Where the inconvenience lands

[cosmolinguist]

I am always surprised, though I guess I shouldn't be, that even blind people who have never driven can be so car-brained.

But it disappoints me nevertheless.

Today at work I watched a video where the head of a U.S. blind org, in his first Waymo, exclaimed something like "this is the first time in history that blind people can travel long distances independently without inconveniencing anybody else!"

I mean...I regularly travel hundreds of miles independently, on trains. I have traveled thousands of miles independently, on planes!

I have a whole rant about what people even mean by "independent."

I might have to add "what do crips mean by inconveniencing someone."

Not only do I not think that I'm inconveniencing assistance staff by "making" them help me get on a train or plane.

I also think that private cars do inconvenience a lot of other people! (Waymos (or other self-driving cars) arguably more than the human-driven cars.) Cars just outsource most of the inconvenience to people you don't know!

Earlier this week, I read the headlines of the Ipsos Mobility survey, and one has been haunting me ever since:

For many, having a car is an essential part of their life.
Forty-three per cent of drivers across 31 countries feel it would be impossible for them to live without their car. This feeling is highest in the US (65%), France (64%) and Canada (59%). Forty-three per cent of drivers say they could live without their car, but would prefer not to.

They would prefer not to because car-centric design ensures that everything is easiest, makes most sense, or sometimes is only possible for people in private cars. Cars end up being an essential part of people's lives when they're essential to everything you might want to do: work, school, shopping, errands, fun stuff... I know it's asking a lot for people to see that a bunch of systemic changes will address this better and more thoroughly than their individualistic solution of just getting another car, or a bigger car, or a car with brighter headlights, or an electric car, or a self-driving car...

Comments

[otter]

I'm with you on this!! Train, bus, plane, mass transport is the way to go. As I get ready to drive the three of us across town to the dentist. Feels hypocritical. I lived 10 years with three adolescents and no car of my own. We were ok. I did a lot more walking and biking, and we hired medical taxis for appointments, and for a while, I joined a car share program for things that public transit was too difficult for.

[silveradept]

Public transit would be so much better of a solution, even here in the States, but that would take effort and subsidy and redesign and at least half of our politicians believe their job is not to represent the public, but to ensure their political campaign donors are properly quo'd for the quids they've put in.

(It is certainly doable, but we would need a lot of structural reform in both politics and infrastructure.)

[angelofthenorth]

I hear you! I can drive. I prefer not to for many reasons and it's one of the reasons I'm happier in Manchester