Carless Society Hitting the Brakes:

Carless Society

Hitting the Brakes:

An Analysis of Society without Automobiles

In 2008 crude oil prices spiked, driven by economic worries and speculation by investors. As a result, Americans paid record amounts at the pump; by the Independence Day holiday weekend, the national average for a gallon of gasoline topped $4.00/gallon (Benton, 2008, para.1). Out of necessity, people began imagining a world in which driving was no longer economically feasible. For many, the thought was a nightmare. But some, like Forbes Magazine's Christopher Steiner, envisioned a utopian rebirth of social relationships and small business (Poor, 2009, para.8). Nightmare or utopia, the human world would certainly change fundamentally without cars, and it is both useful and timely to consider the ramifications of such a change.

If automobiles were banned tomorrow, Americans would experience a shock that would resonate through all aspects of their lives -- social relationships, professional and financial endeavors, even their health. There is no doubt that such a sudden and profound change would be difficult to absorb at first. Cars are absolutely integral to the way that most of us conduct our affairs. In 2009, the number of cars per American household surpassed the number of people per American household: 1.9 to 1.8 (Newman, 2005, p.45). We use them to get to work, to the store, to the movies, to our grandmother's house for the holidays, even two blocks down the road to the post office or the laundromat.

Beyond their practical use, cars serve cultural and psychological purposes as well. Luxury cars have long been considered status symbols, and the acquisition of a driver's license and a first car are modern-day versions of an adulthood ritual. It is difficult to imagine executives showing of their latest Schwinn bicycles, or a teenager mowing lawns all summer so that he can buy a used horse.

But these psychological attachments, while profound, would be slow to surface and trivial compared to the absolute paralysis that would affect the economic world within minutes of the disappearance of motor vehicles. Many businesses, especially those in metropolitan areas, would grind to a halt because workers would not be able to commute into the cities. One of the most drastic effects of the invention of the automobile in the early 20th century was the appearance of the commuter. Suddenly, one did not have to live in a city to participate in industry. One could live in the quieter outskirts of the city and drive to work -- thus, the birth of the suburb and the culture that surrounds it. Dan McCosh summed it up in a 2000 article in Popular Science: "By the dawn of the new millennium, modern living was defined by detached, single-family homes, a lifestyle highly dependent on the automobile" (p.55). A poll of Popular Science readers, conducted for the same article, found that 67% felt they "could not live at their present dwelling without a car" (p.65).

The sudden absence of cars would leave many modern American workers with two choices: move or find a new job. Not just any new job, but a new job that was either located within his or her community or that could be done from home. As moving large amounts of possessions without the aid of motor vehicles would demand more covered wagons than have existed in the past 200 years, most families would probably find it easier to locate and/or create jobs within their communities.

Luckily for those families, a major change would be taking place in the way goods and services are provided. The sudden disappearance of trucking would cripple major corporations' ability to bring in raw materials and send out finished product. No longer could cotton from Mississippi be trucked to a factory in Michigan to make t-shirts for tourists in Los Angeles. Small, self-sustaining local economies would spring up in communities across the nation, using the materials available in the area to provide goods and services to local customers. The small, family-run business would reemerge as the engine of economic security, job creation, and entrepreneurial creativity.

Cultural effects would take longer to appear, but would be drastic. With both the incentive and the ability to move long distances gone, families and friends would stay in the same community through several generations. Children would see grandparents daily or weekly instead of just on holidays. Grade-school friends would grow into adulthood together and raise their own children side-by-side. Over a few decades, social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace would wither and die from lack of demand.

Not only would one's spirit benefit from strong family relationships and friendships, one's body would benefit from several changes. The first and most obvious change is the exercise that would come from walking or riding bicycles or horses everywhere. The Center for Disease Control says that even a moderate amount of physical activity can: prevent obesity, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, strengthen muscles and bones, and improve your mental health (Physical Activity, 2010, para.1). Since $1 of every $10 spent on health care in the United States is spent treating just Type 2 diabetes (Pallarito, 2008, para.2), a sudden increase in the activity level of the general population could save millions upon millions of dollars, in addition to creating a happier and healthier country.

The second health change that would occur would concern the American diet. At the moment, the standard American diet relies heavily on processed food loaded with preservatives to withstand shipping and long periods on grocery shelves. Even the produce found on most grocery shelves has been treated with chemicals to retard decomposition, allowing them to be trucked all over the continent and beyond. In the absence of trucks, such a diet would be impossible, not to mention unnecessary. People would rely primarily on local, seasonal foods grown and raised by people in their communities. Corporate agriculture would crumble, and the country would see a return of the small, privately-run farm producing healthy, fresh food.