No Automobiles Allowed in the United States, Term Paper Example

Imagine the following scenario. One bright morning, you climb out of bed, put some slippers on, and head for the kitchen to have a nice strong cup of coffee. You then sit down at the kitchen table and open up the local newspaper. What you see is beyond belief because the newspaper headline says “Automobiles Banned in U.S.” The reality of this astonishing declaration takes a few minutes to sink in, and when it does, you panic, due to saying to yourself, “Does this mean I can’t drive my car to work anymore?” And then suddenly, you begin thinking about how this ban on automobiles is going to affect your life. Although this scenario is extremely unlikely to happen in the near future, it forces one to ponder a big question–how would life in the United States change if all automobiles were banned? This would include all trucks, minivans, SUVs, motorcycles, and other vehicles that operate on gasoline or diesel fuel.

The pervasiveness of the automobile in America can best be demonstrated by looking at some hard facts and numbers provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation. According to the most recent statistics, there are currently an estimated 280 million automobiles in the United States with some numbers exceeding 300 million vehicles which figures out to about one automobile per person, considering that the U.S. population is now about 310 million people. In a DOT survey conducted in 2007, there were almost 255 million registered passenger vehicles in the United States, and as shown in a chart provided by the Department of Transportation, in 1970, there was an estimated 85 million automobiles in the U.S. By 2000, this number had doubled to about 160 million passenger cars (Figure 1: Growth in the Number of Passenger Cars and Light Trucks, 2014).

Thus, it is more than obvious that the popularity of the automobile in America has increased substantially over the last forty years. This growth is due to the power and influence of what is referred to as the “Big Three,” being the Ford Motor Company, General Motors (GM), and Chrysler. However, it is now the “Big Four” with Toyota and Honda occupying positions three and four behind Ford and GM. The pervasiveness of the automobile in America is even more pronounced when we consider that in 2001, more than 70% of Americans drove to work in a car (Highlights of the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, 2003). Today in 2014, this number is a bit higher but is slowly decreasing, due in part to the economy, the growing popularity of electric and hybrid cars, and the fact that some major U.S. cities are just beginning to see the light in relation to the advantages of a mass transit system.

Before discussing the overall impact of a ban on automobiles in the U.S. on the average American citizen, we must first examine how such a ban would affect American society. Today, there is much discussion on reinventing the automobile or moving from internal combustion engines to either electric or hybrid engines. These will be the “engines of change” via non-polluting automobiles that will help “speed the world towards a more sensible approach to transportation.” However, America’s petroleum industry and automakers like Ford and GM are in no hurry to end America’s dependence on fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel fuel (Imagine a World Without Cars, 2013).

But if the above-mentioned scenario did come about, the first major change would be related to America’s economy. Imagine Ford and GM shutting down all of their factories that manufacture cars and parts. Goodbye to tens of thousands of high-paying union jobs and personal financial security. This would cause a ripple effect by eliminating other jobs connected to the automotive industry and the jobs of those who provide goods and services outside of the industry. Also affected would be companies that manufacture materials like plastic, aluminum, steel, and fiberglass. At the end of the ripple, thousands of businesses would shut down, simply because millions of former workers are broke. Thus, at the far end of the ripple, the American economy would collapse and would most likely tumble into another Great Depression.

As Orson Scott Card reflects, if automobiles were banned in the U.S., the hardest hit group of Americans would be the inner city poor, due to retail businesses that managed to survive moving further away and out of the city. As Card sees it, “Rich people who own and run businesses would move their worksites close to their own island neighborhoods” or pockets of prosperity. Thus, the inner city poor would end up “farther from any chance of employment,” considering that a car would not be available to them nor mass transit. On the flip side, creating subsidized mass transit systems “would be like giving the poor a huge tax cut because they could live without cars” (2007).

