Living Car Free - NP Story: Car stolen, now car free and loving it.

This is pretty inspirtational since in South Africa, 35% of non-natural death is caused by cars, (and the drunks who drive them)

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2952983

She found new lease of life on her bicycle
October 19, 2005

Car Free Day in Gauteng will be like any other for 53-year-old Joburger Caro Russell.

She has pedalled her way into a decade of relaxation, reduced spending and improved health ever since she adopted cycling - as a result of having two cars stolen during what now feels like a previous life.

Last year Russell drove a car again for the first time in
10 years. "It felt strange to be steering while sitting in this cage," she said.

If there is one call she would like to make, having set such
a car-free precedent, it's for cycling lanes to be built alongside Joburg's main routes.

"There are a lot more people out there cycling these days," says Russell, whose roots make her appreciate being able to cycle.

"I grew up in a children's home where there was one bicycle for 150 kids. If you had a chance to ride it once a month you were lucky."
Recalling how she felt the last time she walked out of her house to see that her car had been pinched, Russell says: "I was filled with animosity and hatred."


However, after a year of cycling, things had turned around for her. "I was saying to myself: 'Thanks, guys, if it wasn't for you, I would never have got into this'."

She says she hasn't even begun to count how much money she has saved.

Having once been someone who couldn't walk out the front door without her car keys, Russell now sympathises with those who suffer from stress commuting in heavy traffic.

Part of her daily commute to work is a hill up Fourth Street, Bez Valley. "When I first started cycling, it took me a good, solid three months to make it up Fourth Street without getting off my bike."
She says taxi traffic along Beyers Naudé Drive requires the utmost concentration to avoid becoming a road casualty, emphasising the need for cycling lanes. - Sapa

It is a shame that an extreme push into cycling has to happen because of a evil thing-such as your car being stolen! I wonder what would take to push more people out of these overpriced and overrated killers and into a more milder form of transit?

That was a good article. Thank you.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that being car-free is the key to happiness. A woman at work this moring was conversing with a friend about how it's so painful when all the bills come in like car payments and insurance. I just listened on because those days are over for me now and forever.

I consider myself lucky that it didn't take me 53 years like it took Carol to figure it all out. I only regret that I didn't start 20 years ago.

"She says she hasn't even begun to count how much money she has saved"

Try over $4,000.00 to $7,000.00 thousand per year!