Worse?
5:23 - The Automaker Problem
7:11 - Bad Infrastructure
9:55 - Speed vs. Safety
13:06 - Shifting Blame
14:58 - Like Cars and Hate Car Dependency?
16:39 - Make Driving Fun Again
17:42 - Alternatives to Driving
18:50 - Support Better Infrastructure
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Music used in this episode:
• Selected tracks from the UA-cam music library
• Selected tracks by Kia Orion ( • Video )
• Selected tracks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Sources / further reading:
• Americans stuck in traffic: www.marketplace.org/2019/02/1...
• Child independence: www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
• US children causes of death:
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...
• 2021 traffic fatalities:
www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/...
• Worldwide traffic fatalities:
www.cdc.gov/injury/features/g...
• EU road deaths down:
cleantechnica.com/2021/12/11/...
• Large vehicles / CAFE:
www.thedrive.com/news/small-c...
• Large vehicles / fatalities:
academic.oup.com/restud/artic...
• Freeway development:
www.history.com/news/intersta...
• Speed limits:
dot.ca.gov/programs/safety-pr...
• Jaywalking:
www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873... - Авто та транспорт
What do you think? Is it possible to be a car enthusiast and also hate car dependency?
I find it quite funny, but yes, I actually have chats with my best friend about this topic. We all have to consider not just the risk of driving itself, but the extra cost that takes to have a car. Owning a car is expensive, time demanding, and sometimes, even stressfull, specially if you make the mistake of buying a "project car" for daily use, or an unreliable car, etc.
It should absolutely be a hobby/excess instead of a necessity imo
This is me exactly. I knew everything coming in this video, but hung on every second. I've owned multiple sports cars and have another on order, but man. I cannot stand driving. I hate it. I drive once a week or two and the new car will mostly be for track days. Otherwise gives me some damn trains!
Car dependency is absolutely anti-car enthusiast. The kind of suburban and urban driving car dependency it necessities is anti-car enthusiast. The best-selling cars in North America (the plethora of boring crossovers, SUVs, large trucks, and the few "affordable" compact sedans) are anti-car enthusiast. The traffic it creates is anti-car enthusiast. The driving environment created by single-use suburban neighborhoods, and stroady commercial corridors is anti-car enthusiast. With your specific interest in cars, it would be awesome to see you delve into and dismantle some of the claims that are rooted North American, car-dependent cultural groundings. One topic idea could be something like why there are better, more sensible cars than enormous SUVs that can be better for both your family and society at large. I grew up in a family that, while car-dependent, was totally fine having sedans and station wagons as family vehicles. We saved a ton of money, some CO2, and probably had more fun driving our relatively nimble Honda sedans and Volvo wagons over the SUVs that were proliferating in the late 90s and early 2000s. Some other ideas would be to talk about the details and journey of how life is going with your new more conscious attitude towards driving, and how replacing car trips, etc. is working out. You could also review more niche individual transportation alternatives such as scooters, ebikes, mini EVs, and contrast them with a more typical type of car. I could see you making really fun videos that communicate that these alternatives can be as much, or more fun than using traditional cars for everything.
Absolutely!
Thanks GM!
They killed trolley’s
Then they killed the buses
Make everybody envious of the Jones next door!
They have a 2023 GMC Yukon…I have to have an Escalade!
We’re screwed.
To me, the biggest problem with car dependency is that it forces people who don't give a damn about driving - to drive. And the phrase: "You're never gonna be good at it if you don't give a damn" really resonates with a lot of drivers today.
And it forces people who shouldn’t drive (the elderly, intoxicated, or sleep-deprived) to drive which creates many unsafe situations. Even if you want to drive most places, you shouldn’t have to drive to and from a bar.
This. If you look at cities that have great public transit and cycling networks, the percentage of people that decide not to drive to work is pretty significant. Most "normal" (non-car enthusiast) people don't actually like driving, it's just that it's the only realistic option in many cities in North America.
Came here to say exactly this. I'm ready for subscription-based autonomous cars for people who dont like to drive.
Right? And it forced people who frankly shouldn't be driving to operate massive motor vehicles. People with bad vision, bad reaction time, etc are forced into activities that require decent vision and quick reaction times. Somehow people are shocked when people die this way.
@@GMfwdSpence Yes! Why is this so difficult?
For some reason, airplane and ship crashes are approached as " how can we prevent this from happening again" whereas cars are never questioned, only the driver or victim.
twisted logic amirite
it's because ship captains and plane pilots are expected to be correct. they're highly trained professionals who have thousands upon tens of thousands of flying hours.
meanwhile the average person getting a license requires just "ok as long as you don't crash here's ur license"
@@jjt171 Also, its easier to make car crashes more survivable (for the drivers). Much harder to make a 40,000ft drop survivable.
Well, passive and active car safety has improved a lot but drivers are more and more distracted
@@jjt171With the average American age being 38 and driving 293 hours per year, the average driver will have somewhere roughly around 5,800 hours behind the wheel. Just some food for thought.
There's one aspect I want to add to this because I'm ashamed at how ignorant I used to be in this regard: Driving and Disability.
For context, in 2015 I became very ill suddenly and instead of the illness going away it kept getting more and more severe. In 2018 I was medically confirmed disabled due to my worsening heart and as a result I couldn't drive anymore. Before my disability I assumed, much like quite literally _everyone_ I knew, that disabled people could only realistically get around by car or by being driven somewhere. The idea of getting groceries or heading to a medical appointment seemed impossible for someone non-able-bodied and as a result I made the ignorant assumption that reducing car infrastructure would be horrific to some of the most vulnerable people in our population.
Instead, becoming disabled taught me how *HORRIBLE* it is to be disabled in a car-infested world. First off, I live alone due to a suppressed immune system so the very act of trying to get a ride is either impossibly expensive through a ridesharing service or I'd have to beg my friends to help me get to the store when they already have enough going on in their lives. Second, despite me living remarkably close to a grocery store for an American suburb, I have to cross a major road, 2 parking lots, and 2 backstreets before getting to the store which is exhausting as someone already weak and without a simple, flat path to walk on. Third, and this is the most important part, despite being less than half a mile away from the store and in slow-speed parking lots, I have been nearly hit SO many times I can't even count. I already can't move nearly as fast as my able-bodied counterparts but it's made even worse carrying heavy groceries back to my home since drivers _do not care_ about your safety at all.
Now the immediate question I get from people all the time is: "Well, how exactly would walkable streets help you at all? You still struggle to walk to the store so wouldn't it be better to have a personal driver or make public passes for free ridesharing?" The thing people seem to completely miss is the fact that _most disabled people can walk fine._ We *WANT* to walk more. We *WANT* to do low-impact exercise and experience the world around us. We *WANT* to be able to visit friends or go to bars or just have _fun_ in our lives just like you. The struggles I get from walking to the store aren't from the walking itself but the hyper-vigilancy I need to practice around drivers and the uneven, altitude-changing roadways that make going up and down a struggle. Had I just had a regular, flat path I could walk along without the worry of rushing across a street then not only would my time walking be cut dramatically but I'd actually be comfortable doing it. It's also saying nothing about how much it would help people confined to motorized wheelchairs that are rarely able to get around rough terrain. That's not even including the consideration of a mixed-use development where my store could literally be an elevator ride away and going to the store wouldn't be a calculation of risking life or death to feed myself.
