Serendipity is cool.
Yesterday I read an interesting essay on one of my favorite blogs about the virtues of walking. Some people apparently assume that a walker is in some distress, i.e. in need of a car or in need of rescue. Jason Peters writes:
The change in private behavior that I should so like to see I see nowhere. The price of gas does not alter behavior. The threat of a warming planet does not alter behavior. Illness and obesity do not alter behavior.
Mind you: it’s not as if there’s no generosity in the world. I’ve been offered rides by floozies and pansies and concerned citizens who think I’ve been mistreated by an unreliable car. But I don’t seem to have inaugurated the transportation revolution I had hoped to launch back in 1996 when I first decided that I would live within walking distance of all the places I need to be.
Many of my colleagues live in my neighborhood; all of them belong to the great mass of air-perfumers who motor by me each day. All of them want something done about global warming.
There’s quite a bit in that nugget to comment on. But I want to consider an assumption and its serendipitous intersection with my life this morning.
That’s the scene from my office window this morning. My daughter and I walked to school. It’s snowing. I don’t like riding my bicycle in the snow. And driving — with the whole parking hassle and then walking from a far-off lot – would actually take longer to traverse the 3/4 miles from home to work. Plus, I’ve never purchased an MSU parking pass.
Near the intersection you see there (National and Grand) a lady driving a Prius — a complete stranger — pulled to the side of the road to offer us a ride.
I used the opportunity — incorrigible pedant that I am — to talk to my daughter about assumptions. This person, I said, assumed we must be having a lower-quality experience than she.
At first my daughter was offended by my remarks — thinking that I was questioning her motives. No, she’s obviously a lovely and caring person to risk offering a ride. I’m simply questioning her assumptions.
I told my daughter, “It is my assumption that the world would be a better place if more people assumed that driving a car is the lower-quality experience.”
Comments 7
We now have a couple of generations who have grown up mostly or fully car-dependent. Add to that the fact that so many of the places the prior generations have built are rather miserable places to walk or bike (experientially-speaking, not necessarily safety-wise). Gas at $4.00 per gallon was just beginning to affect behavior; I think it will require $5 or $6 before we see a serious impact. So it’s not surprising to me that many otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people cannot imagine getting around by any way other than an automobile.
Posted 29 Jan 2010 at 10:27 am ¶Thanks for introducing me to that blog.
Posted 29 Jan 2010 at 10:59 am ¶Yes, we may be better off if people considered driving a car to be the lower-quality experience. Our best bet for that to happen? Media sensationalism.
The deaths caused by stuck accelerators in Toyotas is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to auto-related fatalities. What we need (sure, I’m awful for suggesting this) are several more salient examples of how dangerous cars can be.
I assume you’ve seen the television footage of that Lexus wreckage. It’s reminiscent of an airplane crash. Imagine that happening in a major metropolitan area just as heavy traffic is slowing to a crawl. Some spectacular 14-car incident. Or midday in Manhattan. Yes, it would be horrible. But then the media could scare us with it and some people might change their opinions about car travel.
This just in: Honda is recalling over 600,000 cars worldwide because of a potential fire hazard.
Posted 29 Jan 2010 at 11:44 am ¶Mostly, I walk when I got a flat, or conditions are icy enough that I don’t want to ride. In either case, I consider it an opportunity to remind myself of the beauty of riding, and to collect things back together.
Sometimes a “pedestrian unfriendly” place is pretty bike friendly. FWIW, I think Mighk is a little optimistic to suggest that gas at $6/gal will make an impact. Personally, my calculations say nothing will really change until we get well past $10. And maybe way past $10. You doubt it? Look at the cost elements of car/truck ownership.
Posted 29 Jan 2010 at 9:34 pm ¶Americans might be too bad at math for gasoline prices to make any difference. In our local paper in 2008 someone commented that they could no longer afford to gas up their old car so they purchased a prius.
A new prius goes for about $25,000. That is quite a bit of gas!!!!
Posted 30 Jan 2010 at 12:40 am ¶A lot of people don’t buy cars anymore, they simply rent them from the bank. So if they’re paying X per month for an SUV and they simply shift that X to a Prius payment, they’re saving money on gas. But yeah, they’re still bad at math
Posted 30 Jan 2010 at 8:37 am ¶you present a good, thought-provoking point. i actually picked up a guy the other night because it was really cold and i figured he could use a ride. he accepted my offer but seemed to have been quite content with walking, referencing that the weather wasn’t bothering him b/c of how well he was bundled up. maybe we could all go with a little less vehicle use in our lives.
Posted 03 Feb 2010 at 4:10 pm ¶on the other hand though, i’ve also avoided the purchase of a parking pass and therefore have had some long walks from where i park to class. on many occasions i’ve wanted to hitch a ride up a few blocks just to avoid the walk and would’ve gladly accepted someone’s offer for a ride. now, if i lived closer to campus and could skip out on the driving altogether, i might feel otherwise, but since i have to commute anyway, i’d rather keep the walking to a minimal. i will admit though that some of that bias is based off the fact i often run late to my first class:)