Originally Posted by
Rowan
Except, there will always be other people who put a car on the road to fill the space that you have so graciously left. The 17yo who's just got their licence. The new immigrant who has just landed. The upwardly mobile family who can afford three or four cars.
The notion of One Less Car is just fatuous BS that flies in the face of the figures that have shown that registered vehicles -- that is, the ones that are on the roads and being used -- continue to increase.
Still, if it makes you feel better, and you have to make a statement other than riding a bike to reinforce your beliefs that your are contributing to something good, great.
Me? I could never connect with it when I was free of vehicle ownership.
I don't know about the number of registered vehicles; I care less about the number of motor vehicles than about their use. Here in the U.S., we reached peak car, peak total miles driven, six years ago.
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/03/27...mericans-stil/
I think we reached a per capita peak three or four years prior to that.
So, I think people choosing to think of their efforts to use cars less, either by not owning one or by driving the one they own fewer times, is not fatuous BS at all. Because of the combined efforts of millions of Americans, our roads have slightly fewer cars careening along them. Of course, it's still far, far too many, but at least we appear to be turning the corner on this addiction although I doubt if bike stickers had much if anything to do with any of this trend reversal.
Then again, perhaps this is all just a blip due to the generational war on our youth, who are currently saddled with obscene college debts and rather poor job prospects. I suppose we will eventually recover economically and then we shall see what these youngsters are made of.