Gregory's Server"Motorized vehicles create remoteness which they alone can shrink. They create distances for all, and shrink them for only a few."
—Ivan Illich
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42 comments
The neatest trick motordom pulled off was convincing people—mostly in developed economies—that widespread car ownership was a triumph for the "working people" of the world. "The road has been degraded from a commons to a simple resource for the circulation of vehicles." "Cars promise people freedom—highways aren't called 'freeways' for nothing—yet they act like traveling cages...the human workday continues to lengthen year after year and so does the time required to get to work...You live in your car, and it won't let you go." How did things get so crazy? I dig deeper into what some experts call "Motonormativity" in my weekly #Straphanger dispatches. You can sign up for more here:  @kudra @straphanger I haven't driven a car to work for a very long time. I took ferries, trains, buses and my scooters for years and it worked well. Now I work from home. Yet, I have kids and they sure have stuff, and places they need to be with that stuff. I don't know how to get to a softball field 60 miles from home, at 7am on a Sunday morning, with all the gear needed to play without using a car.  @Bluedonkey @straphanger yep, that unfortunately seems to only have the solution of car, or don't do it at all... and here's where we have a genuine use case for EVs. @Bluedonkey @kudra @straphanger I use my car very infrequently, either for shopping or kid activities as mentioned. I keep wondering if a communal set of cars would work for a neighbourhood, with essentially a low monthly fee for all and a management service, but I always imagine I'm an outlier in car use. @PossiblyMax @kudra @straphanger We have something like that here, called Get In & Go (GIG) cars. They’re essentially by the hour rentals, but you just find one using their app. They can be left parked on most of the streets here & in some car parks. Might be better if they had fixed pick up/drop off locations - there isn’t always one that close - or were for a smaller community perhaps (GIG are city-wide). They seem to be used a lot - see them driving around all the time. @straphanger I got the chance to start working at 5 minutes walking distance from home about a year ago. I have never been so happy with a job and full of energy when ariving home. Would never again get in a car for commuting if it is up to me. @straphanger There used to be a term "Car poor" for people who show off in an impressive car but can't afford fun. Is that just everybody now?  @straphanger It's not hell to see produce that travelled from elsewhere on the shelves of their grocery stores or hell when the firetrucks arrive to put out a house on fire or... People forget how isolated people and communities were before cars and highways. It's great to look towards the next revolution in transportation, but just vilifying cars doesn't do any good. Age of sail was replaced by the age of rail that was replaced by highways and vehicles... what's next? @CStamp The age of transit, trains, bicycles, active transport, and accessibility for all, which I and many of my peers are fighting to bring back. @straphanger Accessibility for all includes cars. The same roads allow bicycles and public transit and emergency vehicles and transportation of goods. It doesn't mean that cities shouldn't be made friendlier to more than cars. It would be amazing to see trains better supported, but in Canada, that will mean mostly along the southern border and northerners will never have the same access, and other than affordability for the infrastructure, in places it will be impossible.  @CStamp the problem is that cars are ludicrously inefficient in their energy consumption (even EVs) in a world that is quickly coming to the fatal consequences of its energy addiction. accessibility for all may include some form of transportation that looks like a very small “car”, but it would be for a very small minority of people with particular special needs, traveling at speeds similar to walking and cycling. no one is entitled to high speed, single passenger, private transportation. @jakintosh So bikes are out unless they are bicycles built for two! But, then, there isn't a more ableist transportation mode. Making cities and towns friendlier is a good goal, but you don't get to play god and tell others what they are entitled to. Vehicles can only go as fast as someone walks? There is a huge difference in walking speeds & biking speeds. The thought of only being able to take transportation to limited places wth tons of other people is a big no for me. @CStamp it’s not “playing god”, it’s living within limits. if purchase price wasn’t an issue, should we all have access to private helicopters? no, because airspace would be crowded and resource utilization would skyrocket… and yet, oops, cars. moving tons of steel and glass (and lithium) just to move a 150lb human being is ludicrously wasteful, and the icky “thought” of having to be close to other people when swiftly and efficiently crossing huge distances is not going to get sympathy from me. @jakintosh When I first moved to Toronto, my first job took 1 1/2 hr in the morning to get to and 2 1/2 hr to get home. This was using subways and buses. Bikes will NOT fix this. The whole car evil, bike good thing is nothing but superficial gloss to why people prefer cars. No one should have to spend 4-5 hours commuting a day and many do. It needs to be affordable for businesses to stay within cities and affordable housing around places people work is needed. Want people to... @jakintosh ...depend on cars less, people need a reason. And the choice between a 4 hr commute vs 40-60 min? Most folk will choose the one that actually allows them to have a life if they have the option. As for roads and cars bad, good road are extremely important, as is the ability to travel. Not all places (in Canada) will ever be easy to access. So there are very different conversations about making cities less car dependant and saying no one has a right to drive a car. @jakintosh And it is playing god if you spend no time thinking of the ramifications of what you are saying and say things like no one has a right to drive faster than someone can walk. Time is the most valuable thing we possess. Spending hours instead of minutes to get somewhere is huge. @straphanger I'm not convinced that cars make life more convenient for anyone, privileged or not. @straphanger Even when you need and have a car- driving life sucks! Road conditions and congestion are always horrible. I wish we had a decent rail system where I live. Right now our public transit is mostly rolling homeless shelters. The whole situation is anger inducing and not practical for commuting at all.  @straphanger Is this a quote from the Tolstoy novel? That book put such a zap on my 20 year old brain. @straphanger well put. I routinely draw this point, but so many simply do not care. It's sad, an imminently frustrating trying to bring people back to together as a society.  @straphanger this is so true. So much of our landscapes have been stripped of necessary land that could be used for housing (Luxury or affordable) or just a green space.  @straphanger back in the western expansion of the American West folks would frequently come across and fjord rivers. Nowadays travelers get to cross rivers of steel.  @straphanger #superways #roadWidening #cities #overdevelopment #fascism #bigConstruction #batshitConstruction #DavidGraeber  @straphanger dear sweet Frank Lloyd Wright, lookit all that WASTED space... having just been in the Netherlands for a week and a half, I realise they *can't* commit an atrocity like that. They don't have the space!  @straphanger I imagine “popping out to buy a litre of milk” from that building would be a major expedition. Thanks for bringing Ivan Illich to my mind again. His analysis in "Energy and Equity" about the relations, which place the passenger of a motorized vehicle actually in another space/time-frame than the cyclist or pedestrian thereby imposing ecological destruction and physical dangers on slower moving living beings is about the best I know in bringing the dilemma of fossilized #mobility and social stress to its essence. |
The entire global landscape has been altered—paved, filled with parking and freeways—to accommodate the needs of 1.3 billion cars (rather than 8 billion humans).
This makes life very convenient for privileged minority with access to cars...and hell for everyone else.