When Cities Treated Cars as Dangerous Intruders

But ultimately it was not laws that would change attitudes toward the automobile, but familiarity. Hostility toward cars and drivers began to diminish as vehicles became more affordable. As car ownership came within reach of more people, in cities and countryside alike, some of the initial objections to the automobile, such as the noise and dust, c

... See more

The appearance of cars on the road represented more than just the intrusion of a new kind of vehicle: it was an intrusion by the rich in particular. Early automobiles were loud because silencers (or mufflers) had yet to be made compulsory, and drivers made liberal use of their horns to warn people of their approach. On country roads, people bemoane

... See more

The car industry began to steer the debate in a totally new direction in 1923, not because of a sudden concern for pedestrian welfare, but out of concern for its own survival. After years of rapid growth, sales of cars had fallen for the first time, and many in the industry felt that the constant portrayal of their products as child-killing death m

... See more

Of course cars burn gasoline that could be used to make food. Of course they are dangerous and costly. But the radical monopoly cars establish is destructive in a special way. Cars create distance. Speedy vehicles of all kinds render space scarce. They drive wedges of highways into populated areas, and then extort tolls on the bridge over the remot

... See more