Reasons not to drive a car
It is far more expensive than taking public transportation, utilizing taxi services or ride-sharing apps, driving a motorcycle instead, riding a bike, or just walking.
Unless your job demands that you transport materials or people on a frequent basis, it is shamefully energy inefficient (you’re moving a three-thousand pound plus object across miles to merely transport yourself, perhaps one or two other people, or maybe some groceries) and greatly contributes to a variety of environmental problems.
It gives you an excuse not to exercise.
It requires a great deal of attention and can be a prime source of stress due to traffic or car maintenance issues; you could spend your life far more productively elsewhere.
Perpetuates car-dependent societies and abhorrent city design with countless roads and parking lots that require endless maintenance, incur massive debt, and degrade the beauty of the places we live in.
It endangers the lives of other drivers on the road, animals, and pedestrians.
It endangers your own life.
All this so I can make my life maybe 10% more convenient? So I can shamelessly destroy the environment and the places that I live, partake in a profligate waste of energy and resources, and potentially kill other people in the process? No, and no thank you. I’ll continue to live my “inconvenient” life.
Those who continue to drive cars are not necessarily at fault, as this problem to a large extent runs deeper than personal responsibility; after decades upon decades of indoctrination and manipulation by the automobile industry, it has been thoroughly ingrained into the structure of our society and woven into the fabric of our culture. But at the heart of this conversation is not one that specifically pertains to our car dependency; it is but my earnest hope that in whatever it is that we take for granted in our privileged lives—be it how we get around, how we make a living for ourselves, what we consume as forms of nourishment or entertainment—at the very least we can be honest about the consequences of our actions.
