Being car-free I spend a good amount of time walking around near roads – you know just getting to the shops etc. At times I watch the drivers – I find it quite fascinating.

Besides getting generally annoyed about being unable to avoid the associated car noise and smell, and having to wait for a lack of cars to be able to cross a road – I sometimes find myself feeling sad for the drivers, and if they have them, they often don’t, their passengers.

When I most notice people in their cars is when their metal box on wheels is not moving. In the UK traffic jams happen alot – it is estimated that an average driver in their life time spends 8 months stuck in traffic and 2 months searching for parking spaces.

I wonder if the drivers feel duped by all those car companies’ ads that told them how wonderful and liberating life behind a wheel and windscreen will be. From the pavement looking in on the people in their cars the reality looks pretty miserable.

For some people of course driving a car to get to work or for something else essential might be the only option. But for many car travel is unnecessary. In the UK around 49% of trips in towns and cities under 5 miles were made by car in 2021, with around a quarter of all car trips in England less than 2 miles.

I think it was in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that upon arrival to Earth one of the alien characters assumed that cars were the dominant life form. I realise how unfortunately woven into modern living cars have been made to become, but surely it’s time for many more of us to be un-duped and find our car-free-dom.