Car Effects on Society

Over the course of the 20th century, the automobile rapidly developed from an expensive toy for the rich into the de facto standard for passenger transport in developed countries.^[1] In developing countries, the effects of the automobile have lagged, but are emulating the impacts of developed nations. The development of the automobile built upon the transport revolution started by railways, and like the railways, introduced sweeping changes in employment patterns, social interactions, infrastructure and goods distribution.

The effects of automobiles on everyday life have been a subject of controversy. While the introduction of the mass-produced automobile represented a revolution in mobility and convenience, the modern consequences of heavy automotive use contribute to the use of non-renewable fuels, the generating of air and noise pollution, and the facilitating urban sprawl and urban decay^[2]

Economic changes

The development of the automobile has contributed to changes in employment distribution, shopping patterns, social interactions, manufacturing priorities and city planning; increasing use of automobiles has reduced the roles of walking, horses and railroads.^[3]

Industry restructuring

Industries devoted only to the automobile were created. Others were expanded from once trivial significance to importance. Before the internal-combustion engine was developed, gasoline was a waste product, often discarded. Once the automobile became commonplace, the production of gasoline blossomed into a matter of such importance that national governments took action to secure the steady flow of oil. The steel industry was already established, but the coming of the automobile created huge amounts of demand for steel. The chemical, rubber, and petroleum industries were remade to suit the needs of the automobile and industries sprang up, such as service stations, motels, and automobile insurance, that were reliant upon the automobile for their livelihood.

As automobiles began to travel at higher speeds, the sign industry began building larger signs and billboards.

Infrastructure

Aside from industries, one of the most visible effects the automobile has had on the world is the huge increase in the amount of surfaced roads. For example, between 1921 and 1941, the United States spent US$40 billion on roads, increasing the amount of surfaced road from 387,000 miles (619,000 kilometers) to over 1,000,000 miles (1.6 million kilometers) which doesn't even take into account road widening.^[2]

With increased road-building came habitat fragmentation, reducing biodiversity. The quality of roads was also improved. Roads were paved with asphalt, and roads with more than one lane became commonplace.

In addition to federal, state, and local dollars for roadway construction, car use was also encouraged through new zoning laws that required that any new business construct a certain amount of parking based on the size and type of facility. The effect of this was to create a massive quantity of free parking spaces and to push businesses further back from the road. Many shopping centers and suburbs abandon sidewalks altogether, making pedestrian access dangerous. This had the effect of encouraging people to drive, even for short trips that might have been walkable, thus increasing and solidifying American auto-dependency.^[4] As a result of this change, employment opportunities for people who were not wealthy enough to own a car and for people who could not drive, due to age or physical disabilities, became severely limited.^[5]

Environmental impact

For much of the early history of the car, no consideration was given to various environmental effects caused by the automobile. Automobiles are a major source of air pollution and noise pollution. The manufacture and use of automobiles makes up 20 to 25 percent^[6] of the carbon dioxide emissions that are widely believed to be causing global climate change. There are over 600 million cars and light vehicles (excluding heavy trucks and buses) worldwide,^[7] The automobile contributes significantly to noise pollution worldwide; in response to these impacts, an entire technology of noise barrier design and other noise mitigation has emerged.^[8] In the United States the typical car emits approximately 3.4 grams per mile of carbon monoxide^[9]

With increased road-building came negative effects on habitat for wildlife, primarily through habitat fragmentation and surface runoff alteration.^[6] New roads built through sensitive habitat can cause the loss or degradation of ecosystems, and the materials required for roads come from large-scale rock quarrying and gravel extraction, which sometimes occurs in sensitive ecological areas. Road construction also alters the water table, increases surface runoff, and increases the risk of flooding.^[6]

Cultural changes

Prior to the appearance of the automobile, horses, walking and streetcars were the major modes of transportation within cities.^[3] Horses require a large amount of care, and were therefore kept in public facilities that were usually far from residences. The manure they left on the streets also created a sanitation problem.^[10] The automobile had neither of those disadvantages.

