by Andrew Hitchcock
If we want to change driving habits in the United States, we have to start young. A large part of the high school experience and a child’s rite of passage involves the automobile. Once a person has this notion of driving everywhere planted in them, it is hard to remove.
Being a recent high school graduate from a suburban high school, I think it is sad how true this is. Younger high school students look forward to turning 16 so they can finally learn to drive and increase their mobility. Getting a driver’s license or car is probably the biggest event in most teenagers’ high school careers. My suburb was fairly affluent, so most kids had cars, but they got angry because there were not enough places around the school to park. The farthest house in the school district from the high school was only five miles away, yet very few got to school under their own power. Most opted for school bus, car, or carpool…
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