The only reason I can say this with any amount of confidence is because I met a fellow disabled friend across the ocean in Denmark. While Denmark is certainly _far_ from a car-less utopia of walkability and freedom, Danish cities still blow our cities out of the water with being at least partially viable for the disabled. My friend has similar heart problems made even worse by being forced to walk with crutches. Yet, despite his clear worse health, he does FAR more walking than I ever could because his grocery store is in a mixed-use development and even if he needs to make a longer trip he can do so without ever considering that his life might end. When I told him about how badly I needed a car over here he reacted with complete _shock_ when he heard what I had to go through just to get food to eat. It's one of those things where I slowly realized that I've normalized something that's a complete injustice to any disabled person when we're some of the weakest in society yet we work *HARDER* than the average person just to survive the basic act of _walking._
And the worst part about this is that _I still love cars._ I love the feeling of fixing things and giving a symbolic middle finger to any overpriced shop for friends and family. I love tinkering and modifying cars and watching my dreams slowly come to fruition. I love seeing everyone's personal ride and listening to the stories of how each dent got there or the friends they've made along the way. I want to love all of these things but I now need to take a hard look back at everything I've loved and realize how much of it truly stems from horrible lobbying and marketing that _made_ me love cars at the expense of everyone else. Like I said before, I'm _ashamed_ it took me this long to wake up to just how bad it is to be outside of a car and how lucky I was before my illness to even be able to afford it or be around people who could. Falling into poverty and seeing the dark underbelly of something I once loved hurts so bad, but frankly I, and many others, NEED to force ourselves through it not just for my own survival but for everyone I've ignored (and even fought against...) throughout the years. My hope is that if I ever meet them again someday I can show my deepest regrets and just say sorry for implying that their *survival* came after my love for big things that go fast. I hope the first step to that is finding someone who reads this and realizes that things could be better for _all_ of us rather than a lucky few. Walkable cities are better for everyone, including drivers, and now I may die trying to prove it.
I remember traveling in southern Norway and seeing many physically disabled people around town. I wondered if there was some medical center nearby, until I realized the only reason I saw more disabled people than in the US is because they have the freedom of mobility there. I'm sorry to read about your experience. I'll keep fighting for your right to move here.
I have a chronic illness that makes living life much harder for me, so I can understand your frustration.
It pisses me off when people pretend to give a shit about those with disabilities, when they whine about attempts to make places less car centric. About 50% of people with a disability can't drive. So like, do the 50% that can't drive deserve to have literally no mobility and are to be locked inside their homes for the rest of their lives? Absolute fucking nonsense.
Stop fucking using people with disabilities as a reason to uphold car dependency.
Jeez, just thinking about this boils my blood and makes me want to type a 9000 word rant.
FUCK CARS.
As a European, I want to thank you for this comment! Doesn't matter how many times I argue that elderly, disabled people and children benefit massively from walkable and bikeable cities, car-dependent Americans just continue with ignorant arguments. I am so sorry about your situation, but I am also happy that you can shed some actual evidence of how much this would help your quality of life. I hope more people will realize this soon.
@@swederunner154 Honestly? I used to want to move so badly to have a better life, but then I realized I could help way more people and be the example that others need in their arguments over here. This stuff can be changed, other cities and regions in the US have proved that, and staying in the fight is gonna make that change rather than moving.
This is so important, thank you for sharing.
I was the teenager who bugged their parents to learn to drive a manuals. Killing a loved car in the grind of life was the first time I truly felt the hit of car dependency. Having to get a loan for a car I didn't like so I could get to work was the second hit. Being stuck in a job I hated cause I had to pay off a car loan was the third.
The American Dream (TM)
If I ever am making 6 figures or more, I'll be the only person at the office who shows up in a $500 shitbox. I'll park it right in front for everyone to see.
@@lordthicknipples-gt2oq these days, those shitbox are like < $5k lol
So you have a shitty job to pay for a car? So who the hell feeds you, clothes you and houses you? You still have to work to survive and most of us don't have jobs that we love. 😂😂😂😂
@@ricardomolina4605 what exactly was the point you were trying to make here?
less car dependency would actually make driving so much less stressful and fun. I want to chase trains in a car so much.
And less cars on highways would make racing safer. Add in strict driving requirements and high quality roads, and we would have an American Autobahn
@@Demopans5990FACTS, racers can go vroom at high speed rail speed; win win
@@Demopans5990 i wish more car people were like you guys honestly.
@@Demopans5990do you really believe your elected and unelected officials would not screw over such things if they had the excuse of "nobody needs a car"?
@@bongwatercrocodile315These chuckleheads are the automobile owner equivalent of a FUDD who thinks "You only need a double barrel shotgun, anything else is to crazy! I got mine so you don't need any more that what I got!"
People like them will be the d3ath of car ownership in this nation.
As a car nerd who bikes and uses public transport I always remember the quote
"The more cyclists there are on the roada means more space for us cars" Just because of that we should cherish every cyclist, yet everyone seems to hate bike lanes being built
Cars should be a luxury toys for us to take to the track on weekends or drive around for fun (max enjoyment), but not the only mean of transport for everyone, specially in big cities. It's almost criminal sitting for hours in traffic everyday. You loose time, health (stess) and money for no good reason
I am a cyclist and automobile enthusiast,I hate loudmouth cyclists,they demand abolition of cars,that's not going to happen.
I like quite cyclists,I am one of them.
@@pradhyudh for someone silent you seem to have an opinion you also wanted to voice, good for you! I just hope mega cities become more livable and most people don't need to sit 3-4 hours everyday in traffic jams to go to work and back home. I live in a 3 million habs city (13 millions if you take into account all the surrounding metro area as well) and it's silly we are still keeping the car as the main mean of transport when it's so space inefficient. City is investing in subways and dedicated bus lanes but pace has been glacial lately.
@@pradhyudh I don't consider myself a "cyclist", but sometimes I do ride to work.
I just want to get there without breathing in pollution or getting killed by a car.
If that makes me a "loud mouth" so be it.
Sitting around doing nothing will get nothing changed.
I noticed something the first time I visited London. People who drove seemed to be good at it. When a light turned green everyone looked like they had their foot to the floor. I wondered why it wasn't like that in the USA. Then it dawned on me... These people are choosing to drive. In the USA, people are forced to drive. Americans, how many people do you know who will freely admit they are bad drivers? The fact is that they have no choice.
And everyone agrees London is an awful place to drive in, so most drivers you see in London, are driving due to really having no other choice that day for their specific route and needs. They are NOT messing that up!
@@RedrallyI can vouch for that. I drive into central London when I really have to. Using Trains and public transport is so much easier and quicker. With a car you have to struggle to find a parking spot. And when you do you get price gouged. And don’t get me started with the traffic and careless cyclists and pedestrians. You really have to have your wits about you. The best time for me to leave is either 0500 or 0600 in the morning.
@@grimgoreironhide9985 Yes I would never drive in London, the tube or a bus or walking is my mode of transport
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 Majority of people who live in London can’t afford to maintain a car. Parking is too expensive and limited. Maybe 30 years ago it was manageable but now with so many people living in the city. Owning a car is useless. If you live on the outskirts where parking restrictions are non existent or lax then you really need a car.
I live in Georgia and everyday that I step out to ride the bus to work since I don't have a car anymore, I watch traffic as I walk and cross the street. It never amazes me to see how it flows after the light turns green. I'm assuming most Americans drive automatics and I only drove one type of car, and they were automatics, so I very much got used to easing off the brake when the light turned green and especially when I was in front. I sometimes try to see what people are doing as the light changes and some of them are on their phones or other distractions. I once was driving to work several years ago on 285 and there was this young female driving the speed limit in the far left lane while texting on her phone.
100% - I'm a car enthusiast, too. I much prefer walkable neighborhoods to suburbs. It's such a deep and rich topic. I would prefer to use my cars for occasional pleasure drives and long trips, but, I'm forced to use one to get to literally ANYTHING where I live in the suburbs. The sidewalks in my neighborhood end at a freaking state highway with very high heavy haul traffic. Add in the Bros-lifting-spacering-rolling-coal--brap-brap-GIANT-trucks culture here, and walking is incredibly dangerous, loud, and smelly. I freaking hate it.
Boy do I wish more car people understood this. I moved from Downtown Seattle and bought a house in Tacoma. Absolutely love having a garage but I miss not having to drive my Bullitt everywhere. Walked to get groceries and only drove on weekends when I wanted to.
