I was recently asked by a reader whether or not the vision of Boulder I often write about for our Editorial Board is one I actually desire.
The vision in question is one I have written about extensively: a less car-dependent world. And the answer to the reader’s question is absolutely.
I love walking, biking and taking reliable and frequent public transportation (which, unfortunately, is not always what RTD offers). And I hate driving. I am eternally grateful to not have to regularly use a car to commute to work. I find driving brings out the worst in me; I can get stressed, scared, angry, and impatient — sometimes all at once. And I know I’m not alone in this.
It has been shown time and again that cars are one of our greatest sources of stress and anger. Driving to work decreases job satisfaction and increases the risks of mental health issues. On the other hand, walking and biking to work increases job satisfaction, makes it more likely that employees will stay with their job, decreases strain, and increases health.
I often think of driving like logging onto the internet; when we get behind the wheel of a car, we turn into different people, and not for the better. Studies bear this out.
Worse, driving is way more dangerous than we recognize. This is a sort of coping mechanism. Since we so rely on cars for everyday existence in this country, we can’t regularly engage with the fear we should have in getting inside a two-ton metal box that could easily smash us or someone else up. And in America, road fatalities are way, way higher than in other developed nations.
Worst of all, driving is a major contributor to making our planet less habitable. Transportation is the biggest polluter in America, and 57% of those emissions come from personal vehicles, according to the EPA.
I’m sure none of this is anything new to most Boulderites. But the problem seems so intractable that addressing it in any sort of meaningful way is pointless. Cars are such an integral part of how our society has developed over the last century, that even imagining a world without them is nearly impossible.
The funny thing, though, is that many of us do it all the time — by going on vacation.
I cannot claim this idea to be my own, but I cannot remember where I first read it: Americans love to vacation in places where they can cosplay as people who don’t have to drive. We go on cruises, we go to Las Vegas and we go to Europe. To some degree or another, each of these places offers us a version of a less car-dependent life: high-density, mixed-use, walkable and packed with public spaces designed to be enjoyed (without a car).
I believe that what many of us want — but what our public infrastructure does not provide an opportunity for — is the community that can be formed when we create routines on foot, bike or public transit.
Some of the arguments against reducing our car dependency that I have heard include two primary things: It limits people’s range and what they have access to, and it is more difficult for differently-abled citizens to be mobile.
Both of these are untrue. All you have to do is look at other countries. A recent list of countries that are most friendly to differently-abled individuals had the U.S. clock in at number five. Good, but not as good as the countries above it that have excellent pedestrian infrastructure, incredible networks of public transit and the density to make traveling by alternative means easy. (The Netherlands takes the top spot.)
As for the general mobility of people, all we have to do is look around the world. By one measure, 63% of Americans choose to drive for trips of less than a mile, compared with just 16% of those in the UK. People in Europe, though, are not living more isolated lives. They are not lacking in access to services. They are not less happy than Americans.
In fact, the opposite is true.
On average, Europeans are less lonely than Americans. They also have access to more services that increase quality of life. And they are happier than we are.
Of course, not all of these things are related to cars. But the notion that cars are required for the functionality of our daily existence is false. Would it be easy for most American cities to reduce car dependency? Absolutely not. The way our cities, towns and suburbs have been constructed for a century has made us car-dependent. But this was intentional. It was pushed by the automotive industry and forced into existence. In other words, we can do the opposite. We can go the other direction. We can will a less car-dependent world into existence.
And to be clear, I am using the phrase “less car-dependent” on purpose. Because I do believe cars have their purpose. Some people do need them. Some jobs do require them. We need delivery trucks garbage trucks and taxis and some people need them to get groceries or visit family. And sometimes we need them for road trips or pure and simple fun.
But I don’t believe that we should be dependent on them. I don’t believe that we should have to drive.
This future is a long way off, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be striving toward it. We must recognize that it is possible — by simply having the imagination conjure it and the motivation to create it.
It may be scary to imagine having to get rid of your car or to walk more or to be stuck relying on a bus or a train. But if we can collectively reorganize our priorities and bravely look at how much of the rest of the world is doing it, we can build a society that isn’t dependent on cars. And I think we can be happier for it.
Gary Garrison is the Daily Camera’s opinion editor.
Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.
Originally Published: August 1, 2024 at 5:12 p.m.
