Americans have long viewed the ability to drive as a cornerstone of personal liberty and individualism, both of which are tenets of the now proverbial American Dream. When I turned sixteen and the realization hit me that I was no longer confined by what rides were available or what was within biking distance, I heartily took advantage of this new mean of exploration. I would volunteer for trivial errands, taking the longer, meandering routes to the grocery store for a half-gallon of milk or to pick up my younger brothers from sports practice. When planning activities with friends, my fellow newly liberated compatriots and I would all want to drive, a desire that often resulted in ridiculous caravans driving negligible distances to the town next door to support our high school teams.

Young, newly licensed Americans are not alone in this; driving is an activity that not only pervades, but in part determines our way of life, from tailgating at Dave Matthews Band concerts and Patriots games to the rapid proliferation of suburban sprawl. Driving’s cultural prevalence is also evidenced by books such as Jack Kerouac’s 1957 American classic, On the Road, and even by films such as National Lampoon’s Vacation, a parody of the familiar family road trip.

Yet as the economic, social and environmental costs of widespread driving become clear to us, driving loses much of its romanticism and we realize that reducing the amount we drive is essential. The immediate benefit is very simple: the less you drive, the less you spend on gas and maintenance. If you want a surefire way to frustrate yourself, add up all the money that you have spent on fueling your vehicle(s) and think of what else that money could have gone toward. And of course there is the fact that CO2 emissions from driving make up a very large portion of total CO2 emissions, which we all by now should know contribute to climate change.

There are also many other less touted benefits of driving less. For one, the less we drive, the more we reduce health risks associated with motor vehicle pollution. If we drive less we will have more time for more productive tasks such as catching up on current events, reading a good book or even taking a nap. Furthermore, if we consume less oil, we will begin to reduce our dependence on questionable regimes in Iran and Venezuela, among others, to give us our fix.  Not to mention that oil and other fossil fuels are nonrenewable; we would be wise to consume them judiciously.

Fortunately, community transportation, though far from perfect, manages to cover every one of the problems listed above to some degree, and given evidence that driving is declining in the United States, plans for high-speed passenger rail in New England and funding for community and public transportation currently more available than in the past, now would be a critical time to be aware and get involved.

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