Why I HATE Car Dependency 

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I hate car dependency. I have autism and bumper-to-bumper traffic gives me bad anxiety. I hope one day I can commute to work in 30 minutes or less each way using mass transit and/or cycling. Instead of fast food drive-thrus, we should have bike-thrus.

pedestrian bridges are wonderful but are generally considered monuments to giving up on engineering the road correctly

I remember back when I went to visit family in San Francisco who lived in the suburbs; I ended up bored out of my skull because there was not much to do around the house and there was *nothing* for miles around save for more houses. I took a bike, rode around the neighbourhood and couldn't even find a public park. Out of all US places I've visited, my favorite was Boston precisely because it resembles a European city much more than an American one.

One day we'll progress to better things.

As a person born with autism not looking forward to driving, I second this. I live miles away from my high school with no license or car at 19 due to my mom's extreme anxiety. Fml.

The worst part about a car-centric city is walking from and to a big parking lot if I wanna go to a shopping mall or something. I hate the smell, the distance that I have to walk and try not to get hit, the number of cars and people in one area, the temperature, and the fact that parking is difficult for me to pull off. It sucks so bad.

Not Just Bikes changed my whole world view. Seeing that other options are available makes me mad that we don't have that

Cars are an excellent way to tax huge chunks of your population out of existence; the costs of maintaining a car you're expected to constantly use adds up faster than most Americans can afford, but no American can afford to live in the US without access to a vehicle. Cars create poverty, homelessness, pollution, and health problems -- their infrastructure necessitates accepting a national security risk and reducing response times to emergencies, but we've been trained to love paying extra taxes and living shorter, sadder lives, so the political will to fix this is intangible at best.

I grew up in a Pennsylvania suburb where you needed to drive at least 15 minutes to get to school or to a grocery store, despite being in a populated metro area. Living like that is terrible for your mental health, you literally feel like a hamster on a wheel. I live in a walkable area now, I’m not going back.

USA is just a big parking lot with the odd buildings in between.

American exercise is just walking from one end of the parkinglot to the other

american small towns built before like 1950 usually have walkable downtowns, they just added some parking on main street after cars rolled in for xan as a new seattleite, a trip down to old burien or des moines will show you actual walkable downtown cores that haven't been completely gutted, even though both cities are end-to-end suburban mazes otherwise now for that matter, the tech boom is rebuilding downtown seattle into an ever worsening car hell, but downtown tacoma is super walkable

I genuinely believe that constant exposure to the stress and danger of regularly driving in congested areas makes people mentally ill and even encourages antisocial/sociopathic/psychopathic behavior. Just another symptom of us making consumption a virtue.

Ironically even with all this car infrastructure there's barely anywhere to go unless you're shopping. It just makes the opposition to 15 min cities even more baffling. Like what freedom is being restricted by offering more to do in the area you live in?

I have Asperger's (and most likely ADHD) and I'm genuinely terrified of getting my license in a few months. The drivers in my town are beyond horrible due to the amount of stoned teenagers driving home from school every day, and on a related note I was in a pretty bad wreck a few weeks ago while me and my parents were perfectly still at a stop sign. The woman who crashed into us got out of the car and started fucking laughing at us while drunkenly asking for a hug. The police didn't do a damn thing. If my area wasn't so car dependent I'd absolutely choose to walk or bike to places instead

Watch more NotJustBikes videos, very based channel.

Please make the video you're reviewing big and game on your other screen

I drive for so many things and the amount of asshole drivers endangering everyone has gone up. Roads aren't able to be regulated reliably, so I end up with more life-flashing-before-me moments from awful speeders. Throw my ADHD in there and traffic makes grocery shopping into an ordeal. The US not having a national public transit system is such a stupid decision.

Man, I absolutely love driving, but after reading about the recent experiments in more walkable cities, I'm all for sacrificing some driving space so that I can actually stroll down the street and enjoy a nice day. I'm fine with leaving the car for long-range trips- those are the ones I enjoy the most, anyways.

