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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   24716 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 25, 2023

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I get this is a well-intentioned comment, but I assure you that most of the experiences you mention are hardly foreign to me.

Have I had to suffer through traffic? Yes. Bad stoplights? Yes. Cross an inconvenient highway to get to the other side? Yes. And while dodging cows while I'm at. Annoying u-turn restrictions? There's one walking distance from my door. Geriatric Cadillac driver? Well, I've never encountered a Cadillac, but rest assured I've been tempted to misuse my license to double check theirs.

You've never sat in a 10 mile traffic backup caused by people's inability to not slow down and look at crashed cars and ambulances on the other side of the highway. You've never changed brake pads on the street. You've never paid significantly more for an apartment that had a garage. You've never paid $250/month for a parking lease at work. You've never spent 45 minutes at a dead standstill between the bend at Bates and the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, not once, but every. Fucking. Day. As part of your commute.

Discounting the obvious Americanisms, I've been in traffic delayed by rubbernecking at accidents. I've fortunately never had to change brake pads at all. Apartments with guaranteed and reserved parking do cost more. Thankfully my hospital doesn't nickel and dime me with parking, but that'll change in the NHS.

No really, I am well aware of the difficulties that car ownership entails, and I would wager it's even worse here with the quality of the roads, the cows, people who consider the laws of the road more akin to flexible guidelines, and no end of other issues. About the only thing I'm certain I'm better off without is the risk of someone pulling a gun out of road rage.

And I still prefer widespread car-ownership. It's a pretty sweet deal the moment you remember you have (or plan to have) a large family, carry a bunch of crap like groceries, travel to places outside a city that don't fall on convenient rail or bus routes and so on. Even in the UK, it's expected that a doctor should have a car, I had to sign a waiver for my training application where I indemnify the NHS against paying for any expenses incurred if I'm urgently forced to rent a cab or take public transport.

Much like democracy, having a car is the worst possible option barring all the others.

Having a car and needing a car to the extent that residents of much of America do are two very different things. Even in most walkable European cities with excellent public transport, many people own cars - a clear majority when you restrict 'people' to parents, for example. Owning a car is normal and fine. But owning one doesn't mean you need to use it to get everywhere.

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