I've never almost died on a bus.
this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
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Driving is the highest-risk activity that the average person engages in on the average day.
It's dangerous, stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. I also think it is a significant contributing factor to our sedentary lifestyles and expanding waistlines. I'm resentful that the decision to go with automobile-based infrastructure was decided before I was even born and that I've never had a viable opportunity to vote against it.
What I really hate is that driving is a privilege. But not needing to drive (i.e. walkability, bikeability, and good transit) are also privileges. Fucked either way it would seem.
There never was a vote to make it legal or illegal. And it was widely hailed as a great idea at the time. It was considered the best way for large cities to dig out from under the literal mountains of horse shit they were drowning in and that was polluting the ground water and killing children and adults alike from disease. Plus it gave people far more freedom to move about faster and father than they had by foot, horse, or train. Like it or not, the internal combustion engine has given you, personally, everything good and bad that you have at this very moment in time.
But, like most great human ideas, there are always unintended consequences no one sees until they happen.
All of human history has been us solving problems only to create newer, bigger, more complicated problems.
Sure but now it is holding us back we need a nationwide high speed train network we are stuck in the 1930s while lots of other countries are in the 2030s
I actually like driving for the most part, and I think that I'd like it even more if people who weren't forced to drive weren't driving, and if the people driving were well-trained and medically cleared as safe to drive.
If we had those things I could do a hundred miles an hour on the highway everywhere. It would be awesome.
I think that I’d like it even more if people who weren’t forced to drive weren’t driving,
I actually don't mind driving so much as I mind driving in heavy traffic. Driving along on an empty road, or lighter traffic at least, isn't so bad.
But society pretty much forces everyone to drive. Even people who don't want to drive or are simply bad at it.
Now imagine if everyone you met on those low-traffic days knew how to zipper merge, and were intimately familiar with the idea of "keep right, pass left." And their cars had to be maintained perfectly to even be on the road.
This training and maintenance is why some sections of the Autobahn have no speed limit.
Being a pedestrian in proximity to a driver might be riskier, unfortunately. Most driving safety standards - including vehicle and infrastructure standards too - do not adequately protect people outside of vehicles.
It's the reason I don't bike, even though distances are reasonable. I consider using an unprotected bike lane next to a busy 45mph stroad to be a matter of when (not "if") I'm involved in a collision that could cause serious injury or even a fatality. All it takes is one driver with their face in their phone.
The average person only owns a fraction of a car, but I do believe that existing on a street either inside or around cars is the highest risk an average person is being subjected to on an average day.
Keep in mind that only a small number of privileged people own a car, but everyone has to deal with them and are subjected to their risks.
Either way you risk a possibility of being rear-ended.
I used to be a big fan of public transport, but after covid it went to shit in my country or rather, it went to shit in my part of the country. Pretty sure it is still great in Copenhagen. Those lucky bastards.
As an American who visited Copenhagen post-covid, the public transport is amazing.
Right? Oh noooo I missed the metroooo. 🤭 2 minutes until the next one arrives?! Whatever will I doooo? 😜 And that is just the metro. Ignore the busses and trains which are also plenty and usually on time. Those lucky, lucky bastards.
Meanwhile in my neck of the woods: 💨
I could go into my public transportation horror stories, but I think it's better to conclude my comment with the fact that my boyfriend and I, who were both big fans of public transportation, ended up buying a car because we literally had no other choice.
my boyfriend and I, who were both big fans of public transportation, ended up buying a car because we literally had no other choice.
As a car guy, this breaks my heart. Because you probably bought something reasonable and practical and egg-shaped.
Nothing that stirs your passions. Nothing you look back on in the parking lot and think "I can't believe that's my car."
As someone who thinks cars can be an art form, forcing people who don't want cars to buy cars dilutes that art. Like making amazing designers make ads for bottled water or something.
Cars should be like horses are now: Beautiful and running in a field. Cared for as cherished pets. Not resigned to bumper-to-bumper traffic, waiting for someone who hates driving to attempt to merge with a "Please let me merge before I cry" bumper sticker, herding the semi who's just trying to do their job and not kill someone who should not be driving.
Yeah man! It was even white like an egg too because we couldn't afford a color xD
I will say that for my boyfriend's part, I think our little egg car has brought him a lot of joy because he has more time and energy now that he doesn't have to get up at 3.30 in the morning to get to work at 8.00. He likes nature too so he goes on several trips in his spare time to places he wouldn't be able to reach otherwise, so if it is of any solace to you, our goofy little car has done some good to us. We even talk more because he started calling me on his commute home from work to chat about our day. During the public transport days, there was none of that because he was totally wiped out from being on the go since night time and into the afternoon where the only train or bus home would be home in our city around 18.00 or even 20.00 some days. For years our relationship was good morning and good night on week days because of how fucky public transport is and this was before covid too xD I feel like our car gave me back my boyfriend so I can't hate on it too much even if it is ugly and boring to look at.
But yeah, I appreciate your love for cars. I really feel your passion through your words. To me, cars are just a vehicle that takes you places so it's nice to hear someone else's perspective and having them remind you that cars could be more than just four wheels that drives you around.
Right? Plus they're clean and well-lit.
I've spent some time in North Jutland too - I don't think I saw a bus or train. It felt much more like home in terms of needing a car.
Yeah, they don't care about investing in public transport for us because we are too rural or some shit like that. It's not like we don't want to use it. We just get ignored while Copenhagen is the darling of the land lol. It's the result of centralization politics for decades that drives people into the cities while smaller communities in the countryside are starved of options like public transport, doctors and even shopping facilities. It was a very systematic move on politicians parts and I have lived both in bigger cities and smaller towns and witnessed the centralization happen in real time and how the smaller towns have been slowly strangled to death. It sucks. It didn't used to be like this.
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