What I also appreciate so much is that if I want to get away from the mayhem or monotony of wherever I am, I can simply walk to or take the bus somewhere with no hassle. Perhaps I’ve overstated the whole “walking freedom,” but there is a soul in being able to do the activities and go to the places where people are the central players and not cars. Here, cars heed to the will and purpose of pedestrians, unlike my experience of the states wherein your life is at the mercy of speeding vehicles that are detached to what humanity is about.
I knew this in Japan, but rarely, if ever, have I seen this in the states, save San Francisco and Manhattan, as well as certain parts of Denver. The latter (Denver) required cars for all its vastness. Cars rule the society in which we live, which alienate the population who simply want a sense of community. Cars can provide a sense of independence or freedom in that one is not beholden to anyone else’s agenda or schedule. However, in my experience as a Los Angelian, cars are a form of imprisonment for us State-siders who can’t get where they need to go without one. Especially in Los Angeles, where the mass-transit system is a joke and carries a stigma, we suffer without our cars.
Cars, as the sole mode of transportation are, in my estimation, a bad idea because they serve to isolate people and create a sense of disconnection. When people have to pass one another’s space through walking or biking, somehow a certain respect is generated for the various personal spaces, whereas, cars give people a sense of allowance to act with blatant disregard for one another – yes, guilty as charged.
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