Most people who bought car not even car enthusiasms they just buy cars because only transportation.
But why did you have to betray our boy CJ though?@@bigsmoke5814
Car dependency is a side effect a side effect of upgrading your living standards.
a) You can spend most of your income on a tiny apartment in the center town within walking distance of shops and a short bus ride to your job.
b) Buy a house in the suburbs for less money than renting an apartment. The trade off is you need a car to get everywhere and long commutes to work.
@@Novusod And then there's public transport centric suburb.
You guys just thinking apartement is a slum when there's housing that can be used for 2-4 family without being easily slum.
@@Novusodwait you can buy housing less than renting? Damn I wanna know where you live
I have a pet theory that this is one factor leading to so many anxious young adults. I was raised in a suburb that was quite isolated, with no safe way to get anywhere as a child under 16. Added to that, I had a Dateline Mom who was terrified of my abduction and thus I had to stay in view of the house, which meant I only had two blocks of freedom, with nothing to do but look at other houses.
Of course I dreamed of my first car and once I got it, I blazed around on the interstates and clovers and huge bridges, finally free from my prison.
But when I moved away to college, I started having panic attacks, even though I basically doing fine, okay grades, eventually graduated, etc. But I think it was the American Dream equivalent of being raised in a padded room with so little freedom and independence.
And then this infrastructure gets advertised and promoted as freedom. Literally 1984
I moved to Korea with my young family and it was shocking how shackled our children are in the states. If given the chance when we move back unfortunately it’s a issue of schooling tied to housing that makes it harder for families to live in denser walkable places. It’s really all bad.
Don’t forget to vote! That is our best tool!!!
You WILL trade in your sports car for an SUV
You WILL pay egregious gas prices
This WILL be the ONLY way you can get to places
Now repeat after me: "I AM FREE"
Another thing I feel car dependency has a big roll in, is the growing sense of loneliness and isolation. As a kid, and even more so as an adult. It's a chore to get in a car and go anywhere, driving in a car is lonely, and when you do get somewhere, the places are unwelcoming and ugly because of parking lots, big box stores, concrete, etc.
This is very true where I'm currently living. There's something a little extra lonely about the way modern suburbs are designed. Being home alone here is like loneliness on steroids. It's a feeling so strong you could cut it with a knife.
And needing a car bars kids from going places on their own because kids cannot get a license. A city that allows everyone to safely use a bike or their legs for transportation means that people of all ages can have independent mobility. Giving kids this feeling of independence is very important for them later in life
As a car enthusiast AND urban designer, I agree 100% with you!
That last point is worth emphasizing, the more transit pulls people off the road the more room there are for people like us who actually like to put it in gear.
I think the urbanism sphere dearly needs people like yourself. While many folks say they "don't hate cars", they aren't able to bridge the gap to car enthusiasts and often the message gets lost. Hearing this from someone who genuinely appreciates cars probably helps get the point across to most people who aren't already in the urbanist camp.
They arent able to bridge the gap because they dont actually mean it when they say they dont hate cars
@@bongwatercrocodile315 Poor argument, because you're assuming someone's unstated views. And even if that's true, it's not the point. What matters to urbanists is not the removal of cars, it's the creation of alternative transport options and people-centric spaces.
In this case, HelloRoad serves as an excellent ambassador because he can connect with other car enthusiasts about a shared hobby. He also brings in people who aren't enthusiasts, but still drive regularly, because he has a degree of authority on the subject of car ownership, use, and maintenance. Since most other urbanist youtubers aren't car people, they simply don't have that connection. It's not a function of their personal feelings towards cars.
This video basically perfectly sums up how I feel about cars. I like cars but I absolutely HATE car dependency for all the reasons mentioned. And unfortunately, like 95% of the US is horrible car-dependent areas! I have a hard time thinking about whether to stay and advocate for better urbanism or pack up and move somewhere with good urbanism and a higher quality of life when I graduate from college!
Please vote! That is our best tool to fix this. It will take a while, but voting is the best choice. Get these NIMBY’s out of office and vote for density and mixed land use.
Super educated video. Glad to hear more Americans, and CAR GUYS at that, talking about this! Our infrastructure is horrid.
And it's falling apart due to the constant demand to widen and add to the roads!
car guys laugh at me for bringing it up
I’d wish a better car infrastructure here in Germany, but I’d like better cycling infrastructure, too. I’m a bicycle guy owning four bicycles at the moment (MTB, Ranndoneur, Touring, City). Going to work running (10km each way) is good. Cycling is okayish, but I’d like better asphalt surface on the cycling paths. But going by car is horrible and the government isn’t willing to ease the traffic jams.
SAME IN CANADA, our infrastructure are also stupidly bad!
@@yvesgingras1475 Though at least you guys have decent transit around big cities. A friend and I were able to use the train and subway exclusively for a day trip in and out of Toronto
We desperately need more car enthusiasts to speak up about this.
Right on! My girlfriend and I moved to an area where she can bike to work and we now follow a simple rule. We ask ourselves "Can I do this without a car?" If the answer is yes, then we walk or bike.
Now we share a car and use it once a week or so. It saves us loads of money, makes us healthier, and road trips are fun again because we're not tired of sitting in traffic.
Look forward to hearing more about your experiences!
If you use your car so little, it may very well save you even more money to get rid of it completely and use a carshare for the few times you do need it.
I was a car nut for four decades. In the 90's went to several CART (Indycar) and IMSA races a year. I still have a car, a 20 year old Miata I bought new, but I mostly get around by bicycle now, in my 60's. My interest in how much power my car has (not that much on a Miata), has been replaced by my interest in how many watts I can do up that hill, and average for my commute.
I discovered this channel when it changed direction a few months ago. It's a great message!
Your interest went from cars and cart racing to "how many watts you can do uphill"? Seriously Dude. You need therapy...😂
I definitely think this channel is going in the right direction, a bit of interesting car content, and a bunch of "why car's shouldn't be the end all be all" content.
Lol, I’m in my 20s, own a miata older than myself, but also mostly bike. I still try to go to an Indycar race every year though!
@@janvanhoyk8375 Cars are a tool, they are a tool to get people and things from point A to point B. Tools kinda defeat their purpose when you use one tool for every job. Imagine building a dollhouse with a sledgehammer, or a skyscraper with hand tools. There are big tools for big jobs, and small tools for small jobs. When you use the big tool for the small job you have issues, and that is what cars are. A large tool that get used for everything.
I LOVE driving. And hate commuting. Really hope we get better at letting bikes and trains be a bigger part of our transportation network. If I could avoid grid lock traffic on an E-bike or a train to get around LA, I’d take that everytime.
This exact same realization has hit me hard over the past year or so. Visiting Japan really shows the stark contrast between what happens you build your cities to be walkable and have efficient public transit.
Lots of car enthusiasts in America (including myself) love Japanese car culture, but dont see that what makes that car culture possible is people driving because it's the most convenient and enjoyable way for them to get around, not because they're required to have a car.
I hope this video and others like it can help people see that being a car enthusiast and car dependency are divergent paths.
Because I love driving, I don't want to be on the road with thousands of other people who would rather be taking the train or biking if that was a viable option. Give people transit options!
having car enthusiasts like you not only on board with making these positive changes, but also aware that car dependency sucks for you guys too, might just be the straw that breaks car depependency's back... I probably won't stick in North America long enough to see what happens, but I'm glad people like you are out there trying to improve it
I am so with you on this. I was so much more into cars before moving to California which in so many places is so car dependent it just sucks the joy out of driving. You can take any fun or exciting activity and kill it by making it something you HAVE to do. Additionally, sharing crowded roads with countless other cars driven by people who just aren't paying attention or driving like maniacs' because they're desperate to be done with with their trip... its awful. I'm fortunate that in my little corner of California now I'm able to choose biking and some transit options and not only drive. This has helped to turn driving into a bit of a treat again, and has allowed me to own an impractical roadster for the past 15 years. Everything is so much better when we have choice, when transit is good enough to be a viable alternative to driving, when walking and biking are actually safe options!
