The Washington Post had an article about America’s fading car culture. Until the last paragraph of the article (which is usually ignored by most readers), the entire litany of explanations is discussed: economic, a shift towards urbanism, more interest in other technologis, as well as the ‘kids today’ complaint. But there’s a very obvious reason–as an experience, driving sucks:
But I think there’s another important factor: driving isn’t very fun anymore. Admittedly, urban areas and rush hours have never been enjoyable. But, I would argue that ~15-20 years ago, in the suburbs, there was a lot of nice, relatively traffic free driving to be had (again, not during rush hour and so on). When I lived in Connecticut, weekend mornings in the summer (not at the crack of dawn), I used to drive to the shore on the backroads en route to the beach. It was a nice drive. But now most places I drive–and rural areas are an exception–the driving is pretty miserable. Every time I wind up back in Long Island, the traffic seems to have become worse. The DC area has also become more congested for more hours every day. It doesn’t help that road maintenance is in decline too.
So driving just becomes a way to get from point A to point B. If you live in a place where you don’t need to own a car to get to either work or basic necessities (e.g., a grocery store), a car becomes an expensive pain in the ass. Why waste your money, then, on a car?
We see this reality reflected in the culture:
So why would car culture, in the traditional sense, thrive? Consider car commercials: most either show amenities that are useful in traffic or else feature driving late at night or in rural areas (e.g., truck commercials). They almost never feature 0 – 60 mph times, which were a mainstay of ads twenty years ago–when the hell are you ever going to accelerate like that?
How can a culture be built around something so pedestrian? (pun intended).
It can’t.
mikethemadbiologist
They almost never feature 0 – 60 mph times, which were a mainstay of ads twenty years ago–when the hell are you ever going to accelerate like that?
You haven’t been reading about Tesla, which brags about it’s 0-60 times.
Different technology that’s trying to show it’s just as good as what people already know – apples and oranges.
Actually I was drag racing the other day on the Coast Highway against a Toyota Solara (twice, actually; we hit a stop light). I’m 63, my car is 16, there’s no excuse for such behavior, but running the needle on the tachometer up to 8000 is kind of fun. I live on top of the hill on the rugged Pacific coast, and one of my guilty pleasures is letting an SUV tailgate me on the level populated stretch, past the junior high, where the speed limit is low for a damned good reason, and then slipping down the tricky switchbacks I’ve driven ten thousand times. I keep hoping they’ll try to keep up and roll their ridiculous vehicles. (Yes, I’m going to hell.)
Everywhere you go – everywhere! – people rightfully complain about “how crowded” it is, how expensive everything is. And they have been talking about it – and it has been getting significantly antithetical to a healthy psychology – for three decades.
But do people embrace the idea of population control? Nope. They don’t even think it is a good idea to get rid of the tax deduction for children. First, we need to solve AGW with a new 100% renewable energy utility system. And then we need to have a serious, sobering national conversation about limiting childbirths and ending the economic growth paradigm.
Anyone I’ve tried to have a conversation with on this topic accuses me of embracing eugenics; it’s an uphill battle. Plus, growth is American you commie 😉
I gave up my car 3 years ago. Can I pretend to be a millenial despite my age?