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Why do you want to go without a car so badly? I get not wanting one IN the city (did it for several years myself), but outside of the city driving is not bad at

Why do you want to go without a car so badly? I get not wanting one IN the city (did it for several years myself), but outside of the city driving is not bad at all.

helen___keller 7y ago
It's not really the end-all-be-all, but it's a matter of personal preference that I would like to go without one if possible. Having grown up in the deep suburbs of a car-dependent city (including having a car to myself for a few years in high school), it basically comes down to this: (a) I don't like driving and I'm bad at it. (b) I don't want my kids to grow up like I grew up: with no friends in walking distance, nowhere to hang out in walking distance, ultimately bored and only spending time on the internet as a result. By the age I had a car to spend time with friends on my own terms, I basically had no social skills to speak of. (c) Driving cars just feels bad to me. Like, from an environmental point of view. I know it's not sustainable for the earth in the long-term, so it sucks feeling like I am reliant on that technology. Again, it's all personal. But having lived both without a car and completely car dependent, my optimum for quality of life is living a car-optional lifestyle, where the car is only used for the occasional luxury (e.g. a weekend trip out), not for day to day necessities.
- dawg- 7y ago
  I want to chime in here too, because I am from a similar place - deep suburbs where having a car is a necessity. Only difference is I still refuse to pay to live in an inner city. I am counting on the current renaissance of suburban cities to continue, where these smaller towns are embracing walkability/bikeability. My dream is to live in a little suburban town where I can actually walk and bike to important places, and only go into the big city when necessary. It seems like we are getting there, slowly!
pedantsamaritan 7y ago
in addition to GP/sibling's reasons: (d) I enjoy the activity of walking or biking or the relaxation of reading or sleeping over driving a car most of the time (e) cars are expensive (average TCO is $8k per year). That's multiple vacations per year, for me. (f) riding in cars isolate me from others around me in a weird way. Society has partially adapted to this by talking about cars as if they were animate objects (g) parking lots are bundles of frustration for me with multiple people and vehicles constantly in conflict very much echo GP/sibling in wanting day-to-day trips to be car free. Maybe <10 trips per month via car.
- CalRobert 7y ago
  Also, every drive is a missed opportunity for a bike ride, one of life's great pleasures (for me at least)
r00fus 7y ago
> Why do you want to go without a car so badly? Car ownership (if you mostly just commute/shuttle kids) is not all flowers and roses. There's insurance, accidents, maintenance, parking, fueling, cleaning - not to mention the whole purchase + resell process that can take months. That's assuming you like driving. I'd rather do better stuff on my commute or simply not commute at all (WFH).
hylaride 7y ago
Because they’re money pits.
mywittyname 7y ago
> outside of the city driving is not bad at all. Driving is getting awful anywhere near major metro areas, even the midsized ones. Every year seems to add another minute or two onto my commute due to the increase in traffic. I'm even commuting in the against traffic, meaning from near the city core to the suburbs, and it's borderline miserable. I can tell that things are much worse in the other lanes. I don't blame people at all for wanting to forego driving. Population growth is clearly outpacing infrastructure capacity.
notJim 7y ago
I thought I'd weigh in here too. I assume we're talking about driving in the suburbs (i.e., not road trips or the country.) - Car commuting is awful. Terrible use of time, bad for the environment, stressful, etc. Any other method is preferable for me. I WFH now, and actually slightly miss my old bike commute. - Overall driving is a hassle. Getting in the car, backing out, parking it, walking from the parking spot to the place. Much nicer to just walk straight from door to door (unless it's really hot or actively raining.) It's a minor thing, but once I got used to not driving most of the time, I started noticing it. - Driving is stressful for me at least. Just the idea that if I make a minor mistake or miss something, I could kill or maim someone, or even that I could cause serious damage to someone else's property. And traffic is constantly crazy now in places I've driven, so you really have to be on high alert. I prefer to avoid it. - Can't drink or get stoned. Each party has to have at least one DD, which puts a damper on things if you're going to a bar or whatever.
- helen___keller 7y ago
  > Just the idea that if I make a minor mistake or miss something, I could kill or maim someone, or even that I could cause serious damage to someone else's property. I always felt this stress, but living a pedestrian lifestyle really opened my eyes to it. When you're a car, every car is a risk sure but ultimately a collision is just an "accident" and most accidents aren't that bad. When you're a pedestrian, every distracted driver could be the end of your life. A collision means certain death if the car is going fast enough. A lot of my preferences on urbanism have come from realizing that the more convenient you make things for people in cars, the more dangerous and inconvenient you make things for the people outside cars.
CalRobert 7y ago
There are many reasons. Mostly, cars make walking and cycling far worse or impossible. In the US, cars are the leading cause of dead children.

