Living Car Free - It helps to be car dependant for some time.

It helps to be car dependant for some time in your life. I don't mean to have a car for joy riding, but to have a car that you drive to school/work day in and day out. Once you realize how little attention you pay, and how much of an automaton you become, you can get rid of the car.

It's good to realize how little one can actually see outside of a windshield during a down pour. Or how little control you have over a car on ice (if you cycle in winter).

It's a sobering experience to realize what is out there waiting for you on the roads.

Just my $0.02 after I read the "teen going car free" thread (or parts of it).

jakub.ner, by the same token, it helps to live without a car. You start to see that a lot the overhead in you life is simply just fluff. I think it's amazing to see that the car is really just a habit we've all fallen into... a bad habit.

Agreed. But that's a different discussion; a way of thinking that probably a lot of us car-free and car-lite individuals already subscribe to.

I can see just fine out of my truck windows during a heavy downpour (and i dont get blinded in the eyes by sleet). I pay the same amount of attention as when i cycle, in fact i pay more when driving (professional driver, maybe counts for something). Not getting rid of my truck(s) anytime soon. I enjoy driving and wrenching on them (and my fleet of bikes). Yes, i'm vehicle "lite".

the day they make a bicycle that can haul 20,000lbs of construction debris, that can tilt and dump it, and that can haul 2000lbs of job toolboxes and crew, and that can go up and down 30% grades, 1000's of KM's a day, and keep my dry and warm, is the day i'll get rid of my truck(s)


2 cents.

^ No one is arguing the usefulness of vehicles in certain situations.

I totally agree. I'm glad not to own or need a car, but I'm just as glad to be licensed to drive should I need to. It's like knowing CPR, like that.

I've had jobs where I needed to drive vehicles (short-buses for kids, pick-ups to haul canoes, etc.) Also, if I'm staying with someone who lives in the boonies, it's nice to be able to drive into town without them. I also like to do my fair share of the driving on a road-trip.

Of course, I am getting rusty at it. The other day, a friend who is car lite asked me to move his car across the street while I was helping him move, and I totally botched the parallel park job. Can't win 'em all.

Bushman, if you're going to respond please keep to the spirit of the thread. No one is bashing cars here. This thread is about being aware of what it's like from the other side, from inside the car. If you recall it's in response to the car-free teens thread.

All I'm saying is, I didn't appreciate melodic metal nor rock as much before I picked up a guitar.

......Once you realize how little attention you pay, and how much of an automaton you become, you can get rid of the car.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that.I went through the "teen going car free" thread.Care to elaborate?

A while back--probably when reading this forum--I thought about raising kids in my area (London, Ontario) car-free and car-lite. When it came to cycling one thing that worried me was that at some point kids would be riding alone on the roads and not having a healthy respect for cars on the roads.

Reading the sticky on teens going car-free brought these thoughts back.

My argument was that I have a healthy respect for cars becuase of my driving experience; something I wouldn't have if I was car-free from the get go.

You didn't have this "healthy respect for cars on the roads" until you actually started driving(at the age of 16)and knew what it is to drive a car.Hopefully you were riding bikes long before then.Kids have been running the roads by themselves for years.It would be up to you(as the parent) to teach your kids to be road smart.
I agree though that everybody at some point would need to rely on a car for transportation(taking the pet to the vet,kids to doctors' appointments,etc).Just not neccessarily your car.I've got friends that will drive me somewhere if I need use of a vehicle,or I take a taxi or transit.
Now, I'll have to admit that I'm not a teenager anymore(most people might say I still act like one:)).I drove cars for 20 years and have owned over 140:D of them in that time(mostly antique and vintage).I have been carfree for the past 12 years and don't miss driving(I don't even have a licence anymore)at all.I have ridden the last 12 winters in Ottawa and I'm here to say it is more than doable.
I feel that society as a whole has become too comfortable and lazy.
Just look at the numbers of overweight people(adults and kids)!