Originally Posted by shipwreck

I agree with the sentiment that if someone wants to drive from one store at the strip mall to another one right next to it, even when it takes them longer to get their bulk in and out of the car than it would have taken to walk slowly to the other destination and back, there is nothing that I can do about it. I won't lose sleep over that one observed event, but I might heave a sigh over the idea that it is some sort of cultural symptom. There will have to be one hell of a mass transit infrastructure to get that kind of potentially able bodied person to walk over fifty feet voluntarily, much less trips of two to five miles.

The only standard I am entitled to truly have an opinion on about proper use of a motor vehicle is my own. How much I decide I need to use a vehicle may change over the course of my life time, I could potentially become that person who gets in the car to go forty yards. I doubt it, and hope not, but never say never. For what its worth, I dropped my taxes off today without using my car. Total gasoline expenses was about four hundred dollars, for the year. That drives my tax person crazy, as its apparently not enough compared to other businesses like mine. Don't ask me for particulars on why, she just frets over it every year.