Do cars liberate us?

[Hip Priest]

Right-wing journalist Theodore Dalrymple (perhaps an unlikely source) argues not.

http://www.newenglishreview.org/Theodore_Dalrymple/Driven_Mad/

Not many people in the modern world refuse to learn to drive, but two things I have noticed about those I know who have done so: not only are they happier and more serene than their driving contemporaries, but they are usually superior to them in some way as well. This cannot be entirely a coincidence.

 

[Drago]

It liberates my Missus. Without my nacked old pickup to tote her wheelchair she'd be confined to.a few streets in our village.

Aside from that I could happily live without it.

 

[GrasB]

So many people have come to think of the car as their only form of transport it's become a chain around their neck. For me driving is liberating, which is why I do motorsport, track days & driver training sessions. It allows me to make journeys with a freedom I could never achieve without a car. With that said I've spent many years car free and returned to driving due to the love of motorsport. If I did not have the money I could easily transform my life into a car-free one, though this would have consequences for things like my trips to Italy visiting my family.

Not many people in the modern world refuse to learn to drive, but two things I have noticed about those I know who have done so: not only are they happier and more serene than their driving contemporaries, but they are usually superior to them in some way as well. This cannot be entirely a coincidence.

Motoring can make it easy to rush about manically in everything but actually not achieve a faster a to b travel time. The sort of person who lives car free is more likely to be laid back in their outlook & open minded, so will be more serene in general.

my 2p

 

[Cuchilo]

I was up at half five so I can be on the road and the other side of London before every other nobber hits the road . I feel knackered not liberated

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I'm not qualified to comment on whether cars liberate us, having never driven a car. What I can say is that 99 times out of 100, I can manage without one, so I don't feel like I'm missing out. If this costs me the occasional large taxi fare, or I need to beg a lift with someone else (like I do for the upcoming Alpine Classic sportive in the Victorian Alps), then that's a price I'm happy to pay.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I don't use my car very much, perhaps twice a month on average, but it's useful when I need it.

 

[byegad]

It liberates them from buying petrol paying VED Insurance Servicing and MOT fees and buying the damn things. A friend doesn't drive and uses taxis and trains a lot, but is also not above cadging a lift at any opportunity!

 

[Globalti]

Of course cars liberate us, what a daft question! The car is probably the most important single invention in the history of the Human race. Probably also the most damaging as well. Private cars have liberated most people from their immediate surroundings and community and quite apart from all the other benefits will be seen to have stirred up the gene pools of towns and villages in the most beneficial way.

Only electricity with phones and computers has had a similarly liberating effect.

 

[Mugshot]

I'm far happier putting my customers bathrooms or tiles or furniture into my van to deliver them than I would be if I were trying to lash them onto my bike, can't image I'd look too serene trying to pedal along with a ton of tiles dragging behind me either. So in conclusion, I think I'm happier as a result of learning to drive

 

[Mugshot]

The car is probably the most important single invention in the history of the Human race.

I would agree with you if it were not for sliced bread.

 

[Brandane]

Poisoned chalice springs to mind.
Like most others of my generation, I was pleased to pass my driving test, and delighted with the freedom and independence that car ownership brought.
Thirty years later and things have changed. Despite running an eight year old, basic but reliable car (Toyota Corolla) the running costs eat a sizeable chunk of my income.
I detest some of the driving I have to do (in heavy slow moving traffic) and seeing the stupidity that goes on. I also enjoy using the car to escape from that, and heading off into the country with a bike in the back.
It is handy to have, particularly for getting to and from work. However I am beginning to think that this will be my last car. I have nowhere to keep it other than "on street" parking, and it has been vandalised several times.
When I give up the car, I will also be giving up work as I currently know it. I will then be liberated .

 

[Dan B]

Of course cars liberate us, what a daft question! The car is probably the most important single invention in the history of the Human race. Probably also the most damaging as well. Private cars have liberated most people from their immediate surroundings and community and quite apart from all the other benefits will be seen to have stirred up the gene pools of towns and villages in the most beneficial way.

Only electricity with phones and computers has had a similarly liberating effect.

I can think of another invention you seem to have overlooked which is usually credited with that effect. There's a clue to what it was in the name of this forum.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

It strikes me that we're not very good at liberation. For many, a degree of conformism gives a sense of liberation and the almost reflex get-a-licence-get-a-car-then-get-a-bigger-one phenomenon persists even though the road reality is anything but liberating.

 

[mcshroom]

It's more complicated than it would seem at first. As an individual living in a rural area then the car allows me to do things I wouldn't otherwise be able to do, which itself is liberating on a personal level. In their favour cars allow people to travel exactly when and where they want, and carry a lot of stuff with them.

OTOH before there was mass use of cars, there were far more options for other means of transport. We know about the Beeching axe (his boss the Transport Minister Marples (who just happened to own a road building company ) has probably done more damage to this country's infrastructure and health than any other politician in history IMHO) which removed many of the branch lines, which had become unprofitable after people started driving instead. We don't always recognise the massive cuts in bus services that have also occured. For example Alfred Wainwright didn't drive, but managed to complete the vast majority of his walks around the Lake District by using the extensive rural bus service. Try that now and in most places it's impossible.

This means that we have lost the choices for those who don't drive, or don't want to drive for that particular journey. That is far from liberating.

 

[mcshroom]

Oh and another thought,

Have a think about how liberated you are the next time you are in a big out-of-town supermarket/shopping mall, with all the identikit national chain stores