Why Cars Suck
(And What We Can Do About It)

Earth Walker 2024

Cars Are Unsafe

Cars are large, heavy vehicles that can go anywhere and accelerate rapidly, operated by often untrained and incompetent people. Cars are the second largest cause of accidental deaths in the US. Even with a good driver, conditions on the road can suddenly change, leaving the driver without time to react. Car crashes kill people, cause damage to buildings, and jam up transportation infrastructure. Cars also hit and kill numerous animals.

Other forms of transportation such as busses, trains and planes are operated by professionals and often are entirely removed from mixed traffic, increasing their safety rates exponentially.

Cars Are Inefficient

The most important factor in transportation efficiency is how many people are in a vehicle. If a vehicle is 2-3X less efficient than a car, but carries 20-30x the number of people, it is 10x more efficient than the car. It is woefully inefficient to use vehicles that usually carry 1-2 people, or rarely 4-6 people in the case of a large family using a minivan on some days. Compare this to busses which can carry 40-80 people (depending on the size), and trains which can carry hundreds of people.

This means a massive amount of energy is constantly being wasted by cars, which could have been saved by using mass transit.

Cars Create Poverty

The value of a car depreciates at an astonishing rate; as soon as a new car is driven off the lot it loses thousands of dollars of value. In just five years, a new car typically loses about 60% of its value.

Add onto this the fact that most people can only afford to buy a car by taking out a loan, which constantly accumulates interest. Don't forget to insure your car, which is costlier for new vehicles.

In addition to the fixed costs of car ownership, there are costs that scale with how much you drive, including maintenance, gas, and any insurance and repair costs associated with getting into an accident.

Cars Are Dirty and Obnoxious

Cars with internal combustion engines (ICE) spew all kinds of toxic, smelly gasses into the air. Electric vehicles (EVs) do not create gaseous emmissions, but all cars shed rubber from the tires and dust from the brake pads which is harmful to living beings. In addition, EVs may get their energy from dirty sources such as coal; this depends on the location of the vehicle and the adjacent energy infrastructure.

Cars are also noisy, especially when there are a lot of them around, making streets less peaceful and enjoyable with their presence.

Driving is a Waste of Time

Driving is not just getting from point A to point B, it is an activity in and of itself. You can't do much else while driving, besides listening to music or a podcast. Many people waste countless hours of their lives driving to and from work, school, the grocery store, etc. You can often do things while riding mass transit, such as work, play a game, talk to your friend or just sit and think.

Car Infrastructure Sucks

Highways, parking lots and multi-lane roads are only useful when you are driving a car. If you are walking or cycling, these forms of infrastructure are hazardous and unpleasant to be around. They also take up a disproportionately large amount of space, because cars are so spacially inefficient. This is an especially severe problem in urban areas, where density is important. A highway can severe connections between neighborhoods.

The Auto and Oil Industries are Greedy, Selfish and Short-Sighted

Regulation and public investment in the US has been heavily skewed by the automotive and oil industries. Our tax money is being used to subsidize drilling for oil and creating deadly, inefficient cars when it could be put towards clean, efficient, pleasant mass transit systems which uplift the poor and working classes and make our cities and towns safer and more enjoyable.

We could create lots of jobs and economic growth by building mass transit systems in the US, but we don't because the vested interests lobby against it.

Cars Can Be Improved

Using a shared car, rather than owning, is one of the biggest ways that car utilization could be improved. Cars can be rented for one-off trips, and car-shares with subscription models exist for people who need a car on a semi-regular basis. Taxis are also a good option when you need to get directly between two points and walking is not a viable option. Uber/Lyft and similar services are just a worse replacement for taxis, but that's another discussion altogether.

Cars themselves can be improved by making them smaller, cheaper and more efficient for the majority of people who are using them to commute to work. Emmissions and safety regulations need to be changed in the US to guide cars in this direction.

Car infrastructure can also be improved by designing pedestrian- and bike-friendly streets in cities.

Transitioning Away From Cars

On an individual level, we can choose to walk, bike or take public transit whenever possible. If we need a car, we can buy used, and choose a small, safe and efficient vehicle. We can respect pedestrians and cyclists and their space on the street.

On a societal level, we can change emmissions and safety laws to disincentivize automakers from making expensive, unsafe, innefficient cars. It may be worth taking a look at allowing some cheap, small, efficient cars to be imported from other countries. We can stop subsidizing the fossil fuel and automobile industries and start investing in public transit and pedestrian and bike infrastructure.