Why do you want to go without a car so badly? I get not wanting one IN the city (did it for several years myself), but outside of the city driving is not bad at all.

helen___keller 7y ago

It's not really the end-all-be-all, but it's a matter of personal preference that I would like to go without one if possible. Having grown up in the deep suburbs of a car-dependent city (including having a car to myself for a few years in high school), it basically comes down to this: (a) I don't like driving and I'm bad at it. (b) I don't want my kids to grow up like I grew up: with no friends in walking distance, nowhere to hang out in walking distance, ultimately bored and only spending time on the internet as a result. By the age I had a car to spend time with friends on my own terms, I basically had no social skills to speak of. (c) Driving cars just feels bad to me. Like, from an environmental point of view. I know it's not sustainable for the earth in the long-term, so it sucks feeling like I am reliant on that technology. Again, it's all personal. But having lived both without a car and completely car dependent, my optimum for quality of life is living a car-optional lifestyle, where the car is only used for the occasional luxury (e.g. a weekend trip out), not for day to day necessities.

dawg- 7y ago
I want to chime in here too, because I am from a similar place - deep suburbs where having a car is a necessity. Only difference is I still refuse to pay to live in an inner city. I am counting on the current renaissance of suburban cities to continue, where these smaller towns are embracing walkability/bikeability. My dream is to live in a little suburban town where I can actually walk and bike to important places, and only go into the big city when necessary. It seems like we are getting there, slowly!

pedantsamaritan 7y ago

in addition to GP/sibling's reasons: (d) I enjoy the activity of walking or biking or the relaxation of reading or sleeping over driving a car most of the time (e) cars are expensive (average TCO is $8k per year). That's multiple vacations per year, for me. (f) riding in cars isolate me from others around me in a weird way. Society has partially adapted to this by talking about cars as if they were animate objects (g) parking lots are bundles of frustration for me with multiple people and vehicles constantly in conflict very much echo GP/sibling in wanting day-to-day trips to be car free. Maybe <10 trips per month via car.

CalRobert 7y ago
Also, every drive is a missed opportunity for a bike ride, one of life's great pleasures (for me at least)

r00fus 7y ago

> Why do you want to go without a car so badly? Car ownership (if you mostly just commute/shuttle kids) is not all flowers and roses. There's insurance, accidents, maintenance, parking, fueling, cleaning - not to mention the whole purchase + resell process that can take months. That's assuming you like driving. I'd rather do better stuff on my commute or simply not commute at all (WFH).

hylaride 7y ago

Because they’re money pits.

mywittyname 7y ago

> outside of the city driving is not bad at all. Driving is getting awful anywhere near major metro areas, even the midsized ones. Every year seems to add another minute or two onto my commute due to the increase in traffic. I'm even commuting in the against traffic, meaning from near the city core to the suburbs, and it's borderline miserable. I can tell that things are much worse in the other lanes. I don't blame people at all for wanting to forego driving. Population growth is clearly outpacing infrastructure capacity.

notJim 7y ago

I thought I'd weigh in here too. I assume we're talking about driving in the suburbs (i.e., not road trips or the country.) - Car commuting is awful. Terrible use of time, bad for the environment, stressful, etc. Any other method is preferable for me. I WFH now, and actually slightly miss my old bike commute. - Overall driving is a hassle. Getting in the car, backing out, parking it, walking from the parking spot to the place. Much nicer to just walk straight from door to door (unless it's really hot or actively raining.) It's a minor thing, but once I got used to not driving most of the time, I started noticing it. - Driving is stressful for me at least. Just the idea that if I make a minor mistake or miss something, I could kill or maim someone, or even that I could cause serious damage to someone else's property. And traffic is constantly crazy now in places I've driven, so you really have to be on high alert. I prefer to avoid it. - Can't drink or get stoned. Each party has to have at least one DD, which puts a damper on things if you're going to a bar or whatever.

helen___keller 7y ago
> Just the idea that if I make a minor mistake or miss something, I could kill or maim someone, or even that I could cause serious damage to someone else's property. I always felt this stress, but living a pedestrian lifestyle really opened my eyes to it. When you're a car, every car is a risk sure but ultimately a collision is just an "accident" and most accidents aren't that bad. When you're a pedestrian, every distracted driver could be the end of your life. A collision means certain death if the car is going fast enough. A lot of my preferences on urbanism have come from realizing that the more convenient you make things for people in cars, the more dangerous and inconvenient you make things for the people outside cars.

CalRobert 7y ago

There are many reasons. Mostly, cars make walking and cycling far worse or impossible. In the US, cars are the leading cause of dead children.