I think I’ve found a way to reach Americans(at least those of the West) on the whole automobile addiction problem, by invoking their ancestors.
You see, I’ve been an avid cyclist for a number of years now, and I never bought into the stigma attached to riding public transit(which unfortunately is more prevalent out west). Part of that probably stems from growing up in a town that had an outstanding transit program, Eugene, Oregon. I also enjoy walking quite a bit, as I seem to get some of my best thinking done then.
All that having been said, i have owned a number of cars. I was a full fledged, automobile addicted American. I still own a truck and a motorhome and I love to drive sometimes, just not all of the time. If I need to travel during high traffic times in high traffic zones, I’d just as soon read a good book while riding public transit. Why worry about gas, inattentive drivers and wear and tear on my vehicle when with a little planning public transit can fulfill my needs.
With all that information and experience, I still found it hard to get through to people the benefits of getting out of the car, at least once in a while. Many people feel to busy, are working too long of hours, etc., etc. Some even flat out admit to being too lazy. Even when the math showed how much of a cut in pay you could take without feeling it financially if you simply lived close enough to your place of employment to ride or walk to work.
Then, one afternoon I was pondering the term”horsepower”………Hmmm…….Now I know the conversion to the power of ‘X’ number of horses the power of a particular engine is more complicated than it implies, but the generalization will work just fine for the following arguement .
Horsepower led me to horses which led me to history and I got to thinking about my ancestors that were ranchers and farmers in Texas, before the automobile. These were people that had horses, knew horses, lots of horses. But even my most affluent ancestors knew to use the proper tool for the job. You don’t use a 10 pound sledge hammer to hang a coat hook.
When great-great gramma needed some flour and salt from the mercantile, do you suppose that she hooked all all of the horses up to a single wagon to make the trip into town? No. 50 of them?30? 10? 5? no no no. At most she’d hook one or two up to a wagon, or better yet, she’d put one of the kids on a single horse and send them!!
Seriously, add up the cost of driving to and from work….Insurance, wear and tear, fuel, maintenance. Be honest about it, then subtract that from what you actually make a month and see if you can’t make that amount somewhere closer to home. Then again, you might take that same total driving cost, add it to your current living expenses and see if maybe you could afford to live closer to where you currently work.
Think about it……
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