The automobile made regular medium-distance travel more convenient and affordable, especially in areas without railways. Because automobiles did not require rest, and were faster than horse-drawn conveyances, people were routinely able to travel farther than in earlier times. Historically, most people never travelled more than a few dozen kilometres from their birthplace in their entire lives; the advent of the automobile began the transformation of society in such a way that those who had never travelled that distance were only a tiny minority. Some experts suggest that many of these changes began during the Golden age of the bicycle, the preceding era from 1880—1915.^[11]

Changes to urban society

Beginning in the 1940s, most urban environments in United States lost their streetcars, Cable cars, and other forms of light rail, to be replaced by diesel-burning motor coaches or buses. Many of these have never returned, though some urban communities eventually installed subways.

Another change brought about by the automobile is that modern urban pedestrians must be more alert than their ancestors. In the past, a pedestrian had to worry about relatively slow-moving streetcars or other obstacles of travel. With the proliferation of the automobile, a pedestrian has to anticipate safety risks of automobiles at high speeds.^[3]

According to many social scientists, the loss of pedestrian-scale villages has also disconnected communities. Many people in developed countries have less contact with their neighbors and rarely walk unless they place a high value on exercise.^[12] Drivers lose time stuck in traffic jams, and today people rarely get the recommended amount of exercise to stay healthy. In fact, since the 1980s, obesity has reached epidemic proportions in many Western countries.

Advent of suburban society

Because of the automobile, the outward growth of cities accelerated, and the development of suburbs in automobile intensive cultures was intensified.^[3] Until the advent of the automobile, factory workers lived either close to the factory or in high density communities further away, connected to the factory by streetcar or rail. The automobile and the federal subsides for roads and suburban development that supported car culture allowed people to live in low density communities far from the city center and integrated city neighborhoods.^[3] The developing suburbs created few local jobs, due to single use zoning. Hence, residents commuted longer distances to work each day as the suburbs expanded.^[2]

Shopping centers were built as part of the proliferation of automobile use. Shopping centers provide goods and services in a centralized setting, providing relative convenience for shoppers.

In developed countries the automobile contributes to decentralisation of large cities, segregating land use and ethnicities, while increasing the ecological footprint of their residents. In developing countries, the automobile allows some people access to employment and causes an accretion of population to cities at the expense of rural population.

Car culture

The car had a significant effect on the culture of the middle class. Automobiles were incorporated into all parts of life from music to books to movies. Between 1905 and 1908, more than 120 songs were written in which the automobile was the subject. The automotive themes of these songs reflected the general culture of the automotive industry: sexual adventure, liberation from social control, and masculine power.^[3] Books centered on motor boys who liberated themselves from the average, normal, middle class life, to travel and seek adventure in the exotic. Car ownership came to be associated with independence, freedom, and increased status.

George Monbiot writes that widespread car culture has shifted voter's preference to the right of the political spectrum.^[13] He thinks that car culture has contributed to an increase in individualism and fewer social interactions between members of different socioeconomic classes

Since the early days of the automobile, car manufacturers and petroleum fuel suppliers successfully lobbied governments to build public roads.^[2] Road building was sometimes also influenced by Keynesian-style political ideologies. In Europe, massive freeway building programs were initiated by a number of socialist governments after World War II, in an attempt to create jobs and make the automobile available to the working classes. From the 1970s, promotion of the automobile increasingly became a trait of some conservatives. Margaret Thatcher talked of a "great car economy", and increased government spending on roads.

Social status

The automobile signifies much more to many than simply a mode of transportation. Henri Lefebvre called the automobile "the epitome of possessions". In the early years, when the first automobiles were imported to America from France for the bourgeois and elite, the car served as a mark of distinction above all others. The automobile rapidly became a symbol of social status, and in some cases, a fashion item. The automobile is often a symbol of wealth. Ownership of an automobile demonstrative of a certain level of income, a phenomenon that is accentuated in lesser developed countries.