I’ve had my foot ran over when crossing a stroad to walk home from school after getting off the bus; the driver wasn’t paying attention and I had already started crossing before the driver even showed up. The cop that came tried to put some blame onto me because I wasn’t crossing at a “designated” zone that was literally feet away from where I stood. I can’t use that big toe to walk properly anymore and my heel takes that role over. Whenever I cross that same stroad, I still fear that happening again or something worse. Also autistic and public buses are the only way for me to get around as I get too anxious about getting into crashes in vehicles. Car dependency is also inherently ableist.

The thing that drove home to me how out-of-this-world bananas American car culture is a RU-vid comment about someone trying to walk to a medical facility a few miles away in some big American city (I forget which, it may have been LA). They couldn't, because at one point the sidewalk just stopped, and they couldn't find a street where it didn't. As a European, this is absolutely unthinkable. I can picture suburban sprawl, I can picture endless strodes, I can picture endless carparks, cities too large to walk, bad zoning, whatever. I grew up in a pretty unwalkable area by European standards, I have experience with this. What I can't picture is a city where you actually, physically, cannot walk to all parts of it, given time and dedication, where humans are allowed access to parts of THEIR OWN CITY because of cars. It's patently absurd, it makes no sense. Oh, and I still can't get over the nausea that hearing the phrase "drive-through ATM" instilled in me back when Xan talked about those. I'm atheist, but the existence of drive-thru ATMs is almost enough to make me convert,because the only explanation for them is that Hell is real and it's an exporter.

I live in Los Angeles. I went on a date with a guy 5 years ago who works at a big car company (I forgot the company’s name). He’s a lobbyist and basically bribes the government into making all American infrastructure highways and streets so you’re basically forced to buy a car. I’m 33 and I hate driving. It puts me on edge, makes me tired, and irritable. Even at 16 I dreaded getting my license. I’m working on getting a remote job so I never have to drive anywhere ever again. Great video! Very informative. ❤

This is, next to free healthcare, the main reason I'm glad I live in Europe. People in Poland sometimes tend to fetishize cars as status symbols, but our cities are not only pretty walkable and with good public transit, but they are also evolving to limit use of cars where they're not needed. I have a driving license for 13 years now, but never had a real reason to use it and I'm extremely comfortable without a car, would absolutely loathe to be forced to drive everywhere or lose hours of my time in traffic without even the ability to read news on my phone. It's so fucked that the US is not only full of that but actively preventing any type of reform.

I got into an arguement with someone who is from Europe who literally started attacking someone, who lives in America, about how they weren't "broke enough" because they owned a car while also going off on them about how they assumed everyone in the chat was from America, on an American RU-vid channel, talking about American politics. (I think most people would assume if you are watching that, that you are from America and most people who aren't usually say where they are from.) But they simply could not understand the fact that in most places in America, it does not matter how poor you are, you HAVE to have a car. I love cars, but if I had the chance to get rid of mine and not have to have one to go to places, I would. I can barely afford a car and if anything happens to it, I can't afford to fix it. And most Americans are in that bubble too. It sucks.

I have spent hours every week driving for months at a time, I really am not a fan. At this point, it would probably cost trillions to retool our infrastructure (the interstate cost half a tril alone)

Ravioli Ravioli I Stole The First Commentoli

If we give cyclists their own space, they won't be assholes. Anyone I've heard complain about cyclists in Amsterdam were usually using the bike lane as a walkway when there's plenty of sidewalk

"more lanes" fails because everyone still gets on/off the highway at the same small number of downtown ramps and parking garages doubling the size of the pipe while using the same small nozzle does not change the speed of the water moving through the small nozzle

for all americans who didn't know about this problem before, if you can, TAKE A TRIP OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES. i never knew there were other ways to design a suburb/smaller city/town until i visited the U.K.!

