Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile

“Automobiles have produced far more cumulative damage in the world, in terms of death, illness, and environmental destruction, than nearly any other invention in human history,” argue the cocreators of The War on Cars podcast, in this incisive account. Beyond the obvious, such as traffic fatalities, which claimed more than 40,000 American lives in 2022, and pollution, which contributes significantly to both global warming and cancer rates, the trio detail harms the car has wrought to interpersonal and social life, including exacerbating inequity and isolation. Reviewing how the car’s dominance came to be, they find that in the early years of the American auto, pedestrian safety was intuitively prioritized (one of the very first Superman comics had the Man of Steel combatting reckless drivers and fighting for better traffic enforcement). Only in later years was this replaced by an outright hostility towards any measure perceived as changing the car’s position in modern life—an emotional response that verges on the irrational, the authors argue, pointing to instances like when pro-parking advocates also denounce the installation of new charging spots for electric cars. The authors spotlight efforts to unwind the car’s stranglehold—most crucially successful recent advocacy for eliminating the parking minimums that have dotted America with large, mostly empty parking lots. Part rallying cry, part strategy session, this will inspire anti-car activists. (Oct.)