Originally Posted by B. Carfree

I simply have to disagree. The median trip length in the US is just a few miles, so driving is most certainly not the only practical means of getting from point A to point B in most cases. (Please don't confuse "most cases" or even "many cases" with "all cases".) In many settings, a bicycle is even faster than a car. Over 60% of car commuters spend less than 30 minutes getting to work and the average distance, which is doubtlessly more than the median, is only 16 miles. These are trivial times and distances for any able-bodied person and certainly cannot explain why 86% of all commutes are by personal motor vehicle.

My preferred definition of an addiction is the one a drug treatment nurse once told me. An addiction, he said, is a habit that is destructive to oneself or society. Clearly, many of us have a habit of riding bikes. Just as clearly, this habit is not destructive to ourselves or society. Those people who choose to substitute a driving habit for cycling must consider the fact that driving is indeed destructive to oneself and to society in many ways.

I'm not arguing that there is no place for driving, only that the thoughtless use of cars, the habitual use, if you will, is indeed an addiction because of the damage this habit does.