r/fuckcars

India has the highest road death count on the planet. Not per capita. Total. More than China. More than the US.

1.5 lakh deaths annually. Every year. For the last several years in a row.

Here's the part that doesn't get talked about enough. Go look at who those people actually are.

Pedestrians. Cyclists. People on two-wheelers who had no other option. People waiting at bus stops. People crossing roads that have no crossings. People walking on highways because there's no footpath and no bus and no other way to get somewhere.

Car occupants are a minority of road deaths in India. The people dying overwhelmingly are the ones who couldn't afford the car or chose not to use one.

And what does the government response look like? Widen the road. Build a flyover. Add more lanes. Increase speed limits on highways. Every solution makes the road faster for cars and more deadly for everyone else.

There's a stretch of road near me. Six lanes. No pedestrian crossing for 800 metres in either direction. People cross anyway because they have to get to the other side. Every few months someone dies there. The response is always "pedestrians should use the overbridge." The overbridge is 400 metres away and has broken steps.

The car killed the person. But the city designed it to happen.

I keep seeing people in comments on news articles saying "pedestrians need to be more careful." Careful of what exactly. Careful of the 3 tonne vehicle doing 70kmph on a road designed to move it as fast as possible through a city full of people on foot.

India will not fix its road death problem by telling pedestrians to be careful. It will fix it when it stops designing cities for the vehicle and starts designing them for the person.

174k people have died in the time it took most cities here to approve a single road widening project.

(For clarification just in case any newcomers are on here, a carbrain is someone who thinks cars should be the only viable mode of transportation alongside airplanes. Just owning a car on its own doesn't make you a carbrain.)

40k Americans die in car crashes per yer. This number doesn't just include the driver, it also includes pedestrians, cyclists, and children. Is this a price you're willing to pay to maintain car-dependency?

Cars pollute the environment via fossil fuels, thus, worsening the greenhouse effect. And scientists now say we're at the point of no return in large part because there are so many people driving in car-dependent areas. Is this a price you're willing to pay to maintain car-dependency?

Studies have shown that in car-dependent areas, people tend to be less social than individuals who live in walkable cities. Which, because we're social creatures, social isolation can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, infectious illness, and cognitive deterioration. Is this a price you're willing to pay to maintain car-dependency?

Not everyone can operate a motor vehicle. Whether they're too young, too old, disabled, or can't afford a car. So if they live in a car-dependent area, they're trapped at home unless a friend or family member who can drive is willing to drive them places. But if not, then they're cooped up in their home for reasons that are out of their control. Is this a price you're willing to pay to maintain car-dependency?

Even being owning a car can eat away at your finances (gas, registration, insurance, repairs, etc). And if you're in a car-dependent area, it feels less like freedom and more like a forced paid subscription. One that if you refuse to pay or can't afford to pay, your social and work opportunities are greatly limited. Is this a price you're willing to pay to maintain car-dependency?

If you have other prices of a car-dependent society that I didn't list or would like to build on the ones I did list, feel free to include them in the comments.

NC House Bill 162, AKA “the parking lot bill,” was ratified by the state legislature with a combined three “no” votes from the State House and State Senate, and signed into law today by Gov. Josh Stein. The law bans all cities and counties—with certain exceptions—from enforcing parking space minimums regardless of land use or occupancy.

I'm currently driving a model year 2009 vehicle that is constantly falling apart and causing me to fall into debt. I do not want a car. I do not want to have to drive a car but I live in an area where car dependency is necessary if you want to be able to live and work.

Every day I drive my car, I feel like I am sitting in a ticking time bomb. Not only because I fear the next costly repair (mechanics in my area charge $175/hr for labor), but because there is a huge racing culture in my area and pedestrian, driver deaths, and property destruction happen on almost a weekly basis. Driving here is terrifying. Rising gas prices are another added concern.

Public transportation is unfeasible and poorly designed to actually be functional or reliable.

I know I'm not the only one who can't get out of debt and poverty because they are constantly sinking money into a vehicle just so they can earn income. But it's never quite enough.

My greatest dream is to live in a city that is not car dependent and has a functioning public transportation system. Creating usable public transport in American cities would alleviate the need for cars and lighten the heavy load some of its poorest residents face.

What habits do you keep to make life without a car easier? I’ve done it before but kind of nervous.

My neighborhood is walkable and I can make it to work I mean more like life hacks

Me, in a car driven by my boomer father in law. He's doing 55 of a narrow country road by the beach where the speed limit is 25. There's an old man walking along the road, admiring the ocean. (Narrow country road, so there's no sidewalk).

Father in law shakes his head, and says "Oh my god. What a crazy guy. Walking on the road like that"