London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 04, 2025

All the ways cars suck, according to the guy who wrote the book about it

All the ways cars suck, according to the guy who wrote the book about it

There was once a time when Americans didn't care about cars. Now, personal transportation has taken over, writes author Daniel Knowles.

It's hard to imagine a time when America, home to history's most famous car manufacturer and the world's first monster truck, almost rejected having cars in their cities over a century ago.

Daniel Knowles, author of "Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What To Do About It," chronicled a period in the 1920s, when Americans were incensed by the ever-encroaching presence of cars on their streets — cars that were killing pedestrians and taking over the roads they traversed on by foot.

Demonstrations across the country ensued. One person even wrote to The New York Times, suggesting that pedestrians crossing their street should point their guns at anyone driving in self-defense, Knowles wrote.

Knowles, whose work cited historian Peter Norton's book "Fighting Traffic" for much of this chapter, told Insider that it was one of the most eye-opening facts about cars he learned when researching his new book.

"Cincinnati had a law that almost passed that would have forced every car to have an automatic speed limiter built into it," Knowles told Insider. "And this huge backlash against cars when they first arrived, I actually was really surprised through it. I think I had this idea that like, mobile phones or something, everyone sort of said, 'Oh, it's just a new invention, I guess I'll buy one' and then everybody else bought them."

Now, thanks to lobbying efforts by the automotive industry to move pedestrians off the roads and into cars, Americans view cars much differently, he said. Cars are a necessity and even a symbol of self-reliance and the American dream, Knowles wrote.

Knowles's book, however, argued that those early fighters of car culture may have been onto something.

Cars suck because they blow — chemicals and particulate matter, that is, Knowles wrote. They contribute heavily to the climate crisis. They isolate us from bustling cities, but we cling to the idea that they give us freedom. Now, cars are driving us toward our smog-filled doom, he wrote.

Knowles, who lives in Chicago and does not own a car, also wrote about the unequal distribution of harms by cars that affect people of color. Communities of color are more likely to be exposed to harmful air pollution, regardless of region or income. Car culture destabilized cities like Detroit by helping planners and local lawmakers implement laws that would build freeways in cities to accommodate white, suburban car owners, he added.

Despite this, Knowles wrote, cars persist. Data shows that they are infiltrating every nook and cranny of our limited space on Earth as car ownership grows all around the world. Between 2017 and 2021, the number of registered vehicles in the US rose by nearly 4%. In 2016, research found that globally, the number of cars in the world would double from 1 billion to 2 billion by 2040.

"Even in America today, I think the big challenge is political, and part of that problem is what people on the internet call 'car brain' — you know, the crowd of anti-car people who are big on like Reddit and that sort of thing, but… I think when you become completely dependent on your car, the idea of making driving somewhere something more expensive or more difficult, or in any way restricting, it feels like a sort of an assault."


How to ditch cars completely


The issues that cars present are some that policymakers are already privy to. Their solution is to go all in on electric vehicles.

In April, the Biden administration unveiled an investment plan to make electric vehicles more affordable for lower-income families. It's part of a larger goal to make 50% of vehicle sales electric by 2030 to fight off the worst impacts of climate change.

California has also unveiled a plan to make sure all new cars sold beyond 2035 are zero-emissions vehicles.

But, as many transportation experts have argued before, Knowles told Insider that he believes we need to ditch cars completely for public transport, both for human rights reasons and because of the massive environmental cost of maintaining so many vehicles on the road.

To change America's car culture, Knowles said that he thinks public transportation planners need to start focusing on accommodating people who could use it the most, such as lower-income families burdened by car costs, or women taking care of children.

"A study that the LA Metro had done found was it disproportionately mothers who had a part-time job, and some caring responsibilities, and found that transit just wasn't working for them," Knowles said, describing a 2019 study that found women who used public transport were burdened by worries such as safety and accessibility for them and their children. "And those are the people you need to be targeting."

Knowles also said policies that make it harder to drive and easier to use public transportation will help.

"So many American cities have been passing laws, changing parking requirements and changing zoning so that developers can build apartments and dense housing around public transport stops," Knowles said. "And so I think I'd be more optimistic."

Comments

Oh ya 2 year ago
Well all the green nutbars like Daniel Knowles can drop off their cars they hate so much at my house along with the title. Just doing my part to help the retarded out.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
×