How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness [View all]

[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.