Elimination of the automobile - Essay Example

To begin with, it would be important to examine the effect it would have on different areas of life. First of all, speaking of social arrangements one might point out that people will pay more attention to their fellow citizens because of absence of cars. Indeed, it was pointed out that “the automobile makes us independent of each other, and therefore careless of each other’s rights” (Lewis, 1983, 351). If there were no cars, people would have to think of other ways to travel which will contribute to their cooperation.

As for the cultural arrangements, banning cars is likely to have a tremendous negative impact on them. Indeed, scholars argue that “the gap between what America was like pre-automobile and what it grew into once it adopted the automobile is profound” (Crothers, 2007, 188). That is why if the society is left without cars it would result into a step back in its evolution. Finally, one can not help noticing that other than impact in social and cultural areas of life, banning cars would have a decisive impact on economy of the Unites States as well.

It has often been noted that “without question, a successful and growing automobile industry is critical to the overall strength of the U.S. economy” (Luger, 2000, 8). If one takes a look at the life of the Unites State, one will be able to see that import, export and manufacturing of cars plays key role in it. So, banning cars is likely to contribute to the lack of balance in it. There is no doubt that the Americans would have to make various adjustments in order to function effectively in the automobile free society.

The two areas that would have to undergo significant change are transportation and freight. Speaking of the former, people have to rely on trains and plains for travelling between the cities, while bicycle would be likely to become the most popular means of transportation within a city. As for freight, people would have to forget about a wide range of products in