A Car Ban in the United States - Essay Example

A Car Ban in the United States It is important to point out that advancements in technology are a crucial component of enabling today’s lifestyle. In line with this, it is evident that human beings cannot live without using these advancements since they play an essential role in ensuring the success of their lives. To make life easy, human beings strive to produce new and superior technology that enhanced the lives that they lived. In effect, this new technology becomes an important component in the social, economic, political, and cultural components of the society. In effect, a total ban on the use of the technology may be associated with undesirable outcomes that may interfere with various components of the society. One such technology is the use of cars as a mode of transportation whose invention created, and still does create, new designs that are always superior to the previous ones. In line with this, cars have become a necessity since they are an essential component that helps individuals to achieve various objectives in life. While cars are important in fulfilling a human being’s wants and desires, it is important to point out that cars have completely changed the way that people lived and influenced their routines, social, and economic phenomena. Consequently, banning the use of cars in the United States will be associated with various challenges despite some benefits associated with the ban. This paper explores the issue of a total ban in use of cars in the United States. To begin with, the paper will examine the effect of the ban on social, cultural, and economic arrangements in American society. Following the ban, it is important to elucidate on the adjustments that Americans would have to make in order to function in an ‘automobile-free’ society. Moreover, it is important to investigate on the Americans’ adjustment once the banned was enforced while also providing the author’s perspective of the adjustments following the ban of cars in United States. Finally, the essay will investigate the benefits that the country stands to accrue from a ban on cars while also provide an analysis whether the country will fare off worse following this ban. As a developed country, the United States has experienced the phenomena of the car changing from a luxury product to a necessity that its citizens cannot do without, especially towards the end of the twentieth century. In line with this, cars have become the de facto means of transportation in the country. In effect, eliminating the use of cars in the country will have an impact on the economy, social, and cultural structures of the country. First, it is evident that city planning influences the transportation system in a country. Hence, city planning will eliminate the aspect of planning for road use and focus more on use of transit planes and other methods of transport. In line with this, city planning will involve a change in the way that citizens conducted business and shopped for essential commodities and other important things. While shopping malls and other recreational facilities are located in places that are not in residential places due to the availability of a road network that relies on cars, a ban on cars will result to city planners ensuring that they incorporated recreational facilities and shopping malls in residential areas in order to ease the problem of transportation. In line with this, banning cars in the country will introduce a new policy that focused on bringing essential services closer to people due to their accessibility. For example, it is evident that most hospitals are not located in residential areas. In effect, emergency cases require people to rush patients using ambulances and their vehicles. In case of a total ban on vehicles, city planners will find an alternative mode of transportation in order to avoid losing lives. Based on this assumption, it is important to point out that the immediate solution will be to the use of air transport, which will be expensive to American taxpayers. Other than the cost on taxpayers, it is important to point out that the cost foregone by banning cars in the country will affect the overall economy of the United States. In line with this, the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2009) identified 254,212,610 cars that were registered in the country in the year 2009. In this case, it is evident that the current number of cars is more than this figure identified by the bureau at the time. Hence, a ban on cars means that the country will destroy all these cars or these cars will stall, which results to a loss in value of the country’s assets and an eventual decline in the Gross Domestic Product. On the other hand, the country consumes about 367.08 million gallons of gasoline daily with the largest amount of gasoline used by cars (US Energy Information Administration, 2011). In effect, a ban on cars in the country will result to a loss in revenue from gasoline. Importantly, it is evident that most gas stations that provide an income to many American citizens will either close or reduce their workforce due to the ban on cars. Consequently, this will affect the country’s per capita income, which consequently will affect the country’s GDP. Socially, it is evident that the country’s social constructs revolve around the use of cars. In line with this, it is evident that the food we eat, the places we visit, the schools our children attend, and many other factors are affected by the automobile. People in rural America are able to visit urban areas in order to experience a different lifestyle