Recreation

The creation of good roads and dependable automobiles changed recreation and vacations. Before the automobile, resorts were predominantly found near the coast or a railroad. Once the automobile became abundant, resorts sprang up that were off the beaten path. Resorts appeared in scenic places, far away from the hectic life of the cities. In the United States, national parks became popular tourist attractions and developed designs with automobile travelers in mind.

Safety

Automobile accidents cause many deaths and injuries. This was especially true before automobile safety laws were implemented. To this date, automobiles remain a major cause of accidental death and injury, not to mention emotional stress.

Car drivers are less vulnerable to mugging than pedestrians and transit riders, but are naturally vulnerable to crimes like carjacking, to torts like injuries sustained in car accidents, and to the inconvenience of vehicle breakdowns. The automobile expedites emergency response for firefighters and paramedics.

There are over twice as many traffic fatalities as there are murders each year in the United States.

Costs

In countries such as the United States the infrastructure that makes car use possible, such as highways, roads and parking lots is funded by the government and supported through government zoning and construction requirements.^[15] The gas tax covers about 60% of highway construction and repair costs.^[14]^[16] Payments by motor-vehicle users fall short of government expenditures tied to motor-vehicle use by 20–70 cents per gallon of gas.^[17] Zoning laws in many areas require that large, free parking lots accompany any new buildings. Municipal parking lots are often free or do not charge a market-rate. Hence, the cost of driving a car in the US is subsidized, supported by businesses and the government who cover the cost of roads and parking.^[15] This government support of the automobile through subsidies for infrastructure, the cost of highway police enforcement, recovering stolen cars, and many other factors makes public transport a less economically competitive choice for commuters when considering direct out-of-pocket costs. Consumers often make choices based on the direct out-of-pocket costs and underestimate the indirect costs of car ownership, auto insurance and car maintenance.^[14] However, globally and in some US cities, tolls and parking fees help offset these heavy subsidies for driving. Transportation planning policy advocates often support tolls, increased gas taxes, congestion pricing and market-rate pricing for municipal parking as a means of balancing car use in urban centers with more efficient, less environmentally and socially destructive modes of transportation such as buses and trains.

In the graph to the right the value above the line represents the out-of-pocket cost per trip, per person for each mode of transportation, the value below the line accounts for subsidies, environmental impact, social and indirect costs. When cities charge market rates for on street parking and municipal parking garages, and when bridges and tunnels are tolled, driving becomes less competitive in terms of out-of-pocket costs than other modes of transportation. When municipal parking is underpriced, and roads are not tolled the short fall in tax expenditures by drivers, trough the gas tax and others taxes amounts to a very large subsidy for automobile use. The size of this subsidy for cars dwarfs the federal, state, and local subsidies for the maintenance of infrastructure and discounted fares for public transportation.^[14]

This graph does not show intangible costs that are hard to quantify in monetary terms, such as connivence, time, lives lost in auto crashes, Injuries from auto crashes and the social impact of urban sprawl. The social costs in this graph include inefficiencies introduced through greater congestion.^[14]

Although no environmental and social costs are shown for rail, there is a very small impact, but when considering the per-person, per-trip impact these impacts are too small to shown on the given scale.^[14]

Access and convenience

Worldwide the automobile has allowed easier access to remote places as well as more rapid journeys to frequently visited places. This improved access has allowed more frequent social interactions for people, more efficient scientific exploration and more rapid commercial goods transport. This impact has occurred over the last century for developed countries, and is taking place in developing countries with rapid advances over the period 1950 to the present. Therefore, current impacts are most significant in such underdeveloped countries, as many people are gaining the opportunity for significant mobility only in the most recent generation.

In light of the above significant access issues, the convenience aspects of automobile use appear trivial. These convenience aspects have been present for decades in developed countries and are arriving rapidly in lesser developed countries The following specific convenience improvements are partially due to automobile use:

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