Plus cars are so inneficient, most people drive them alone, one huge metal box for only one person ! Imagine if you invested all the money people pay in gas, road maintenance and the wasted economic potential of all this space, into light rail and fast bus lines !
Please vote! We have to vote in our local elections. Vote for density and transit (hint: vote democrat)!
I like to say “you’re not a real car enthusiast if you don’t hate car dependency” as an inflammatory statement to get my fellow car enthusiast to pay attention. I’m surprised I haven’t seen a video of someone talking about this within the car community. Thanks for spreading the good word 🙏🏻
This is one of THE best videos on this topic. Well done.
Designing our cities such that everyone needs a car is a failed experiment. It's not fast, it's not safe, it's not affordable, it's not sustainable. It's just the worst of everything.
Phenomenally thought-provoking video.
I think Americans just accept a lot of weird stuff like this, because so many of us don't travel to other nations frequently enough to realize just how much better life can be!
There's a lot here that I never really thought about before. That statistic with the planes crashing was SOBERING.
Thanks for taking swings like this with your videos, speaking from the heart, and enlightening us all.
Honestly, if you think other countries are that much better, why don't you move?
There’s some Americans who travel to places with walkable cities and great public transit, and yet come back home to their suburban tract housing with wide roads, giant big box stores with huge parking lots for miles, and don’t see anything wrong with their way of life despite using the public transit and walking/biking infrastructure in the place they just visited.
@@97nelsn I think when you're raised in an environment in which all of this nonsense is completely normalized and generally goes unquestioned, it can take more than just a trip or two for the lightbulb to turn on. Spending time actually living in a place that isn't car-dependent has a much bigger effect on American suburbanites than travel for tourism.
@@97nelsn Yeah we use public transit in the cities and see how it takes forever to get anywhere and busses and subways are filled with bums and muggers and thank God for our safe suburbs and cushy Chevy suburbans...🤷♂🇺🇸
You have to know, more Americans hold passports and traveled to other nations more than any other nationality in the world. It's a big country with the third most population, so your comment about not experiencing other countries' non-auto-centric transportation, so they don't want change is not true. Many people like experiencing alternative transportation, but it's so ingrained in our culture that a suburban single-family home is the ultimate "making it." It's similar why walkable tourist attractions in American cities are so popular, but people don't want to make the effort to change once they're back home even though making walkable urban space into an everyday thing is very beneficial to everyone.
Car guy here, and there’s a huge difference between “enjoyable driving” and commuting by car. I learned my lesson after driving in California. Not to mention, the roads become much more enjoyable in an area with competent public transport.
I am so unbelievably happy to hear this being spoken about by another car enthusiast! This is pretty much exactly how I feel. I just moved to LA from semi rural Virginia and the difference in infrastructure is unbelievable. The street designs and roads here are extremely terrible, having a stop sign at every single intersection? What is that about? It's so bad here that I pretty much never ride my motorcycle anymore. I used to love going out in an evening for a nice hour or two long ride on back country roads all alone, but I cant do that at all anymore, I'd have to sit in a minimum of an hour of traffic just to get to any kind of empty road, and then do it again to get back home! Oh and not to mention the fact that riding a bicycle here is basically a death wish, illegal to ride on the sidewalk and if you ride on the street you might as well just commit suicide!
I agree. When I lived in the city, I had bus and metro. I did not have to stress out whether my daily was road worthy. I saved alot of money. I rather have 0 dailies and multiple project cars that I can work on in my own time with the extra cash. Like a track or show car.
Yessss! I want to do some major mods, but I can’t have my daily on the jack or I’m just stuck at home.
100% agree on this. Grew up LOVING cars. For awhile I LOVED driving... but then I moved somewhere I didn't have to drive... and realized that when I could walk and bike places I was healthier, happer, and richer.
An exceptionally well made video! For the two of us, a lot of our perspective on urbanism and city design came from growing up in small towns and rural areas and then moving to bigger cities and seeing the problem of geometry in action. Something like Highway 401 in Toronto is just insane coming from a smaller town.
Yep. We live in Oshawa and have to cross T.O. to visit my wife's parents in Kitchener. I honestly wish she'd let me buy a 407 transponder because that stretch of 401 SUCKS. Wifey commuted from Oshawa to the west side of Pearson for over 21 years and could only do it by working odd split shifts to be outside of the major rush hour traffic.
Please everyone vote in your local elections! That is the best way to advocate for transit, and better land use.
My father remembers the 401 being built when he was a young man. He had moved down to Toronto from his hometown of Kearney to find work and ended up settling in the area. He has told me on several occasions that the 401 wasn't big enough to handle traffic volume even when it was first built! I have no problem believing him on that point.
This is the best anti-car-dependency intro I have seen, with none of the snide tone of the others, and made relatable to carbrains in the beginning. Will be showing this to a lot of people.
Agree 100% with these points! I started thinking about this topic a lot three years ago when I moved from a relatively walkable area in Kansas City MO to a very car-dependent area in the suburbs of Indianapolis. I hadn't really thought about this much before, since I grew up in a suburban environment in Metro Detroit very similar to where I live now, but after we moved here life just seemed that little bit more stressful, rushed, or worse in some subtle way that we couldn't quite put a finger on. It didn't take long to realize that, in my old neighborhood, my wife and I walked almost everywhere--the grocery store, church, the bar, several restaurants, several parks where our kids could play, and more. Now, every single thing that we do, especially with the kids, requires a trip in the car, and this was that elusive difference. We were perfectly content in our old home to drive 25-year-old vehicles because we only used them for the occasional drive out to her parents' house in the suburbs or road trip to visit family out of state, and so I became somewhat of car enthusiast and DIYer, learning quite a lot about car repair from UA-cam, Haynes Manuals, and talking to friends more knowledgeable than me. That's a little more difficult when the car is needed every day for every activity.
I really got on board with this topic earlier this year when my classic 1984 Chevy Caprice station wagon (no rust, ran great, and beautiful interior other than headliner) was rear-ended and totaled by a drunk going close to 100mph while I was driving down a 2-lane road at about 40. I was very fortunate to not have any injuries and that my wife and kids were not in the car when it happened. When I read the police report later on, I noticed that he told the police he was going to the gas station to buy cigarettes. This is the part that really got to me--how horrible is the environment in which we live, when a TRIP TO THE CORNER STORE, to buy something trivial like cigarettes, automatically means getting in a car and going for a drive! We ought to be able to walk for these types of errands and things, like people did decades ago. I still love the old cars but recognize that building a whole environment around cars makes things suck for everyone, including the people that are driving cars.
All that said, I think you missed the most important point, at least from a car enthusiast's perspective (although, for all I know, you could be planning to make a separate video about this)--a car-dependent environment is horrible FOR CARS. And it's not just because of the increased risk of an accident like the one I mentioned above. The type of driving where we're constantly starting up our vehicles, driving them in stop-and-go conditions for a few miles, parking and shutting off the vehicle when it hasn't even reached operating temperature, then repeating the process several more times each day puts so much more stress on so many components of the vehicle compared to highway driving. The overly frequent tight parking lot maneuvers wear out our steering racks, tie rods, tires, and so on. In northern climates, daily driving in the winter puts salt all over the bottom of the vehicle, causing it to rust. Gas mileage in that stop-and-go driving is abysmal, especially when it is all done with a cold engine. I'm sure there are many other ways that many short trips every day cause undue wear-and-tear on our vehicles. My wife currently drives a 1993 Chevy dustbuster van--not a vehicle known particularly for durability or longevity--with over 300K miles on it, and it still runs really well. I know this is only possible because the previous owner used it almost exclusively for long highway trips, and this awful suburban type of driving was minimal.
