How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness

[hunter]

The United States, with its enormous highways, sprawling suburbs and neglected public transport systems, is one of the most car-dependent countries in the world. But this arrangement of obligatory driving is making many Americans actively unhappy, new research has found.

The car is firmly entrenched as the default, and often only, mode of transport for the vast majority of Americans, with more than nine in 10 households having at least one vehicle and 87% of people using their cars daily. Last year, a record 290m vehicles were operated on US streets and highways.

However, this extreme car dependence is affecting Americans’ quality of life, with a new study finding there is a tipping point at which more driving leads to deeper unhappiness. It found that while having a car is better than not for overall life satisfaction, having to drive for more than 50% of the time for out-of-home activities is linked to a decrease in life satisfaction.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/29/extreme-car-dependency-unhappiness-americans

Automobiles are bad for the environment no matter what powers them. They are also a cause of unhappiness and misery for many people, especially for lower income people who are literally forced to own and maintain automobiles under threat of economic ruin and homelessness.

Automobiles do not make us free. The television advertisements are a lie.

The people with the smallest environmental footprints generally live in cities and don't own cars. We ought to be rebuilding our cities, turning them into attractive affordable places where car ownership is unnecessary.

Electric cars (or even worse, hydrogen powered cars...) will not save the world. We will be a happier and healthier people in the long run if we start tearing down highways rather than building more.

[sop]

1. Agree completely.

[CrispyQ]

2. I hate car culture. It was designed by the oil & gas & car industries.

Move everyone out to the suburbs & Dad needs a car to get to work & Mom needs a car to shuttle kids & run errands. So much of our culture was fed to us by industry without our ever really thinking about it.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. There are US towns building for lifestyles of public transit

Putting dense condo housing near downtown and shopping for example. I'm also seeing the conversion of old, 1800s factories into modern relatively low income apartments. I don't know where the parking space is going to come from, but the contractors are at work.

[mopinko]

4. lotta that in chgo.

developers get to provide fewer parking places if they r w/in a certain distance of public trans. they can sub bike lockers. we have halfway decent bike infrastructure.
at least here we have figured out that good transit drives development.

we have an epidemic of loneliness in this country. wonder how much cars contribute. i know i rarely take the train w/out a friendly interaction w my fellow man.

[LisaM]

15. They are doing that in Seattle but also squeezing out the buses

in favor of light rail. And the light rail is a big snake through the city that does not stop near the grocery stores or theatres. Worse, it breaks down a lot. Every time they add an extension they strip bus routes. Most recently they got rid of a bus route that was a 20 minute ride from a transit center to a popular lake nearby and replaced it with a ride on light rail with a transfer to a bus that turned the trip into 48 minutes at best, stops farther away from the lake, and is dependent on the light rail not breaking down. Whoever is responsible for planning this needs to be put in jail.

They keep putting up huge apartments near the light rail with no surrounding neighborhood conveniences. They want us to transfer and wait at bus stops for long periods of time. Then they cut the buses.

I rarely use a car (we have one, which my partner takes to work because he has to, there is no transit there doesn't involve an hour and a half commute and a walk at night and he often leaves at 4:00 am before the light rail runs).

Having a car might make people unhappy but every time I am confronted with the length of time it takes for me to get anywhere on foot and transit combined, I get depressed. It's difficult and time consuming and half the sidewalks in Seattle are blocked off by the fucking endless construction.

[OAITW r.2.0]

12. That's happening in Biddeford/Saco area of Maine.

The brick textile mills (Pepperell Mill) and tanneries buildings are being converted to mixed income condo's and lots of small businesses (food eateries, services) are springing up in the area. Key is the Downeaster RR that connects to Boston/Portland. Within walking distance of a a lot of new housing that is revitalizing both towns on the Saco River.

Here's a good link that shows what's happening. https://pepperellmillcampus.com

[MichMan]

5. Those of us living in rural areas have no desire to move to high density cities n/t

[hunter]

8. Nobody is asking you to.

This is about the freedom to live in a place where you are not forced to own a car, a freedom that most people in the U.S.A. do not enjoy. It's not about restricting choices, it's about expanding them.

