this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
809 points (95.3% liked)

Fuck Cars

11679 readers
1595 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] destructdisc@lemmy.world 11 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

The money wasted in electric car subsidies is much better spent on mass transit and cycling and pedestrianization initiatives, all of which move far more people at much less cost per person. Electric cars are being posited as the solution (as opposed to drastically improved mass transit) because that's the only way auto companies can stay relevant and maintain their supremacy

[–] thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

It's all about protectionism for an obsolete car industry. If we legalized golf carts, and ATVs, most families in the suburbs would buy one of those. They'd use it for groceries, school runs, dentist appointments, and getting coffee down the street. Their main car would sit idle the majority of time, because it's a hassle to drive a large car. It would make living in suburbia someone more tolerable, as you would see your neighbors more in golf carts.

[–] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

I know this isn't exactly an urban area but ATVs can be legally driven on the road in West Virginia

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Also we should be looking to reduce car use because car infrastructure is incredibly expensive and environmentally destructive.

Electric cars still need ashphault, make tire dust, require salted roads. Roads will still have surface water run off contaminated and artificially heated damaging natural water ways. Roads will need to be repaved more often due to EVs weighing more.

By the end of day, we are barely getting ahead environmentally with EVs if at all. Some EVs like an electric hummer will generate more carbon through their lifecycle (production, use, and disposal) than an ICE compact car.

[–] Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

So what do you suggest? No cars allowed at all? Even in European countries with strong public transportation cars are still useful and allowed (except in crowded city areas). It's hard to imagine life out in the boonies without access to a car...

I think we should pursue better public transportation primarily, but I also think efforts to make electric vehicles better are an important piece of the puzzle to transporting ourselves sustainably.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

I claimed reduce car use, not no cars at all. If we cut car trips in half in favor of walking, biking, or transit thats a huge improvement. Car dependancy has other issues as well with land use causing sprawl and strip malls, which often sit abandoned and a new development is built further down the road. I think reducing car use and improving density and livability of cities goes hand in hand.

[–] Killer57@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

As much as I would love for the modern world to be able to reduce its car dependency, unfortunately in places like North America that is just straight up impossible, even with public transit places are just too far apart.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

The vast majority of car trips are done locally. Most people aren't driving from Dallas to New York to get their grocceries, go to the gym, or go to work.

[–] Killer57@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Most people who live rural areas need to travel at least half an hour to get groceries, I am not talking about people who live in cities.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Most people live in cities and is largey what i am talking about. Those are the areas that dont need you to sit in 30 minutes of traffic to go 7 kms yet thats what we have. People who have to drive should be pro transit and alternatives. It takes people who dont want to drive off the road freeing up more space and easing congestion.

I think there needs to be an effort to advocate for reduced car use, many of the suburbs would be much nicer if people could be allowed to use golf carts on the roads. It would be a step in a better direction, break the obsolete car industry, and bridge to walk-able communities in existing burbs that can't be easily or quickly redeveloped.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

Yup. Even if we don't reduce the number of cars, driving them less often is a massive benefit.