other than what they are used to in their daily lives. Conversely, American citizens are able to move from one state to another state and experience a different lifestyle. However, a ban on vehicles will destroy this social construct by limiting the ability of American citizens to experience different lifestyles other than what they experienced in their own states. In effect, Americans will not be exposed to new lifestyles and new approaches of doing things, which may influence their creativity and level of innovation. In the contemporary society, it is evident that children from rural America are able to interact with others from urban areas and learn their way of life, which promotes diversity and integration in the American society. There are certain elements that the American people will have to change in order to adjust to an ‘automobile-free’ society. First, it is important for Americans to change their social activities in order to be integrated into this society. While Americans interact with each other by visiting places that renewed their spirits and made them relax, the most common mode of transport to these places involves cars that will be banned. Hence, the level within which Americans interacted with each other will have to reduce in order to accommodate these new changes from the ban on cars. On the other hand, it is evident that cars contributed to the GDP of this country. Hence, it is important for Americans working in the gasoline and road transport industry to make adjustments and seek alternative careers due to the changes. Other than this, it is evident that the car ban will affect all Americans regardless of their levels of income, which underlines the importance of ensuring that all Americans adjusted to alternative form of transport such as rail transport, which will become the alternative and most used method other than the use of bicycles to travel for short distances. In line with this, Americans will also have to adjust their routines since they will lack the convenience of their own means of transport. It is crucial to point out that Americans can make these adjustments if forced by law since it is important to respect laws that governed a country. On my part, there are a number of adjustments that I will have to make in order to function in an ‘automobile-free’ society. First, I rely on cars to take me to school each day. In line with this, I will have to forego this method of transport and consider using a bike, or even walking to school daily in order to succeed in this society. Other than this, I am a fan of sight-seeing, which I consider an important pastime since it makes me feel relaxed and renews my spirits. To arrive at these sights, I use cars as the means of transport. In a ‘car free’ society, I will lack the convenience of a car and I will be required to give up my pastime and focus on another pastime that does not involve overreliance on cars. Since I would not have an alternative choice but to change my means of transport to school, I will make the adjustment of using a bicycle to school instead of a car following the ban in order to ensure that I abided to the law. On the other hand, I will change my pastime since it will be challenging to achieve my objective of visiting new sights since my reliable means of transport will be interfered with following the ban. Finally, it is important to identify the benefits and assess whether the society will be worse off without the vehicles. First, it is important to point out that the American society is one of the unhealthy societies in the world with Americans suffering from lifestyle diseases such as obesity. In line with this, researchers point out that one of the main causes of obesity in the American society is the use of the automobile as the most appropriate mean of transport. In line with this, a study conducted by Professor John Pucher of Rutgers University observed that 30% of the American population was obese with only 10% of the entire population relying on bicycles and walking other than cars (see fig. one). In line with this, a ban on cars will promote healthy tendencies that reduced the risks associated with using cars such as obesity, which contributes diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and other related lifestyle diseases. I would also benefit from the ban on cars since I will exercise by walking more and using the bicycle, which will reduce risks associated with obesity and other conditions. By keeping fit, I will be able to boost my immunity. Importantly, it is evident that Americans will use the incomes that they saved from buying gasoline and put it into other use. Other than this, it is evident that a ban on cars will contribute to less pollution of the environment. Despite the society benefitting from the ban on cars, it is evident that the society will also suffer from the consequences. In this regard, it is important to point out the society will suffer from the changes in lifestyle, which may contribute social deviancy in the society while also promoting crime since unemployment will be on the rise. References Calorie Lab. 2007. Let your feet do the walking: The car-obesity connection. Retrieved from http://calorielab.com/news/2007/10/22/let-your-feet-do-the-walking/ US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (2009). BTS Publications (Alphabetical List). Retrieved from http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_11.html US Energy Information Administration. (2011). How much gasoline does the United States consume? Retrieved from http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=23&t=10 Read More