I hate driving. I really do. I hate getting cut off, I hate people riding my bumper and THEN cutting me off. I hate getting run off the road. I hate people flicking me off in their mirrors. I hate it when people speed up when I put my blinker on. I hate it when someone decides that they need to be on the other side of four lanes NOW and they sail across all of those lanes and make me slam on my brakes, while I have to figure out how I'm not going to kill the three people tailing one another behind me. I hate how everyone on the road has no idea how to drive when it: snows, rains, hails, is foggy, or generally has any other road condition other than clear and sunny. And most of all, I hate that whenever I get where I'm going, someone bitches at me about how long they've been waiting.

So what do I do? I curse, I obsessively check my speed to make sure I'm at least driving the speed limit. I check my mirrors constantly. I can't listen to music, I can't listen to CDs, all I can do is sit there, in utter panic, for however many hours I'm driving and make constant adjustments for all the other idiots on the road.

6 million people get into car accidents each year, 30,000 of them die. I suppose that should be a comforting statistic, until you realize that anyone who drives at a non-average speed (too fast or too slow) is more likely to get into an accident. Additionally, people are more likely to get in an accident when they don't know where they're going (accidents are higher around labor day, Christmas and New Years. They are also higher during summer vacation. I.E. Times when they are driving to someplace they do not usually go).

By contrast, public transit does not have these problems. In Europe, somewhere around 1400 people were killed in rail transit accidents. Only 5% of these people were people involved in public rail transit. The rest were railyard accidents and people in cars who tried to beat the trains. As far as planes, the accidents are usually a handful of really bad plane crashes, ones that we always hear about on the news. Pedestrians get killed by cars at a rate of about 4,000 a year with 70,000 being injured. Compare that to 30,000 deaths and 6 million accidents. Not to be callus, but keep in mind that if you are fleet of foot, you reduce your chances. 19% of those who die and 11% of those are injured at 65 years or older. "Bike fatalities represent 2% of all traffic fatalities" says bicyclinginfo.org. 677 people were killed in 2011. Does that reduce your chances of dying? No. You don't know what pool you're drawing from, but the number IS lower!

Not only that, but cars are a big bite out of your pocketbook. For me to own a car (and keep in mind I HATE/LOATH/Seethe in an unending fire of negativity towards driving) is about 400$ a month (gas, oil, maintenance, fees, etc.) Studies show that the average family spends about 15% of their income on owning and maintaining their vehicles. That means that I spend 15% of my working life 'earning the privilege' to put myself through my agonizing commute every morning and night. Now, if I have an hour total commute, that means I spend...

8 hours of work * .15 = 1.2 + 1 = 2.1

8 + 8 = 16

2.1/16 = 13% of my life supporting or doing something that I absolutely loathe.

Or, I could spend 13% of my life getting fit, listening to lectures/audiobooks/podcasts/language learning programs, possibly reading a book if you could find a train. Quite honestly, I'd rather spend my money on that. If I were to spend my money on a really spendy lightrail plan, I would still be spending only... 161$ a month on transit, a full 200-300$ less than I would have to spend on my car. Keep in mind, these monthly figures are figuring in the costs of licensing, fees (gov't imposed expenses) and fuel, insurance, maintenance and repairs (natural expenses). Even if I were only paying natural car expenses, my car would still cost me 280$ a month.

Now, I'm lucky. I should admit here that I do not currently pay for the repairs on my car. I couldn't afford it. I get help. My goal is to be financially independent and take care of myself, so that means I still have to think of these things.

So, I've made a plan. It's called "Get Jinyu off of the road by 2015". I am going to (1) Find a full-time job, (2) Move within a fifteen minute walk of it and (3) Get rid of my car. I am going to (4) Figure out how to take planes, trains and buses to all my favorite vacation destinations and (5)I will never, ever drive again. I know, "good luck", right? Especially since I want to get a border collie and do disc. They just stuff their events in random parks where no one can get to if they don't have a car. But.. it's a hope.

Sources:
CDC Pedestrian Safety Fact Sheet
Walking Info
European Transit Statistics
Ask.com "How many car accidents happen each year
Bicycling Crash Statistics
Cost of Car Ownership

I wish I lived in an area where the public transit was good enough that I'd never have to drive. The US infrastructure favors cars way too much...
» randomjunk on 2013-10-23 08:00:09

Yeah, I just didn't see why solar panels would have to block out the sun anywhere. Water power usually comes from moving water, not falling water. The environmental effects of wind power are close to nonexistent.
» le_battement on 2013-10-24 10:03:44

Yeah, that was my point. Wind turbines kill less birds than every other possible factor that kills birds, including building windows and intentional bird population control. Like I said, close to nonexistant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bird_mortality.svg
» le_battement on 2013-10-26 11:00:28

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