swwhite

I think there's something to this. I was driving home one day with the kid, after taking him across town to buy some shoes he couldn't find closer. It was Saturday, we had no other obligations, our car was dirty, we passed a fund-raising car-wash at a local school, where the price of a car wash would have been lower than at a commercial establishment and faster then me doing it myself. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to stop; I was in too much of a hurry to get home.

I think, personally, that car use has altered my mind a bit. I think that because I am used to using this appliance that allows me to go places fast, after a time I expect that I should go fast, and that after some more time anything that prevents me from going fast (heavy traffic, Sunday drivers) is a bad thing, and that after even more time getting places in the least possible amount of time becomes almost an end in itself.

Of course I can't prove this, but it seems that after five years of regular commuting to work by bicycle I don't think the same way that I did before about things like travel time, appropriate transportation technology, and so on.