Keep up the good work! I also enjoyed your other two videos on this topic, and I hope you plan to make more.
It's not entirely accurate that large vehicles are safer for the occupants. Larger vehicles often have longer stopping distances, way worse handling characteristics, and worse visibility which means they're more likely to get into an accident. While it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, they're also slightly more likely to roll over in an accident too. It's also sometimes true that larger vehicles have fewer safety features for the same cost, so sometimes a larger car is just straight up more dangerous in an accident.
Solid points, thanks for sharing
@@HelloRoad Great video though. I've shared it around a bit.
I too am a car enthusiast that likes other modes (walking and PT for me, I'd ride if it were safer). I've got a DC2 (B18C2) and I barely drive it because there's nowhere nice to take it that isn't jammed with traffic most of the time.
4:08 "11 fully loaded jets..." oh per year, phew slightly better than i thought actually "...every **DAY** " oh... yep thats insane
😰
As a car guy who commutes 30-40 minutes each way per day by car here in Australia, I'm with you 100%. We have trains and buses, but from my house to my job, public transport would take hours.
Our urban sprawl is very North American, and I'm sick of sharing the road with hundreds of people who don't give a shit about driving and using the highways properly.
I'm in the process of working toward moving to a walkable suburb we have here, downsizing to a smaller house, and getting a job at the port there so that I can bike to work.
Not having to commute by car would save me a ton of time, money and would be much healthier.
Thanks! I'm glad that I caught you just upload this video.
Thank you for speaking the truth.
It sounds counter-intuitive that even car enthusiasts hate driving and hate car dependency.
Not Just Bikes Or Strong Towns should have you on their channels
Also gotta consider just how energy inefficient cars are. Doesn't matter if a car is electric or fossil fuel, you're still moving a 2+ tonne object for the end purpose of transporting max 300lbs on average (most people aren't movers/ handyman). Compare that to e-bikes that are like 40lbs to move a 150lbs person and you can see how energy wasteful it is from the transport standpoint not even considering the production side of things
It is sooo refreshing to see this story told by a car-lover. If only more people would understand this, the world would be a better place, including for the car-lovers! Nice video
The sad reality is that there are just too many people in North America who HAVE to drive and don’t WANT to drive. Thus, they see it as a chore and don’t care. All car enthusiasts should also be against car dependency. Less sh*tty drivers on the road 😊
Great video Ethan!
💯 I have a ‘02 bought brand new WRX with 74k miles today that I LOVE to go canyon carving in, and live in a totally walkable neighborhood. 3-5 minutes to shopping, restaurants and great pubs, the same to a bus line going uptown/downtown every 12 minutes, 30 minute walk to the baseball game/concert downtown and other core neighborhoods or a 10 minute bike ride. I am actually able to choose to wait out these crazy gas prices in CA today for weeks before I need to fill up.
Car dependent people would NEVER consider my house with no driveway and tiny garage that won’t hold a car, and yet, this historic cottage with a large terraced garden (instead of a long driveway and large garage) is worth $2M expressly because of its location in a supremely walkable core community (we bought 27 years ago for $179k, before this neighborhood was “discovered”). Having experienced this lifestyle, I would never live any other way.
Another thing that we over look is the cost of homes in walkable areas. I rented a room in a walkable area. I could not afford that house. When I did buy a house it was far from the city center where there are not sidewalks to get to the store. Walkable areas the homes have better value than non-walkable areas.
Visited Europe for the first time this year for two weeks, and came back to the US sorely missing the trains. I can only imagine how great it would be to get between cities by high-speed trains. Maybe someday! Great video, quality is amazing! Needs a couple million more views.
For what it's worth, the northeast has pretty good rail connections between DC and Boston. I lived there car-free for a decade and taking the train to other cities was no big thing. No surprise, I guess, since those cities all existed before the car. It's not the best system in the world, but it's good enough and you can definitely make it work.
America has one real city - NYC. Rest of the country is a lost cause.
Not only are drivers distracted and getting worse, I feel that ever since the pandemic a large portion of the driving population has become less patient. I can gaurantee that every intersection I walkthrough, every signal movement has 2-3 red light runners well after the light has changed.
You make some excellent points! I love driving with my manual e90 BMW 325i, but as I have become older my view has shifted greatly (pun intended). Though I still enjoy a spirited drive here and there, I have been trying to decrease my driving by walking to and from places with a 3 mile radius of my residence. Not only is it better on my wallet (premium gas is not the cheapest fuel in the world), but I am able to get some cardio in. I have also read an ethnography titled "Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives" by Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez that covers a lot of the points you made with a little more historical context. I would definitely recommend reading it if you want to learn more about car dependence in the United States of America.
My parents moved to a walkable neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto. Then they got a brand new Audi S5. It's so awesome being able to walk to get groceries, coffee, or take the subway, and then go for a nice joyride in the evening. Cars are awesome when driving is an option. Being forced to drive everywhere isn't.
A point a lot of people seem to miss when talking about this is specifically how cars being mandatory has made cars boring. If it has to do everything, haul the little shitlings to school, get your groceries, move a couch, etc etc etc, it's going to end up a boring car.
If you can only afford one like most people, you're buying some economy car or worse and even more likely year over year a crossover. A lot of manufacturers are getting rid of their small cars in favor of crossovers now.
You know why your preference is those fun quirky cars from the 80s and 90s? Why you're stuck buying old cars if you're an enthusiast? Because they don't make them anymore. They won't sell. There is no modern equivalent because it can't be everything all in one.
I don't remember where I heard this but it stuck with me: "Lately I've come to realize that cars as a hobby are fantastic but as a method of transportation they are probably one of the worst of the bunch." And man, I find myself agreeing with that sentiment more and more.
Cars as a hobby will be completely reserved for the rich if they are no longer viewed as for transportation.
@@allurared9029 yup, it's exactly what happened with recreational piston aviation. Ask me how I know (pro pilot, aviation enthusiast, struggling to keep an economic grip on private aircraft ownership )
This is definitely one of the best crash course explainer video on why car dependency is bad and how it came about.
Casual car fan here. Yeah, it sucks that our infrastructure is made under the mask of “American Dream” to benefit the auto industry. They’ve been sleeping on increasing number of car-related deaths, yet they have the audacity to blame the victims.
As a casual enjoyer of driving, I also hate the fact that there are inconsiderate drivers out there who can crash into our precious cars. If our infrastructure was built in favor of reliable public transportation, we wouldn’t worry so much about people crashing into our precious cars.
I'm both happy that people are starting to get the message, and angry it took this long...
I live north of Toronto. You only have to drive across the 401 in rush hour once to realize that something is very wrong with the modern commute... Yet people do it again and again, day after day.
In a reasonable world, no one would put up with it.
Your videos are a welcome addition to the UA-cam urbanism community since most of those channels are inherent car haters. You represent a different viewpoint for those of us who love cars but hate car dependency.
I’m not a car hater, but I am not for car dependency. I don’t mind driving country roads or in smaller cities but in major cities. The traffic stresses me too much. I’d rather have choices such as in some cities there is the best to get around, streetcar , bus, walking, bicycle etc
Sad to see criticism of car dependency so often interpreted as car hating. It’s like the various equality movements being misinterpreted as anti-male or anti-white.
@@TukaihaHithlecfunny you bring that up since both of those have large chunks where they only pay lip service to the other side while in action being hostile, just like enviromentalists and urbanists
It does seem like that, but most that I found just profoundly hate how dependent we are on them and how everything else was destroyed to serve cars. I have yet to find one of them that doesn't think the car is a great invention and normal sized cars (Europe/Japan, not US sized) definitely have a place in daily life.
