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Category Archives: Car ownership

Why Climate Change is Turning Off Millennials From Driving

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 | warai03p | No Comments

By Joe Baur at Article 3

for mikeAmerican Millennials returning to urban cores across the country has become a familiar narrative. So too, has that of Millennials ditching the car in favor of living in walkable and bikeable neighborhoods. Study after study has confirmed both points and cities are reacting accordingly to accommodate the changing demographics.

But cities can only do so much. In the course of these shifting demographics, Millennials have shown a growing preference for a more sustainable, eco-friendly existence. More than any other generation, they seem to be more keenly aware of how humans have impacted the world.

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The Benefits of One Less Car

Saturday, August 17th, 2013 | Editor | No Comments

My family eagerly decided to forgo a second car four years ago when we moved to Dunedin, New Zealand; a decision we have never regretted. It turns out by doing so, we are not just happier, healthier, and polluting less, but we are also considerably wealthier while helping our local economy through the “multiplier effect“. Let me explain. Continue reading →

“A New Direction: Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America’s Future.”

Thursday, June 27th, 2013 | Editor | No Comments

Original Article at US PIRG

The Driving Boom—a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States—is over.

Total and Per-Capita Vehicle-Miles Traveled, U.S.

Americans drive fewer total miles today than we did eight years ago, and fewer per person than we did at the end of Bill Clinton’s first term. The unique combina­tion of conditions that fueled the Driving Boom—from cheap gas prices to the rapid expansion of the workforce during the Baby Boom generation—no longer exists. Meanwhile, a new generation—the Mil­lennials—is demanding a new American Dream less dependent on driving.

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Why People Choose Cars, Even When Mass Transit Would Serve Them Better

Monday, February 4th, 2013 | warai03p | No Comments

Original article by Eric Jaffe at The Atlantic Cities

People don’t always make rational decisions. The entire field of behavioral economics, with all its colorfully named biases and heuristics, is based on our irrationality.

Go ahead and add cars to the illogical list too. In an upcoming paper in Transport Policy, a group of Italian researchers report that people show an irrational bias toward automobiles — they call it the “car effect.” Instead of considering all travel modes and choosing the one that saves the most time and money, people prefer to drive even when it’s not the best objective option.

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Car pollution, noise and accidents ‘cost every EU citizen £600 a year’

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013 | warai03p | No Comments

Original article by Peter Walker at The Guardian.

Cars in traffic

The perennial complaint from drivers that they are excessively taxed has been challenged by a study which concludes that road accidents, pollution and noise connected to cars costs every EU citizen more than £600 a year.The report by transport academics at the Dresden Technical University in Germany calculated that even with drivers’ insurance contributions discounted these factors amounted to an annual total of €373bn (£303bn) across the 27 EU member states, or around 3% of the bloc’s entire yearly GDP. This breaks down as €750 per man, woman and child.

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