I’ve got to admit that when I first heard of the anti-cars community, I was a little skeptical. “Whats wrong with cars?” I thought. But the more I lurked, and the more I watched youtube channels like Not just bikes, the more I understood just how shitty the world is around us. Fuck Cars.
I’ve never desired a car to get around. Cars just never interested me in that way. I’ve always just loved biking everywhere. I find driving tiring, stressful, annoying. I find biking fun, relaxing and energising.
After I got my first proper job I got a car because I was led to believe I’d need one for work. Never once did I ever have to use one for work and although I used my car for other reasons I just prefered to bike places as that’s what I’d always done.
In the few years before covid I was only using my car a few times a year, mostly to take it in for repairs and so I toyed with the idea of going carless. Eventually I sold my car as I realised I only ever used it to take it in for a WoF, or to the workshop for the inevitable repairs and very little else.
Then I got hit by a car while biking. After surgery and rehabilitation I was back biking but it wasn’t the same. I sought out all the dedicated cycle lanes, changed my route to work and was cycling more than ever but in a very different way. I no longer mixed with cars if I could help it. And I get annoyed at how much infrastructure is dedicated to cars and how little is to bikes. Endless roads, highways, on ramps, off ramps, side of road parking, parking buildings, acres and acres of car parks, driveways, garaging, drive throughs, on and on and on it goes?!
One day it just clicked (snapped?). EVERY road has not one but TWO dedicated lanes at the side of the street, reserved for cars to just be dumped, usually free of charge, for however long you need to leave it there. But we hardly ever get any dedicated lanes for cyclists! It drives me nuts!? Every. Single. Road. has not one but TWO entire lanes dedicated to leaving cars but god forbid we put in ONE cycle lane! People lose their minds when a protected cycle lane goes in! They protest, they say their business will be ruined, they threaten cyclists, tear up bollards and go on and on about how hard it is to find a park these days because ONE street out of 100 dared to put in a single dedicated bike lane!
So there it is. Some of the factors involved. Others include things like saving money, saving the environment, keeping fit etc but mostly it’s the incredible amount of infrastructure that drives me wild! Something like 40% of the inner city is taken up by stuff related to cars. Space that could be dedicated to trees, housing, parks, culture and entertainment or even businesses but no, we need MOaR car infrastructure!