Used to be a teenager who wanted a fast car and loathe cyclists. Grown up and chose a practical option (a wagon), because I see how much hassle it is to bind myself to fantasy car culture and dependency. Owning a bicycle and maintaining all by myself made me realize there are probably a lot of things going behind maintenance when I send my car to shops. Starting to believe cars should be for occasional weekend travel for those who live in cities.
Living in Germany made me really appreciate good public transit. I could hop on a bullet train and sit in a comfy leather chair and go 200 mph then take a trolley to where I want to go. Lengthwise, I could drive on the autobahn and go as fast as my car is capable of going. America should go towards that way, great public transit and enabling great limitless super highways.
You've always been one of my go-to car-centric creators on UA-cam, but this type of awareness from you and the likes of The Smoking Tire is so refreshing.
I'm a big-time car enthusiast but I studied city planning and civil engineering in school because car usage being the only way to get around is simply not healthy for our communities in the short, medium, and long term. I love cars, but prioritizing marginalized roadway users and offering options to get around isn't a luxury, it's a must.
Great video!
A couple months ago, I drove halfway across the country to visit family for a few days. There were exactly two scenarios in which I enjoyed the drive:
1. When there were long stretches of barely-used interstate highways, where the only other vehicles on the road were commercial truck drivers, and I could simply listen to my Spotify playlist while on cruise control and occasionally changing lanes
2. When I drove on the winding, hilly two-lane highway leading to and from my family's rural town, again with few other vehicles in either direction, and I could enjoy hitting 55 MPH at the crest of a big hill or deccelerating just enough to handle a big curve in the road
Other than that, it absolutely sucked, especially when I drove through a major city in rush hour. And I had spent the past two or three months jumping through hoops to get all my car's paperwork and stickers up to date and fixing it enough that I felt comfortable driving it for 9 hours.
In other words, I would enjoy driving a lot more if it wasn't mandatory for nearly everybody to do it.
I can't think of anything more different than, as AA would say "your favorite winding road" and being stuck in traffic on a freeway. Why some folks think that someone can't enjoy one, while trying to eliminate the other baffles me.
Because you will be priced and regulated out of your hobby. Cars as a hobby for the commoner can only survive if lots of other people are using them for utility. Look at horseback riding for example. It became a hobby because people stopped using them for utility, and now you are highly restricted on when and where you get to enjoy it, and unless you want to pay for a guided horseback ride once in a while you will spend tens of thousands of dollars annually and move to the county if you want to hop on and ride one whenever you want. Good luck finding and affording fuel, fluids, and parts for your car if the majority of people ditch cars. It will be a rich mans hobby.
@@allurared9029 If I recall correctly in Europe and Eastern Asia the cost of owning and maintaining a car seems to not be affected much by the proliferation of public transport infrastructure and its usage, and the thriving car culture of Japan exemplifies this
So here in Spain there are severe fines to those who use a phone in a car without a hands-free device, and even touching a phone is kind of forbidden. We got a point based license (you got 12 points which will be deducted if you are caught doing something wrong), and using a phone or any screen based device gets you a 6 points sanction.
Dude… this is awesome. Glad to see a fellow enthusiast who recognizes this and does something about it.
Coming from Central California, I literally took the long way around the San Bernadino mountains to avoid traffic on the grapevine to get home. I love driving (a fun car), but i hate being in traffic. So yes it's possible. Great video.
I live in South Philly, my neighborhood is EXTREMELY walkable. For most of the time I've lived here, I've gotten to work by transit, bike, or just walking, and I MISS being able to do that for so many, many, many reasons (the cost, the convenience, the lack of stress,...) and the one I always bring up around car enthusiasts is being able to work on my car and not have to worry about the timing. I can wait for parts, wait for a friend to have time to help, wait for someone to be able to let me borrow their garage, etc.
Also, side note, grocery shopping on foot is super easy (even if you have a large family or are elderly) and much more enjoyable. Especially when your walk involves passing by other shops that you may or may not pop into. I also find that making more frequent trips to the grocery store where I buy less, means I'm not buying a bunch of produce that I just throw out later on.
It's not care dependency; it's car enslavement. I have to pay a very high price to live close to where I work, so that I can bike to work. This compromise DOES make driving more enjoyable, because I'm not driving during peak hour traffic jams! America needs to look to other countries to learn how to free us from car enslavement.
if society isnt really car dependent, automakers can theoretically make more diverse enthusiast cars instead of more appliance minded cars. Like cars in domestic japanese markets are pretty diverse. From 600cc to big v8.
No, automakers will go out of business and independant small timers wont be able to make any cars legally because of the amount of regulations on the industry. You will be completely priced out of owning a car as the production of fuel, parts, and regular maintenance items significantly drops off making them expensive and hard to get. People point to europes car scene but the only reason they get to enjoy their hobby at an inflated price is by importing things from countries where cars are abundant. You cannot afford cars if cars become a luxury hobby instead of transportation.
@@allurared9029 This is not true Germany the country where the car was invented has a major car industry so Europe isn't dependent on imports. At the same time Germany is not car dependent and has great public transport.
@@futurerails8421 Germany has an absolutely tiny population and size compared to the US, so those systems are far easier to create and maintain. Those European countries don't bother to spend much on their militaries because they know the US will go fight their wars for them. So they have a lot more play money for public programs. Meanwhile we are 30 trillion in debt and there are an estimated quadrillion derivatives floating around... Cant last forever. Im not saying the US economy is a good idea at all, or that europes economy and governments are good at all. Just that its completely misleading when people try to apply what works in a small european country to the USA.
@@allurared9029 Most german transit systems aren't newly created, many were at least partially kept and this includes restoration after major damage in WW2.
The US had such transit systems as well but they decided willingly to rip many tramways out and sell many rail lines to freight companies.
The GDR kept even more tram systems than Western Germany despite beeing much poorer and spending much more on millitary.
the siliest thing about speed inducing roads and hate for any sort of traffic calmers, is that in cities it really doesn't matter how fast you go - most time is spent on intersections anyway
Thank you for being one of the few car enthusiasts who actually gets it.
I've been a lifelong racing fan; literally my first memory is at the race track, and a passion for racing has guided most of my life decisions since. North American infrastructure and zoning regulations are still asinine. I love driving, but I hate that I *have* to.
So happy to see we are not alone as car enthusiasts that hate being forced to drive 🙌
Ethan, This thoughtful presentation was well worth the wait. One factor you did not spend much time discussing was how ludicrously OVER-powered cars are today. No wonder the death rate is going up when many ordinary commuter cars sold today are faster than 98% of classic muscle cars. Furthermore, how can people who did their driver training in a Corolla or Elantra be 'qualified' to drive a car with 300, 400, 500 or more horsepower? A license to fly a single engine Cessna does not legally permit you to fly a jet. Why do we even allow cars on public roadways that can go 2 or 3 times the legal speed limit? When it comes to road safety, there is clearly a crisis of political leadership across the USA and Canada.
Yes I'd love to cover this a bit more in a future vid. The Kia EV6 that I'm testing now goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. And it's not even the "quick" one. That does it in under 4. We're now trusting supercar levels of power and speed under the right foot of ordinary soccer dads. It's going to cause people to take risks that they wouldn't ordinarily take
@@HelloRoad 0-60 in under 10 seconds used to be a marketing boast in car ads. Now there are just a tiny handful of passenger cars that are slower.
There's another factor that can cause car dependancy that I have to deal with: geography. There's a mountain that sits between my house and my job, which is also a nature preserve. There is a highway that skirts around the northern edge of the preserve, which is my only direct route to work. It is completely impassable by bus or trolley due to how steep it is. So, transit routes have to go around the south edge of the mountain, which would take my travel time to and from work from 30-50 minutes to FOUR HOURS. I literally would not have time for cooking, chores, or family interaction if I didn't drive to work. It is frustrating, but since nobody is going to drill a tunnel through a nature preserve, I have no option but to drive.
