Car Dependence
Streetsblog Basics
Car Dependence Is a Poverty Trap That States Exploit to Raise Money
State and local governments in much of the country use the threat of drivers license suspension to impose fines and sanctions that can entrap people in a vicious cycle of indebtedness.
September 29, 2017
Self-Driving Cars Should Accommodate People, Not the Other Way Around
You think victim-blaming is bad now? Making everyone walk or bike with a "don't hit me" device would further penalize the most vulnerable.
July 25, 2017
Amazon Could Kill Car-Dependent Big Box Retail. Will It Also Kill Main Street?
Amazon is chipping away at the dominance of big box stores, which might warm the hearts of people who watched Walmart and other retailers ruthless suck the life out of walkable downtowns for years on end. But is it really a good thing?
April 26, 2017
Tesla’s Parking Problem Says a Lot About Elon Musk’s Brand of Tech Saviorism
It's fitting that the Palo Alto headquarters for Elon Musk's flagship company, Tesla, has an epic logistical problem caused by the spatial inefficiency of its core product.
April 14, 2017
America’s Traffic Death Toll Is a National Disgrace
More than 40,000 Americans were killed in traffic last year, according to new estimates from the National Safety Council, the worst toll in a decade. The U.S. transportation system claims far more lives each year than peer countries. If America achieved the same fatality rate as the UK, more than 30,000 lives would be saved each year.
February 17, 2017
Car Dependence and the Troubling Rise of Subprime Auto Loans
There have been warning signs about the growth in subprime auto loans for years now. But the issue got some very high-profile attention last week when JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon raised concerns that there may be a bubble in the auto lending market.
June 10, 2016
More Driving, More People Dying on America’s Streets
On Friday, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration released new data [PDF] showing that traffic deaths are up. Up quite a bit.
February 9, 2016
The Feds Want to Reform the Cult of “Level of Service”
"What you measure is what you get," the saying goes.
January 28, 2016
Carseats and the Limitations of American Safety Culture
One lesson they really hammer home, when you're a new parent, is the importance of carseats.
December 18, 2015
Auto Industry Analyst Predicts Decline of the Two-Car Household
Bailey Mareu, 30, and her husband were looking for ways to save money after she left her job to help run the family business in Lawrence, Kansas, two years ago.
December 2, 2014