Hell yea, SUPER mad I wasn't on stream for Xan orangepilling everybody. I am really passionate about this topic because of HOW MUCH SHIT comes back to car dependency. Our lives would be immeasurably better if our cities weren't the asphalt wastelands they are now.

I live in the UK so can only speak for the UK, but good public transport is just so fucking nice. Ours is a mix. If you are in a city, its great, if you are more rural, it ranges from being pretty good to being abysmal. The biggest issue here, like with a lot of things in Britain, is the people. People use cars when they dont need to, decrying that they have more control, that its more efficient, that they prefer it, before getting mad at every person that obeys traffic laws in such a way that inconviniences them, and spending 30 minutes in traffic. The only real reason your average person should use a car is for big shops. Even then, you can usually order that stuff online to your door.

"To be fair, in America cyclists do tend to be assholes." In what way? Breaking nonsense traffic laws while existing in infrastructure that is not built to protect them? Riding too far out into the lane for your liking? Compared to what? Drivers? Who get all the infrastructure they want to the detriment to everyone else to the point of literally destroying neighborhoods and cities, sucking resources that could go to better services that serve everyone, yet still break the law at higher rates than cyclists? Who's dangerous behavior leads to the deaths of >40,000 people, injury to 1.5 million people, and cost us 340 billion dollars a year in damages every year?

I feel less self-conscious about not having a license

it sucks a lot of people are forced to car cuck down their finances on American suburbia (plus UK, Australia, and a rare portions of Europe)

An someone who is in the American car culture crowd I do actually agree. I own a 77 firebird due to all the stroads that surround the place where I live I'm kinda of afraid to drive it if I get in a crash with it there ain't no warranty or safety to help me survive the accident. And afterwards the cost of the car comes out of my ass.

I hope I get to see the day where I get rid of my car simply because I don't need it

This video was my introduction to Not Just Bikes, as well as to stroads.

I have been so desensitized to the possibility of being hit by cars by now.... I went from having to walk half a mile to the bus stop to being a biker on the side of the strode And when I was a kid, I lived in one of those houses along the road, so I was standing next to the high speed road waiting for a bus to pick me up. We were a 35 minute bus ride from school

I live in a town near Glasgow and I have noticed a trend towards doubling down on car infrastructure. For one, we used to have multiple primary schools in walking distance, now there are 4 schools in the town because they all consolodated and two of them are in the same housing estate. New build housing is now quite remote with less amenities and roads without pavements keep appearing to service them. Drive-thrus are appearing everywhere. Glasgow itself had this horrible urban motorway- the M8- that divides it in two, charring cross which divides the most commercial areas in the city centre and the west end is a horrible, loud, smelly and dangerous place to walk because of all the cars leaving the motorway, I often thought replacing it with a highspeed rail link would make sense, but no- they doubled down and spent a bunch of money extending the M74 nearby into the city centre to "relieve traffic" so although they are making the centre more restictive for cars, traffic surrounding the centre is horrible! The dual-carriageways lined with auto shops and big supermarkets/retail parks are an abomination with all their awful car parks! I can't understand why you'd build in this way! I guess it is to sell cars, insurance, petrol, etc. Those industries will pressure government to expand roads and convince the sheep that cars are about freedom, even though those without cars are imprisoned by the roads surrounding them that add extra tie onto awalk while making it more dangerous and unenjoyable! I like walking and cycling, but on those kinds of roads- hate it!

Additional lanes is actually 1/1 with traffic increases

I live in a small town (around 3k people) it is not walkable. The closest store is about a 1 and 1/2 hour walk. And those would also be the only jobs around. So you still have to drive to get to any kind of work. And on top of that theres no public transport

I don't understand why not more Americans move from the US to Europe. To us it seems like you have nothing good while we are better in every category.

The stroad Video is probably the best Video to show people to get them into not just bikes content

Many parts of Europe are so much better for walking and biking. It's not even close.