As an enthusiast who likes working on my own car, I would be much more likely to tackle multi-day projects or take more risks of accidently breaking something if my car was not my sole means of transportation. Even when I lived in a walkable town with public transit options, getting to work without a car was still a pain.
I absolutely can’t agree more! I have to drive for my work, but am constantly dismayed by the amount of BS around car ownership. Additionally, one of my best friends was killed this year in a bike/car collision. Things simply need to change in the US.
I really appreciate this coming from a car enthusiast channel. I love cars and like to drive but absolutely hate my current hour and a half commute because the bus options are more than double the time. My old job near where I lived in west LA I could commute safely by bike or bus for a few years it completely changed my perspective. Its a social/govt failure when people have no choice but to drive in urban & suburban areas and forced to pay so many of the expenses of owning a car. Also bring back trains - anyone who says it can’t be done again in the US has been inhaling too much exhaust 🚂 🚂
I deeply agree.
At this point we've screwed ourselves so badly that turning a car dependent city into one that is multi-modal is extremely costly.
Sidewalks on streets that never had them (with storm ditched) cost ~1 million dollars per side per mile minimum and it will be more like 2-3 million per side-mile after resolving storm water issues... that's for a 4ft/5ft sidewalk on one side of the road! (I know I ran the numbers for my community... as I work for my local Public Works Engineering Department...)
Bike lanes can be useful only if they are buffered, and yes, we've made mistakes by putting them on high speed corridors in the name of politicizing that we are being multimodal.
Like you've mentioned, cities are broke (mine is...) we can't afford to drop 2-3 million on sidewalks when we have to keep paving roads, repairing/replacing vulnerable storm/sanitary and water infrastructure that is at the end of its service life.
What I'm saying is funding is scarce now compared to the 1960s when the Fed covered 90% the cost of the highways, and there are bigger fires to put out. Most of which you don't get to see. Roads are something that everyone experiences; you don't know about a failing storm culvert until you and your neighbors backyards flood. That's a slightly larger fire to put out first. Except these fires are everywhere! So after you factor those project costs and O&M you're left with a very small budget for traffic projects that could do actual good.
Politics sucks; engineering-politics is a nightmare because what's right can be wrong (perception is key not reality...) but what I've realized is you have to play the game with the politicians. And yes, it's a game... Be persistent and vocal. Stuff will get done albeit very slowly.
I really appreciate this topic being approched by a car enthusist. Hopefully it will get more peopel to realize things need to change in the US.
Having lived in Europe three times, one big city, one small town and one tiny town in a tiny country, I have alway been all in for a combination of useful public transportation, walkable neighborhoods, etc. I greatly enjoyed walking to the series of baker, butcher , grocery store then stopping in for a pint at the the local corner bar before walking home. This was in a 1M+ city inside the ring road (made from the old town wall).
Here is a bit of the problem now. We have big-boxed everything as well as created dispersed "Metro Areas". Even in the relatively old-school neighborhood I lived in for 8 years where ar 40 I was the youngest resident not born in the neighborhood, of those four establishments listed, only the baker and the bar still were within walking distance...and the baker closed the next year (because they were terrible). The supermarket was 4 miles away from that enclave of old Polish and Ukrainians but it was still easier even for the locals because without the trifecta of shops in walking distance, you don't walk to any of them.
Like air conditioning and TV, big box retailers have significantly contributed to the dissolution of neighborhoods. They likely won't return which in conjunction with the inertia of the car dependancy, gives me little hope your dream can be a reality.
And to be clear, I own 4 24 Hours of Lemons cars, two daily driver cars, a tow rig, and 5 motorcycles. I would shed both DD in a heartbeat and do my rare things that require a car with the tow rig (taking 2 of my dogs to the vet...other one rides in the sidecar) but the race cars, tow rig and at least three of the motorcycles would stay. I would have to have public transportation 16 miles to work and back arriving at 6 AM and that will literally never happen. I won't give up my 3 acre semi-rural property.
I'm often amazed at how hostile car enthusiasts are to any other forms of transport, and I think this attitude is the product of literally decades of auto journos pitching "us vs. them" as being a normal, if not righteous attitude. For somebody who owns three cars, three bicycles, and formerly owned all manner of scooters, mopeds, and motorbikes, I just find this bizarre fabricated hatred of other vehicles totally baffling. But of course, it's another thing that's a product of the automotive industry.
An aside, did anybody else notice how at about the same time as the 2008 economic downturn, almost every state in the union revised their moped laws to make it more difficult to buy and ride small mopeds/scooters right when people were most in need of a less expensive alternative to a car? Yeah. That's pretty f'n weird huh.
I love this video! As someone who currently owns 7 cars and who has owned over 40 in my lifetime, I can relate. Also, as someone who lives in Los Angeles and witnesses car dependency at its finest, I couldn't agree more. Bravo!
I love cars, but prefer to take the train in areas of LA where it made sense. When I had to go visit clients in certain parts of LA, what I did was drive to my nearby Metro station and take the train and/or bus (or both) to get to my destination. I actually found that more enjoyable because I got to go different places and it felt like a different adventure each time, and it was stress free not to have to pay for expensive parking and sit in traffic.
Its always felt so awkward being someone that endlessly complains about their awful commute on Toronto's Highway 401 every day, yet I'll come home and spend hours on my hobby: sim racing. Driving is fun. Commuting by car is not. Car dependency and decades of underinvestment in public transportation has made many North American cities a nightmare to get around. Excellent video.
I love cars. Always have.
And I always have loved driving my cars. Still do.
BUT I am nothing but happy, I don't have to commute by car. I can easily reach my office by public transport and by bicycle.
So I take my cars on great road trips, I drive them on great mountain roads to go to amazing places. For me, that's what they're for.
Every now and then I end up in rush hours on business trips. And then I get reminded, how awful, truly terrible all this is.
Honestly I feel pity for everyone who has to commute by car.
Most people in the US don't have any options.
But I live in a big european city. And here commuting by car is a matter of personal choices. I don't get, why so many of my colleagues come to work by car. It's crazy.
Young people move to areas without any infrastructure more and more. And they don't even realize how they loose so many options and possibilities.
Sorry, but do you really need a garden? You don't know s..t about gardening. And if you do, do you need a garden more then let's say supermarkets, doctors and schools for your kids in walking distance?
Don't fall for the oldfashioned suburban lifestyle. It might not be yours.
I used to be a car enthusiast until car dependency ruined it for me. I had a Nissan Skyline that I ran into the ground because I had to drive it all the time on shitty streets.
I think cars should be like motorcycles, something almost only enthusiasts use on Nice weekends for the fun of it
That's a great analogy
No I like driving everywhere and the speed and freedom of it. Havent been on a bus in a decade and havent rode my bike or walked to work or stores. Never will.
@@allurared9029 Are you being sarcastic? I actually can't tell
@@QuebecGamer20 No. Im never going to live in a city and theres no way im biking a half hour at 7am to get to work or planning my whole day around catching busses. Cars are freedom, especially if you have one old enough that you can make and replace most of the parts by yourself.
@@allurared9029 That's fine, cars are a nice way to get around, and I also really vintage ones. But they are awful as a large scale solution, and not everyone likes working on them. They should be for people who want to, but most people really do prefer having alternatives.
Excellent video. I'm originally from Europe, a car enthusiast (love fast German cars) and have lived in the USA for over 20 years now. The car dependency here is utterly stupid. I used to drive everywhere when I first came here, because that's what I had to do. I now live in a mixed use walkable neighborhood and don't drive on most days. I've given up on commuting about 10 years ago and work from home now and most of what I need on a daily basis is only a 10-15 minute walk from my place and the train station is also only a 15 minute walk and I can easily get downtown, to the airports etc. by train. Had a lunch appointment today in an area that isn't great for parking, so I took the train. Technically Google Maps said the car trip would take less than half of the time, but I didn't care. So much easier to not have to worry about finding parking.
