Rethinking the role of cars in Filipino cities
We can live without the car with the change of infrastructure and accessibility. That's a tall order. In Bicycle Dutch's recent post, he describes how Dutch cities, which are already as bike friendly as any city could get, are working towards an even lesser car dependent city.
“Cities functioned for thousands of years before the car was invented. Car dependency is a construct, and it can be undone. Doing so requires a reinvention of the city. Amenities need to be close enough to reach on foot or by bicycle within a short time. Where that is not possible, public transport can fill the gap. The most effective way to reduce car use is to remove the necessity of using a car in the first place.”
Building around cars was a bad idea in our country. It is a foundation built on a belief that driving is cheap. Driving is indeed not cheap.
It's your choice to drive, to own a car. It is, however, not your choice to whom the consequences and life threatening burdens of your actions are directed upon. It always disturbs me how desensitized we are when it comes to the dangerous effects of car traffic in cities — be it lung killing exhausts or induced deadly crashes. It's as if that's just the risk we (people outside of cars) have to accept for (their) driving.
We deserve an explanation.
We deserve an acceptable alternative transportation.