I am universally known as the anti-car man. The perception of me is that I am a man who never uses cars, does not own a car, won't even ride in a car. The preceding are all wrong. Given the way this country is constituted, I rely heavily on cars.
Let me give you one quick example of how much I use cars. This past weekend I wanted to go dancing in three different places. On Friday night there was a dance in Detroit. Saturday day & Saturday night there were dances in Ann Arbor, and Sunday there was a dance in Greenfield Village in Detroit.
On Friday afternoon I drove downstate to a motel on I-94, about twelve miles from Ann arbor, twenty five miles from Detroit. By situating myself centrally, I could easily drive to each of my dances.
How else could I have traveled all the way from Traverse city to downstate Michigan in four hours. What other means of transportation allows me to leave when I want to leave, arrive when I want to arrive. And once I am there, I have the use of my car to get me to three different places -- places miles and miles and miles apart. And I can get to these places quickly, comfortably, privately, by car.
I could go on and on and on about the convenience of cars. I do hate the fact that the drive is dangerous -- death could be just ahead -- but I've come to look forward to driving. Driving, for me, is a little like going to the movies. A long car drive means I will probably be attending a triple feature -- three maybe four, books will be read to me. I look forward to hearing a new detective novel by the great mystery writer Agatha Christy, but I will only get to hear it if I drive somewhere.
I would be devastated if, tomorrow, cars were abolished. I rely heavily on cars. I don't rely on my car to get me around the town I live in. I don't rely on my car for daily needs -- but I do rely heavily on it for my weekends, for my recreational needs.
Between cities cars are wonderful. They go from here to way over there very quickly, very privately. They are, as America is currently constituted, wonderful -- but why do I keep saying -- as America is currently constituted?
As I wrote more & more about how convenient cars are -- getting me to all these dances, to all these places -- a little voice at the back of my head said --but you hate cars. You'd rather be using your time otherwise than driving.
And then I realized that if Public Transportation existed, at least I could get from Traverse City to Ann Arbor by quick public transit -- and once there, rely on a car to zip me from distant place to distant place.
Essentially, my point is that there is a place for cars. Cars should not be abolished, should not be outlawed; it is just that cars should be one of several available means of transportation.
Copyright © 2004 Henry Morgenstein