I've had conversations about this on car forums and for the most part I get unpleasant responses from others. The supposed freedom that cars give is so engrained and every attempt at showing alternatives is even called socialism. Somebody likened walkable neighborhoods to Marxism recently as they think trying to get us out of cars is the government's attempt to stop people from moving around. I have so much more freedom now, because I can choose not to drive if it's during a time when I would just be stuck in traffic for example. If the car is your only way to get around, you don't really have freedom. That's codependency and not freedom. I take my fast German performance car out for a fun drive or a road trip, but being stuck in traffic trying to get somewhere is not fun.
Rural Americans are extremely against the anti car stuff because the last thing we need is for cars to be seen purely as toys like you see them rather than transportation. Costs will go through the roof for fuel and parts and regulations on vehicles will get even tighter. So many of us will be forced into cities unless we: Pay out the ass for the costs, create our own vehicles that run on alternate fuels and DIY parts and risk getting in trouble with the law, or wait forever to take the bus or walk/bike to work that is 20 minutes or more away. So we do feel like theres a threat to our way of life because of all this propaganda against cars.
I'm a car collector and I fully support this message.
It's important to tell driving from commuting. Driving is a hobby activity, commuting is a chore
I’m an American who now lives in Amsterdam and I can attest to the fact that you can love cars and hate car dependency. I live in the city and commute using my bicycle. I love not having to deal with rush hour traffic. When I drive, it’s because I WANT to not because I have to. And that usually means I’m not used to dealing with traffic much anymore, which is great if you’re an enthusiast and LOVE to actually DRIVE.
This is really well put together. We farm just outside of Toronto and have had to deal with more and more traffic as cities have sprawled. Car dependancy goes hand in hand with sprawl and our insane rate of farmland loss. It's crazy we force people to buy into this system, by building with such low density. Our historic farm towns had it figured out. Mix of housing, denser urban core with amenities and all walkable, and many connected by rail.
Now the old rail beds have been turned into ATV and snowmobile tracks.
@rightlanehog3151 in my mind it would be nice to see a few of the most important routes returned to rail service. My understanding is the rail beds went from being owned by rail companies to mostly being owned by municipalities, so it is not as far fetched as it sounds? (Or maybe it is?!)
Yeah, even here in the Netherlands I grew up liking cars, not loving them, but definitely under the impression that I HAD to get a driver's license and get a car at 18-19. While I did get a license, I never bought a car. I did look at a lot, searched for one multiple times, but they're just soooo expensive. Especially insurance and projected maintenance.
And...I didn't actually need it anyways. I have a bicycle and a bus that can get me where it need to be 99% of the time and they're not that expensive at all. I never thought about that though, the only reason I didn't get a var was because I'd have to work for atleast a day a week just to pay for it with minimum wage, while also studying at uni.
Your city planner / urban planner would love to design around people over cars. But they don't get to make that decision. That's up to the voters. It's up to you to attend city meetings and email your representatives and tell them you want more walkability. And that you're okay with slower car speeds, narrow car lanes, more bike lanes, and more bus stops.
Your planners do their best just to keep you safe in a car because that's all they're allowed to do. And even that is only to a certain extent. It's up to residents to make their voices heard on this subject.
Thank you so much putting out this video. Also a car/motorcycle enthusiast who hates car dependency.
I grew up loving cars; but as I've aged the traffic has gotten worse. I literally just sold my last car (2021 wrx sti) and moved to NYC to use the train. Car dependency sucks and while I still love cars; I just can't do it anymore.
Best thing about expanding other transport options, you might get rid of a lot of people who shouldn't have licenses
yup. in the USA I would probably be able to get a drivers license. I will need one to survive in most of the USA. while here in the Netherlands I'm considered to blind to drive. it sucks that it is that way but I fully agree with the Netherlands. I shouldn't be operating a car in traffic.
even though I cant drive I am very interested in car technology and racing. I do a lot of karting and have driven a lot of vehicles for fun off the main roads or at quiet industrial estates. I am very well capable of keeping control of a vehicle but I cant control my environment.
I feel safer on a racetrack at high speeds than on the road with low speeds. at least on a racetrack everyone is going the same direction at roughly the same speeds.
I really wish I lived in a bike friendly city.
Your best video,
and I write that as an antique car collector. If only public space could be as well engineered as this video...
Glad to see you back!
Love this video! Really like the just straight up honesty about what a car only place does to us. I do feel like the structure will just attract more infrastructure nerds tho, like me 👋🏼. Perhaps focusing on the fun of cars without all the people that don't find it fun, would be a viewpoint the infra nerds haven't considered? or at least having a hard time contextualizing - Like I have.
I do really want to learn what _your_ view is on cars and what's cool about them, the rest I already know.
btw, thank you for the sources! So great to see :3
As a car afficionado, you should be the most hardcore public transit and train infrastructure supporter, as passionate as they come.
Because:
a) The fewer people drive, the more space there is left for you on the streets, the faster, safer and more convenient your rides get. Parking also significantly improves, because you spend less time looking for it and less time with crossing the entirety of a monstrous mall parking lot by foot.
b) When fewer people drive, the infrastructure remains intact longer, being beneficial to public budgets as well.
c) Better train infrastructure, such as elevated crossings, reduces the amount of deadly crashes with cars.
d) The environmental impact of cars becomes less drastic, so that authorities don't see as much need for regulations and taxes to disincentivize driving.
e) If god forbid you're getting ill or get inflicted with an impairment that prevents you from driving, you can maintain an independent life without the need of having someone to drive you around for the most mundane of daily necessities, such as grocery shopping. The risk of you getting hurt so badly that you cannot drive anymore is real, by the way. It's good to have a plan b.
I grew up in the countryside in Germany and didn't even know what public transit was or how to use it. Literally with anything I did out of town, I required my parents to drive me around, or later when I started going to parties, I relied on people giving me a ride back home, which was a chore and often super-dangerous, because young men after visiting a party are driving terribly. Everyone knows that. A public transit option would have been safer at any given time. Even if every single recorded violent crime in Germany was committed in either a train, a bus or a station, public transit would still statistically beat cars when it comes to rider safety.
Now I live close to a medium-sized city (population 600k) with a metro, regional commuter trains, buses etc. I moved here with a car, but started leaving it at home for quite a while now and it feels very liberating to not be stuck in a traffic jam every single day.
Thank you for speaking up on this. I have been sucked into the "car-dependency" debacle since 2021 when a coworker of mine showed me Not Just Bike's UA-cam Channel. It honestly has added to my depression how bad our infrastructure is. I live in Texas, and our state ranks among the worst on pedestrian friendly, walkability, etc. I genuinely hope that we can fix this problem across the country. I would love to not drive my car everywhere.
Gas costs, upkeep costs, it's too much. Driving is also so dangerous, I;ve come to hate it with the exception of road trips. Those are fine.
Looking forward to more videos from you
I would like the add something to the list of things wrong with cars. You mentioned how the average American spends about 9 days a year sitting in a car, and I assume you mean 9 x 24 = 216 hours spent in a vehicle. That means we are effectively wasting 216 hours a year just driving around. You already mentioned the high stress causes by spending so much time in traffic, but another issue is that all that time is spent doing basically nothing. If those hours were spent on a train or bus, you could actually do stuff, like schoolwork or a project. A kid on the bus gets 30 extra minutes of homework done compared to a kid driving a car, and same with a parent. That extra time translates into more productive people and more time in the house, improving overall family relationships and health.
This is a great point!
The free market provides. Crossovers, which are sedans and hatchbacks on stilts for easier ingress and egress, are more popular than ever. They are literal appliances on wheels.
Since the direction of infrastructure is on roads and commercial district zoning, literally everyone is forced to drive, so regular people need an appliance for that.
Regular people, even those that don't want, and don't deserve, to drive.
As car enthusiasts, it really is in our best interests to promote a shift away from car-centrism.