Our society is driven by a lifestyle where cars are protagonists. We instil the idea in our children that, as soon as they turn 18, they have to get their driving licence and own their car.
The car has become a must and is now an intrinsic part of the social fabric. But we have reached the extreme where owning a car is not just an expense for its owner but also carries a cost on the infrastructure and, as we are lately also finding out, on our health.
Every morning, many of us walk to our car, start the engine and drive to work and then, after a day’s work, we take the car back home. If you stop to think about it, you would realise that many of such people’s cars are lying idle for 95 per cent of the time.
Yet, they are still paying for fuel, road tax and insurance, not to mention maintenance costs.
From an infrastructure point of view, the reality is that, nowadays, no matter the location, vehicles are constantly occupying space on the roads for free, prime space which, in today’s terms, is an asset that comes at a high premium.
In reality, we will never know the real value of transport until we are forced to radically change the patterns of how we commute, a change so drastic it will bring a whole upheaval in our personal lifestyles, how we plan our days, where we spend most of our time and how we interact with family and friends.
Unfortunately, for this to happen, those in government will need to make difficult decisions.
