Are cars the future? I say "NO!"
I usually don't like such direct headlines, but here it was needed to catch your attention so that you'll know why I say no. You'll know whether I'm right or not, and thus you'll be able to choose if you want the car to be the transport medium of the future. Note that till now you just used it and didn't wonder whether it's good; I'm sure you've heard more than twice "open your mind and close your eyes" but why don't you try to open your eyes to realize what is really going on in our world?
Natural catastrophes are raising the alarm in today's society. Hurricanes, volcano eruptions, floods, burning forests, etc. Some even think that this is the problem of the present. But this is false. Totally false. In Spain, last year 25 persons died in natural catastrophes, and 6000 persons died in car accidents (not to mention the 147.000 persons who were injured). Why are we so affected when a person dies through a thunder, yet we don't care about four young guys who died in a car crash?
Currently, in Spain (probably the statistics of your country are even higher) 16 persons die in a car accident every day and 400 are injured. Every day! But this is not all, last year the main cause of deaths in the age band from 5 to 24 years was Aids, now it's not, and we are all happy about that, but why don't you try to see what's behind the headlines? Which is the new main cause of death amongst children and young people? Car accidents. Want more facts? It's the second leading cause of death in the people of 25 to 34 years. Enough facts, but what's behind them?
It's me; when I was eight or so a car drove into me. I spent one month in hospital and another two months at my house without being able to do what I used to. It was in a street with two schools, with traffic signs alerting drivers to the presence of children, telling them to reduce the velocity. Did the driver reduce the velocity? No, he was even over the speed limit. After about two years, a car ran into my mother when she was driving her motocycle. She worked delivering letters to pay for our house and buy food. The son of a bitch tried to run away, but he was unlucky, got arrested and was put on trial. Fortunately nowadays both of us are alive and this is no more than a memory of the past, and in my case also a big scar on my left leg. But some people are not lucky enough; a friend and member of my old group, Oscar, died in a car crash. This was a very sad moment. He was young and full of illusions about life, but his days ended on the road, inside a car. Was this fair?
Barcelona and Madrid both are large cities, and like most (in this case Mexico deserves a little special mention) they are full of cars. In case of Barcelona, twenty years ago (a long time!) the city was already crammed with cars to the point of suffocation. Has traffic density been reduced since? No, in fact it has increased, and instead of more parks and more houses, we have more and wider streets plus and more parking spaces. Why has no effort been made to reduce traffic? Why did nobody notice the problem? Why did no newspaper write about this? Because most of the ppl (like you before reading this article) did not notice. So what about the people who do know?! They are better off not telling anybody.
No, I'm not talking about big conspiracies, or secret governmental plans. I'm talking about the truth, the hundreds or thousands (if not more) families who live of the car industry. Constructing, selling, mending and cleaning cars, selling petrol, giving driving lessons ... What will happen to them? More importantly, what will be the reaction of the big companies selling petrol? What will the Arabian countries selling crude oil do? None of the above want to lose their source of money. They have power and want to retain it.
Some time ago Greenpeace presented the electric car. They were not intending to sell it, but just wanted to demonstrate that it is possible. It takes 50% less energy and causes far less pollution. But have you seen it in the street, or do you know where can you buy it? Nowhere - as we know certain people do not want to let this happen. This car could cost the same as a car with just the same characteristics, the "only" difference is that it takes half the energy, you save 50% of your money, and produce 50% less CO2, one of the main causes of climate change).
Apropos pollution, do you know that traffic is its main cause in industrialized countries? Here it is where we have to mention Mexico, the most contaminated city in the world. But this does not only happen in Mexico, it happens in all cities, including Barcelona. Of course we can reduce emissions, but this is not the only solution, and it's not the best.
Unfortunately this is not the only kind of pollution - what about noise? Sounds ridiculous? It's not. Most of the streets produce more noise that they should. Walking in the city is not good, as you only hear cars and they are very noisy. And they also make the cities look uglier. I want to see more trees and less cars, I want to hear people, not the cars. I'm not pretending to transform the city into a town, I just want the city to be a good city, and cars are not part of my idea of this, at least not in the massive amounts in which thez are seen today.
My idea of a good city is a city with more parks with streets were ppl can walk and talk, crossing a street without having to worry about the high speed of cars, a city were other forms of transport are used, buses, bicycles and metro could be enough if we want.
And now that all the facts have been presented, it's time to say what to do. I'll not use a car anymore unless I really need to, I'll not buy a car under any circumstances. I'll use public transport instead, I'll walk to my institute, I'll use my bicycle, and you can do the same. You can help to save the planet we live on, or you can look to the other side and keep doing the same. Your grandsons will wonder why nobody in the past tried to change it. Why don't you change it now, and let your sons live in a better city, in a better world?