Sometimes we see comments repeated so often someone might start to believe they are based in fact. But there is no proof that cars started the suburbs. They may have made them easier to access but the trolley car suburbs came well before the car. 
What is never addressed is why people moved in the first place. Crime, heat, high cost of rent, slum lords, building restrictions, bad schools and no place for kids to play are a big part of it as well. Also some people simply don’t want to live stacked into a small area like pigeons in a hutch. (some don't mind it.) Cars may have allowed some to escape but they didn’t cause the conditions that made people want to leave the central urban areas in the first place. 
And while getting a drivers license may not make someone and expert driver still if they get a DUI they can always ride a bike, a process that happens far more than people might like to admit. (you can't get a DUI on a bike and simply replace it with a car.) Just spend some time in the Car free forum and you will see people that want to be air conditioner free, Discussions on giving up a full time job for a part time one so you will have more time for whatever you might need more time for. When asked about health care they point to being able to use free clinics and the fact that a hospital can’t refuse to treat you even if you have no intention of paying. People talk about living cash free, the idea that personal hygiene might just be over rated. None of those things have anything to do with cars or highway taxes it has to do with choice. 
Everyone has the freedom to make a choice not to drive, not to live in a house, not to use air conditioning and not to feel bathing is as important as many of us do. But their choice doesn’t need to be legislated. If I want to live in the city I can pack my things and move. That is all it takes. But for many if they want to live in the city “everyone” should live in the city. It would be better for all mankind even if there is no evidence that it would be. The Navajo didn’t care for Bosque Redondo and the Japanese didn’t care for Manzanar. Some people may like better schools, a yard and a home of their own. That is not the car’s fault, and bicycles will not be the salvation of civilization.
Last edited by Robert Foster; 09-16-11 at 11:29 PM.