I sense a credibility gap amongst ourselves. Self-indulgent / semi-coherent rant alert

[taterguy]

Whenever someone here suggests that people drive less often there's an inevitable response: People only drive when it’s absolutely positively necessary. Apparently everyone here lives at least 30 miles away from the nearest place of employment and/or store; or something like that. I've never seen anyone on this site admit that they drive when they don't have to.

I look around my world and I see something different. I live in a neighborhood that’s exceptionally convenient and reasonably priced. Not that it really matters but the house I live in is appraised at about 140,000. I’m not poor but I ain’t rich either. The equally convenient house I lived in before this one was worth less than 50,000.

There are large employers within two miles that are on roads that are reasonably safe on a bike. There’s a grocery store nearby. There’s a shopping center where I can buy clothes, books, music and other diversions. The climate is great: not much rain, not many days where it’s genuinely too hot or too cold to be outside. So you’d think I’d live in a bastion of alternative transportation. Alas, all I see is cars. The grocery store has no bike rack. The giant employer less than a mile away has a rack but it’s almost always empty.

So here’s what I think: I think some people just refuse to consider transportation options other than a car. It’s somewhat understandable. There are some things that can only be done with a car and if you own a car you might as well use it. I’m guilty of that myself. This weekend there was no food I wanted in my house and I was craving a hero sandwich. There’s a sandwich shop less than two miles away but since I was already hungry I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. I drove. I got to eat about 20 minutes sooner than I would have if I had ridden my bike.

But what’s the cost?
More pollution in the environment.
More profits for greedy oil companies.
More compliance in the atrocities going on in the Middle East.

On the other hand, how egotistical is it to assume that my choices make any difference whatsoever? The aforementioned bad things will happen no matter what I do. Might as well satisfy my hunger as quickly as possible right? Or am I right?

Should we start thinking about these choices? I think about them too much.

What I’m really looking for is a way to promote my views in real life. Why is it unreasonable to suggest the people don’t have to use cars all the time? How can they be convinced that riding a bike is smart, efficient, and well, sensible. It takes a little longer. You might sweat (heaven forbid). It’s a little scary being surrounded by fast moving tons of steel at first but eventually you get used to it. Really. I’ve ridden over 20,000 miles on roads without amenities for cyclists and haven’t collided with a car since I was a dumb teenager.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m not holding my breath but I figured it was worth a shot. Thanks for indulging me.