Picture: Swedish Road Administration/Karl Jilg Imagine I told you about a great new invention - flying cars! It'll be just like the Jetsons - we'll all fly to work!
We'd probably agree that was a neat idea, but there's no way they'd ever let you use a flying car in the city. The work to license and monitor these machines would be too much for government to handle, and imagine the risk of letting anyone just fly through the air - it would be far too dangerous. Such a toy would be only for the rich to play with on their private land, not for city commuting. That would be ridiculous! Yet this is what we have done by allowing cars in our cities. We give up insane swaths of public space, even when housing is at a premium, pollute our air and ruin any chance of quiet for apartment dwellers - all so we can have the convenience of taking a two ton bucket of steel with us everywhere we go. Don't get me wrong - I'm not entirely anti-car. Cars are a great way to move between cities, to visit remote locations, and often to transport goods. I own a car, and I use it for all of these things. But, I always find the conversation that goes on around alternative means of commuting odd. Car-enthusiasts are outraged that any bit of space on the road might be given up to public transit or God-forbid, cyclists. The irony seems to escape them that while they refuse to give up space, they are insisting on being able to transport and park a vehicle at the public's expense. An expense that includes: building and maintaining roads, snow removal, parking spaces, traffic enforcement, and the list goes on. You can't give up space for a bike lane, but you expect to have enough parking for everyone to park downtown at the same time? Are you insane?! I also can't wrap my head around when these types of people also complain about being out of shape. Of course you're overweight! You've engineered all exercise out of your life! How about instead of relying on the willpower to drive to the gym (words that make me shudder) you bike to work instead? Exercise, commute, and stress relief, all in one!
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May 2019
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