Provocateur: Hey You! You In The Car!

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You decide. You make the choice of which mode of transportation you will take. You say that you considered driving, taking transit, walking or cycling. You made your decision based on how far you had to go, how much money you have and how fast or comfortably you wanted to travel.

The majority of Americans "choose" to drive, but I contend that the choice was made for these people long ago. Somebody allowed development of low density suburbs, an urban form that by its nature cannot by accessed easily by transit, foot or bicycle.

Some politicians decided to provide free infrastructure and give a tax break to home-owners that effectively allowed new homes in the suburbs to be cheaper than in the city. Then their parents "chose" to live in the boonies, back when their money was tight. The fact that older parts of the city seemed "congested" (too many cars) had something to do with their decision, as well as the theory that the suburbs were a better place to bring up kids.

Low-density, spread-out development forced us into creating a passenger transportation system based on only one mode: the private automobile. You had no choice.

An Analogy

So, instead of being offered toast or cereal or home fries for breakfast you were offered eggs. Lots of eggs. Every morning. Whenever you turned on the TV, different egg companies were showing you expensive ads. All your friends ate eggs. You were laughed at when you wanted something other than those damn eggs. Even still, it made you angry that when the toast actually came (irregularly), it was cold and soggy. Cereal was technically available, but it was only ever Grape Nuts. Finally, the home fries were too expensive to ever make it to your plate.

So you decided to like y eggs. You loved eggs, and you said that you wouldn't eat anything else but these white things with goo inside. You ignored the cholesterol aspect and the risk of salmonella, and besides those egg ads are really cool and sexy.

You know what you have left? No choice and all your eggs in one basket. And that's dangerous.

-Ed Drass