An Utopia In The Making? Auto Ban??
By Rummuser. Filed in People, Raves and Rants, Sociology |Tags: Ban Automobiles, Old ways of living, Roads kill
I had commented on Nick’s post “A Lethal Lapse“, that perhaps the best solution to the increasing incidents of fatal automobile accidents, is to go back to the old ways of living – sans automobiles. Grannymar and I had a separate discussion on whether it would be possible to modify and use slower electric cars etc. Since I do not own an automobile and am perfectly willing to revert to the old ways of living, I am all for going back to nature as it were.
Actually, I am nostalgic for the leisurely, unhurried days of steam engine trains, electric trams and local trains, public buses, bullock and horse drawn carriages, bicycles, tricycle rickshaws and the nice discussions with strangers while asking for directions. Only total nitwits got into accidents those days.
It therefore came as a very pleasant surprise to read about an entire town that has done away with the automobile. Perhaps there is hope for mankind after all!
“Roads kill. Every year, 1.27 million people die in road accidents around the world. Road accidents is currently the ninth leading cause of death in the world.” That is not all. Globally, about 50 million people are involved in non fatal accidents every year.”
I wonder what sort of reaction this post will generate! I suspect that there is going to be a great deal of indignation to say the least!
Monday, June 29th 2009 at 22:32 |
I also read about the town that aims to ban cars. It will be hard to do when we've all grown so dependent on the things, but it's worth a try considering all the negative aspects of cars – pollution, accidents, cost, parking problems, oil scarcity etc. Nobody in my family had a car when I was growing up and I can't remember ever feeling deprived. I managed to do all the things I wanted by other means (including a lot of very healthy cycling). I wonder if cars will ever go out of fashion?
Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 00:10 |
We live 3 miles from the nearest small town and 12 miles from a town with any decent sort of amenities. In the whole area, there is no public transportation except for a couple of run-down taxis. Our property is also 500 feet higher in elevation than the closest town which would make walking or riding a bicycle much more difficult especially as we approach our 60s. I've talked to a couple of people who can remember going to the bigger town by horse drawn wagon when the road wasn't paved. They didn't go there very often.
Before I went in the Navy, I lived just outside Houston, Texas, in an area where there was no public transportation. I didn't have a car and there were no employment prospects for someone without a car and experience.
I agree that transportation kills. However, what would be the adverse consequences if our modern transportation systems would suddenly stop working?
Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 00:11 |
A good model at Vauban for preventing climate change, but in the metropolitan city it is difficult to be applied.
Perhaps, manufacturer should only produce vehicles with max. speed to 60 Km/hr and decrease the engine acceleration. Just my dream, maybe.
Wow… new form for comment box.
Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 00:15 |
It all sounds very grand if you read it quickly. BUT –
“Sitting outside a former Nazi barrack building that now functions as an organic restaurant selling ricotta-filled ravioli and ostrich meat, it is difficult to spot anyone who is non-European, old or poor.”
Will this mean world travel is no longer considered correct? Ramana are you content never to meet any of your blogging friends across the globe? That would include visitors to your country. What about the Internet and all modern means of communication? Must we discard them too, what about all the discarded mountain of cars, and electronic equipment, what is to happen to all the pollution it will cause?
“It's very nice here, but a bit like living under a bell jar. I certainly wouldn't want to live here forever.” said Ina Konradi, I think I would agree with her
Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 05:06 |
Lots of luck!
Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 09:17 |
I lived three years in Japan without a car and loved it. The whole family – all four of us – would walk 200 meters to the grocery store and carry back all the food we could carry.
Now I live in the middle of the San Francisco Bay Area's urban jungle. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the nearest grocery store, but usually we go 7 or 8 miles. Jobs are typically 10 to 50 miles away in thousands of different locations which largely precludes both mass transit and sharing cars.
I should have taken a picture of the local high school parking lot before the year ended. About a quarter to a third of the kids drive cars to school creating one of the most concentrated zones of aggressive, poorly experienced drivers on the planet!
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 02:02 |
We didn't own a car our first four years of marriage. The first year was spent in Europe so we walked and took local transportation. The next three years we lived a half-mile from where we worked and walked. The grocery store was on the way home so we lugged our groceries. We thought the walking was a plus even though the winters could be quite severe. I'm not sure we would enjoy it quite as much now!
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 13:36 |
To use cars or not is a choice. Each person chooses where he decides to live with all of the apparent conditions. One can always blame something outside the self for one's choices, and yet, this only denies or avoids taking responsibility for the life you choose.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 16:25 |
Returning to old ways of living is not a bad idea, but one thing I am afraid you will miss dearly is your blog.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:30 |
Ah Lizwi, I did not recommend that we do away with the computers and the internet did I?
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:31 |
Yes, it does.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:32 |
It would be impractical at the present moment. We may however well be pushed into that kind of living say in the next twenty years or so!
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:33 |
You have got to come and visit us here in India Looney! You will have a choice of vehicles, and you can have your heart's content of maniacs behind wheels and handlebars.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:33 |
Thank you.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:38 |
No, travel will very much be there, like the old fashioned steamers, slow trains, boats, horse drawn carriages, etc to supplement bicycles, and other modes of transport of modern style and convenience. We will have energy from renewable sources to give us power for modern conveniences at home but living as we know will change to more clusters of small towns spread all over offering different economic activities in different places. Very much like the late late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but with modern conveniences and communications.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:39 |
A number of scenarios offer themselves for consideration. Please see my response to Grannymar's comments.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 20:40 |
The cars as we know them now, most certainly will.
Sunday, July 5th 2009 at 10:26 |
I used to ride a bicycle across 8 miles of flat terrain to get to work. But I did this only occasionally, on the nicest days, about twenty years ago. Today I live 10 miles from work, and the way is less flat, and the roads are more dangerous. I think I could adapt, but I would need to work fewer hours to allow for the longer commute and for going on errands.
I haven’t bothered to bike to work these days. It would save me only about $2.00 for a round trip. That $2.00 offsets more than an hour of commute time. But if I could get rid of the car completely, and if everyone else had to forsake the automobile, it might be a very good thing.
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Rummuser Reply:
July 5th, 2009 at 15:44
Change may well be thrust on all of us before too long. It may not be in our generation, but say in twenty years from now, it may well be that long commutes will be a thing of the past. Indications of such change are already in the wind.