Also, culturally, the automobile as a status symbol would fade away, not to mention the financial depreciation of classic collector’s cars that would probably end up sitting in a dusty garage. A ban on automobiles in the U.S. would also signal the end of TV commercials that glamorize automobiles as well as many sporting events like the Superbowl that depends on advertising from Ford, GM, and Toyota. No need to advertise if no one can purchase a new car. Also, schools that provide courses and certification in auto mechanics would shut down. No cars, no mechanics needed.

The big question is–would it be possible for Americans to adjust to living their daily lives without automobiles? Since the automobile has been around for more than a century in the United States, thanks in part to Henry Ford and his assembly line production in Dearborn, Michigan, circa 1913, it seems almost impossible to think of life in America without the presence of automobiles. However, if Americans were forced to live their daily lives without the automobile, such as through U.S. government mandates, making adjustments would be a very daunting task for most people.

According to Micheline Maynard of the Columbia Journalism Review, after World War I, every large U.S. city (especially Detroit) greatly expanded because of the presence of cars which have been the “reason behind everything from our transportation infrastructure to our suburbs and shopping centers.” The automobile also brought with it the freedom to move about in a relatively short length of time which of course required a complex highway infrastructure which led to millions of jobs. In essence then, “What the automobile industry did was literally transform the way people interacted with each other” and in many ways, shrunk the size of the world (2013).

Practically speaking, it would be impossible for most Americans to live without an automobile, due in part to depending upon a motorized vehicle to get to work, go shopping (outside of the Internet), visit the doctor, pick the kids up from school, and a myriad of other circumstances. As Maynard reminds us, banning automobiles in the United States would certainly be a “massive undertaking” that would require confronting numerous “practical and economic aspects,” such as keeping one’s job when mass transit is not available, and the movement of goods and products by traditional trucking lines which would disappear (2013).

From an environmental perspective, banning automobiles in the United States would obviously help immensely in relation to lowering the amount of pollutants in the air and water which have been scientifically shown to contribute to global warming and climate change. There would also be more open spaces for people to enjoy as contrasted with concrete highways, roads, bridges, and stop signs littering the natural landscape. Financially, Americans could save billions of dollars by not having to buy gasoline and oil, engine parts, new tires, auto insurance, or having to endure long lines to obtain their driver’s licenses. The list goes on and on, simply because of the immense impact that automobiles have made on American society. One other area deserves to be mentioned, being the number of people who are injured, maimed, or killed in auto accidents. In 2005, more than 43,000 Americans were killed in car accidents, a number that equals the population of a small rural town  (Card, 2007).

In my opinion, American society would ground to a halt if automobiles were banned. I say this because of the fact that even today in 2014, the American economy relies to a great extent on the automotive industry. Therefore, if cars were banned in the U.S., the entire social structure of the nation would collapse, mostly due to the absence of alternative transportation systems in a number of large American cities (Detroit being just one) and rural areas where people depend upon their automobiles to move about and get to work.

Also, from a human perspective, I believe that a good percentage of Americans would absolutely refuse to give up their cars, even if a reliable, cheap, and efficient mass transit system was located right across the street from their homes. Basically then, Americans love the freedom that is offered by the automobile and cherish the idea that they can go wherever they please, day or night. But of course, nothing ever remains the same because change is inevitable. As Orson Scott Card sees it, the best alternative to banning automobiles is for every American to “make it a noble national cause to change their living patterns” in order to drive only half as much as they do today (2007). Outside of this possibility, I feel that living in an automobile-free society is a fantasy and that most Americans would suffer terribly if cars were banned, at least until they acclimated themselves to living in a world without them.

References

Card, O.S. (2007). Civilization watch: Life Without Cars. Retrieved from http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2007-04-08-1.html

Figure 1: Growth in the number of passenger cars and light trucks. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/transportation_statistics_annual_report/2001/html/chapter_06_figure_01_147.html

Highlights of the 2001 national household travel survey. (2003). Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/highlights_of_the_2001_national_household_travel_survey/index.html

Imagine a world without cars. (2013). Intelligent Life. Retrieved from http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/imagine-a-world-without-cars

Maynard, M. (2013). The love affair is over. Retrieved from http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/the_love_affair_is_over.php?page=all