How America Got Hooked On Cars

Americans drive much more than in any other country – twice as much as the average German, for example. And the actual experience of driving isn’t quite as romantic as the image. Drivers are often stuck in traffic. Cars pump out pollution. Less walking means less exercise. Cars also can kill people. Some skeptics say, indeed–cars are awesome. But they got a lot of help from favorable policies and strong lobbies. CNBC spoke with some researchers and looked at numbers to get the full picture of why Americans became so dependent on cars.

Chapters:
0:00 - 01:37 Introduction
01:41 Chapter 1: A nation hooked on cars
03:47 Chapter 2: How we got here
08:00 Chapter 3: Cars are subsidized
11:32 Chapter 4: Solutions

Producer: Robert Ferris
Editor: Andrea Miller
Animation: Jason Reginato
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Additional footage: Getty Images

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How America Got Hooked On Cars

[MPsCards]

Americans have this weird notion that having transportation options is socialism and having only one option (“cars”) is freedom.

[Heavenboundexpress]

An American drives a Ford F150 10 miles to get a $7 burger and 10 miles back. If that’s not insane I don’t know what is .

[vocal-team]

A lot of people think the only thing urbanists stand for is a world where cars are banned. Not true! What urbanists stand for is a world where cars aren't the only means of transportation. It's actually about an *increase* in freedom. The ability to walk, bike, take a bus, take a train, drive, or fly should all be equally valid ways to reach a destination based on the specificities of the trip. But currently, the overreliance on driving makes the first four completely unfeasable in a majority of american cities in for a majority of trips.

[PoopyPants-bf]

imagine riding a train for 2hrs from LA to Vegas rather than driving for 4 hours straight hoping ur car won’t break down in the middle of death valley

[mdaaaa]

The more you learn about American history and understand the system the more you realise this country was made for profit making, exploitation, not for orderly people to live and trive. This country was made for the rich by the rich to the rich...

[HelmuthGerka]

Imagine reading a book or watching a show on your 30 min commute instead of just driving everyday! There is so many upsides to public transit.

[gabetalks]

Driving is only freedom if you have the right to choose not to if you don't want to. If car dependency is mandated by law, you aren't free. You're being forced to drive whether you like it or not.

[Autotad]

Moved from the Bay Area to Chicago and absolutely love not having a car. I love driving and my cars, but traffic is absolutely soul draining. A lot of people driving really shouldn’t be driving too.

[peters-zn]

Freedom isn't having to rely on having a car and have no other methods of going to work. Freedom is having a choice of transportation.

[SqueakyJpn]

I moved to Japan a few years ago and the quality of life difference due to public transportation alone is insane. Americans genuinely do not know what they’re missing out on so I don’t blame them for their ignorance.

[jenniferesein]

Cars have gotten heavier just like we Americans have. Obese cars for an obese people.

[AndrewFaust-yt]

Europe is the perfect example of how you can have walkable cities, public transport AND cars and still drive if you want to. All modes of transport have their strengths and weaknesses. That's why there are multiple systems, to each compliment the other and help in an area where one might fall short.

[chanhnguyen]

• I am from Vietnam and when i come to the US, it’s crazy to think to drive 65mph for 15 minutes just to buy groceries and necessities.


It’s just not walkable here and everything so far apart.

[EnjoyFirefighting]

But ... but ... it's FREEDOM
Freedom to be forced to drive due to the lack of good local public transportation networks and passenger rail networks. If they exist at all they're not good enough to be a good alternative to driving for most people.
For me freedom is having the choice if I want to drive or not. The freedom not to have to drive, not depending on having a car.
Using public transport sometimes or on a regular basis does NOT mean that you can't have and use a car as well. Most people here have / use both

[juanarriaga]

Those who love driving should promote walkable cities and public transportation because it makes driving fun again!

[imtiazhossain]

The other issue is that people often get priced out of city life. So not having access to public transit leads to buying/leasing cars.

[DaleNorenberg]

We love taking the Amtrak train; less stress, no parking issues, and no traffic jams or road rage!

[TravisMcMurray]

I live in East Tennessee. I have nearly my entire life. I don’t like driving. It’s an inconvenient necessity. I work from home, but when I do need to go out I don’t even have a sidewalk or a bike lane. There is no public transit within walking distance. It’s a massive problem.

[Underoverrated]

It keeps people atomized, away from their community. It also keeps us sick and unhealthy. Cars are great for camping, but having to rely on them daily is the worst. I want to take a metro to work, and drive to the mountains on the weekends, but most cities here aren’t multimodal.

[mariusfacktor]

A super easy way to tell that car-dependency is not the "free market" is the existence of "parking minimums". Parking minimums are city laws which force businesses, offices, and homes to build a certain number of parking spaces for something like every 100 sq ft or one bedroom. If the free market desired more car parking, there wouldn't need to be laws which mandate them. Same thing with suburban sprawl. Cities have development laws that ban every type of development pattern except suburban sprawl. It's not the people's preferences, necessarily, it's the law. It's way past time to get rid of these laws and let people choose the way they wish to live.