I used to work at dunkin. 2 times at one location two different old white ladies hit other cars in the parking lot deciding to turn in last second without signals. Its cool though cause that store is across from a hospital. Fun times

What amazes me the most is that the busiest street with most shops are not walking only in america. Most busy city centers have only walking areas

Yaaaaaayy Xan's watching Not Just Bikes!! I've been hooked on their content and have had an intetest in urban design ever since Vaush shouted them out.

Xan is a fellow Not Just Bikes viewer? Hell yeah

We need to fix this, perhaps the civilians should take this into our own hands.

The X in the name is literally cuz he doesnt miss

Here in Tucson, maybe because we were a part of Mexico more recently than other parts of the country (we still have a ton of streets with Spanish street names) and have a strong Mexican culture here (they mentioned that the US and Canada had a problem with it, not Mexico) we have more streets and dedicated bike lanes and no highways through town. Most stroads don't go over 40mph and there are only a few major ones that go through town like Grant and Speedway and Golf Links, which is more like a regular road than a stroad. There are no freeways in town except at the very edge there's one going northwest to Phoenix and one going south to Sahuarita and Nogales. Also, jay walkers are common and expected and nobody harasses them or hits them. The most common accidents are with motorcyclists getting crushed by semis and such.

At 28:20 he was talking about crossing that street. Ain't no one crossing that street in the Netherlands. There's gonna be separated crossings at every junction for pedestrians and bikes.

Is there a cat in this video? It’s throwing me off so bad

America is full of big parking lots… (except at the DMV)

I have no IRL friends largely thanks to the isolation by design of suburbia. I feel like I am gonna have to hustle n grind to be able to afford a place of my own in a city in a time of extreme cost of living issues and equity deregulation by both Dems and republicans in order to not lose myself any further. I lost my 20s thanks to my own shortsighted choices in life but also because I lived in the wrong place for myself.

What interesting video! Reaction video and gameplay mixed?? Wow

Love to see so many people being orange pilled

Quick note about Xan's comment about bridges, Tokyo's full of them and they're awesome.

My school is in the downtown area of my city so I have to take the public bus for like nearly an hour and then I get off in an area where I can get food to take to school. Then, I have to walk to school, crosswalks and predatory men galore. 😍 I’m in high school, but this same school I went to for middle school, so I’ve been doing versions of this since I was 11.

I grew up 21 miles from the nearest school. Yes I lived in the countryside, and luckily there was a bus that went out there.

Chicago is actually very walkable. If there's somewhere you can't get to, there's probably an L-train that goes there. Really wish we had that in every big city. The strode I live on is a 40 minute walk to work, so if I miss the buss I'm very fucked. Even if I bike there it's hard to bike back (because there's a hill and after 8 hours of work I'm too exhausted). I do not have a car. Driving is not an option, and even if it was I don't like driving. Edit: I grew up in good old corn country (midwest/central Illinois) and we had to bus in kids from other small towns/villages because we were the biggest town in the area. That's also why we got most of our snow days, but that's also another story for another day. Edit 2: I nearly forgot, but there's actually a whole other noise factor that the original video didn't mention. American strodes, streets and roads are very noisy because America doesn't care about noise pollution. In most European countries they have quiet roads. There's something about the way the concrete/Asphalt is mixed that makes this work.

DUDE! Did your come up with that's on your own? I've been saying Truck Cucks in Cuck Trucks for about a year.

Nice to see Xan getting urban planning pilled.

Not Just Bikes is a great channel!

I’m watching this while leaving work in Arlington Heights IL and it matches this videos description to a T

Xanderhal Urbanist arc let’s goooo

I'm surprised Xan doesn't drive tbh he's from florida. I lived car free in the UK that was easy, and currently in Australia and it can be hard at times, but I can't imagine doing it in the US you guys are on another level of car dependency. I don't know what state xan lives in but I'm sure living car free is often challenging anywhere outside of NYC

Xan W

😂

Why do we need more schools? We have churches on every block.

I want self driving cars

Good evening 😢 I love you 😍

I hate cars. I hate car worship.