Car-dependency represents big government overreach.
Building good transit promotes freedom of transportation.
Car-dependency restricts life and liberty
Car-dependency is when the built environment requires a car for basic errands. It is enforced when the government only builds roads without alternatives like safe sidewalks, bike trails, or frequent transit. Car-dependency robs us of our freedom to move how we wish. In essence, it is the government saying “you will pay for a car, or we’ll trap you in your house.”
Car-dependency has deadly consequences. According to the CDC, road-related deaths are a public health crisis and kill 45,000 Americans a year, almost as many as all crimes and mass shootings combined. Additionally, car-dependency is especially deadly for vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and bicyclists.
Ending car-dependency needn’t come at the expense of cars
Not everyone wants to drive, but making car-dependent communities forces everyone to drive for every errand, increasing congestion. By building safe, convenient alternatives to driving into our transportation infrastructure, those who choose not to drive won’t have to, and the roads will be freed up for those who do. Building yet another highway does not address this problem.
Bad transit is a choice
Because transit in America has been neglected for so long, it’s a common misconception that transit is always inconvenient or slower than driving. In reality, driving is only more convenient because, the US spends $206,000,000,000 each year to make driving more convenient. Transit, by comparison, gets less than a third as much funding, even in the face of a $176 billion investment backlog. Rebalancing this spending inequality and building frequent, reliable transit systems would give people the freedom to travel how they wish, instead of forcing everyone to pay for cars, gas, insurance, and mechanics just to go to work and buy food.