[erronis]

13. But the better solution is to provide public transit for those living in rural areas.

Running a small shuttle bus on schedules or on request can be so much better than having many of us having to own a car and the upkeep.

I've lived in very rural parts of the north-east and some areas try very hard to get transportation to the people, rather than have people have to move to be near the center of population. No where near enough, though.

[hunter]

22. I don't romanticize small town life in the U.S.A.

It's not a Hallmark Christmas movie. It's understandable that people leave these towns and never come back.

Some nations have excellent public transportation systems in towns large and small, so it's not impossible. You can travel all over Switzerland, for example, without a car.

Good public transportation services might revitalize small towns in the U.S.A. that are now decaying. Unfortunately many of the people living in these towns are wary of the people new bus and train services might bring.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Needless and extraneous driving

I drive to work and try to organize errands to my route. Like shopping with a list. No driving without a purpose.

[CoopersDad]

7. Recommended.

EVs are only slightly less horrible than ICE cars and trucks.

100 years ago, most cities of moderate populations had streetcar systems and walkable neighborhoods with services and jobs and homes all co-located so that one didn't need a car.

Today housing prices force low income people to commute two hours each way to jobs where I live.

It's all about car-centric planning and poor housing policy.

[intheflow]

9. Work from home could be a viable substitute,

but as we know, most corporate overlords won’t allow it.

[Orrex]

10. My company declared "we're better together" and dragged everyone back to the office

That's literally the phrase they used.

Then they tried appealing to the value of freely exchanged ideas being good for the company, as if my chance encounter with the executive at the neighboring urinal is going to boost this quarter's earnings.

Nope, it's all about absolutist, micromanaged control and the need to justify corporate rent payments.

[erronis]

14. Don't forget the people that need to get groceries, doctor appointments, etc.

Many of them aren't in the workforce - seniors, etc.

[intheflow]

16. Good lord, don't patronize me.

I never suggested people be home bound. Working from home instead of commuting 5 days a week would increase mental health and also significantly reduce emissions. Obviously, alternative, viable public transportation would be ideal, but even just using your car once a week to get groceries would help tremendously.

[Peregrine Took]

11. I'm a nerous wreck getting in the car with all the bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc on the road.

Most follow the Rules of the road but many don't.

Walking is more satisfying but, once more, you have to be on your toes at all times.

I was crossing a busy street (N. Broadway in Chicago) last week -I had the green light -and 'was keeping an eye on it lest it change quickly while keeping another eye navigating the bumpity old street, hoping the cars would stop and here I almost got hit by a speeding scooter who was hurrying to make the clear (for him) intersection - totally running the red light, of course!

I just froze...thankfully he saw me at the last minute and came to a screetching stop! Yikes! No body is a more cautious pedestrian than me.

[Lucky Luciano]

17. City living is better for the environment probably yeah.

I walk or take a publicly owned bike to work every day (Citibike in NYC or Divvy in Chicago). I still have a nice car, but I only use it recreationally on the weekends. My wife uses it to get groceries or occasionally drive our son to school if the weather is bad.

Even if walking or using a bike we’re not feasible, a subway would do it and that is also better.

[SharonAnn]

18. And the financial cost! Purchase, insurance, maintenance, fuel, repairs.

[yellowdogintexas]

19. I love my car, but I truly hate that I need to have one!

I lived in Boston for a couple of years and never once drove a car. If the T or the bus couldn't get me there it probably wasn't worth doing in the first place.

I would have moved back if not for the expense of living there

[Laurelin]

20. I'm so much happier now that I'm not car dependent

When i lived in Texas I spent hours every day in my car. Now I'm in the Netherlands and walk or bike for groceries, shopping, doctors, pharmacies, the dentist.... my vet retired so now I have to drive the animals when they need a vet, but for almost everything (including bus stops that take me straight to a train station or airport) I walk or bike. Sometimes it's much faster to do things with a car and some museums and castles aren't easy to get to by public transportation and we drive. We fill up the car a couple of times a year when we have guests. It's wonderful. I can't wait until we have more direct trains to German and Belgium cities. Next year!

[Grasswire2]

21. I haven't kept a car in twenty years.

Bus stop six blocks away.
Light rail eight blocks away.
Lyft or even taxi at my beck and call.