"THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY SCIENTIFIC QUESTION"
The human being's passion for automobiles is something incredible, but also complicated.
There are countless reasons to make a human being like a car, nor do I intend to discuss here what each one likes most. This passion for car almost always does not let us see clearly and rationally use and acquisition of a vehicle.
However, several studies show that vehicle is almost always underused for its intended purpose, which is actually walking and transporting. Almost your time is spent just standing still and parked (see figure).
Tell us, after seeing figure, in your scientific opinion if shape we have chosen is really useful?
PLEASE ANSWER IN ENGLISH ONLY.
VERY IMPORTANT: Participate only if you are original, be yourself give your opinion, do not put links or texts from "Genio Google" or things found out there on the web! No one has any interest in stupid web answers, if that's the case, please be so kind as to ignore this debate! Also, don't post your hurts and hates, and don't deviate from the subject at hand, thanks.
SOURCE LINK:
https://lsecities.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/LSE-Cities-2014-Transport-and-Urban-Form-NCE-Cities-Paper-03.pdf
Dear Filipe,
It all depands on transport infrastructure. In my case, life would be much more harder without a car. In the City that's no problem. I don't drive car to work. I choose bus, but when traveling outsied I prefere a car. Kind regards, Alina
Pros of owning your car:
You are not dependent on public transport schedules.
If you suddenly want to go somewhere at an inopportune time (for example, at night), you do not need to order a taxi.
You feel the freedom of movement.
In some cases (for example, in certain professional areas), a good car is really considered an important status thing.
With your car, you can solve the problem of movement in small provincial towns or outside the city (due to undeveloped public transport or lack thereof).
Dear friend Profa. Alina Betlej ,
Yes, its truth.
I use car little, I prefer to walk. I fully understand difficulty of urban transport structures, especially in big cities.
Thank you for telling me about your vehicle usage.
Best regards,
Wiltgen
In my opinion, in connection with the plan to counteract the progressing process of global warming and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there may be limitations in the ownership of cars in the future. In highly developed countries, the development of prosperity in the social market economy has led to a situation where a significant number of families own more than one car. Accordingly, in the future, the aforementioned car ownership restrictions will be introduced, for example, by linking family ownership of a car and possibly more than one vehicle as long as they are electric and / or hydrogen cars. If the negative effects of climate change (droughts, forest fires and others) in the following years intensify as quickly as in recent years, certain pro-environmental system changes, including amendments to legal norms relating to the implementation of the sustainable development goals and in terms of stricter environmental policy, will be to a greater extent carried out. As part of tightening the norms relating to the environmental policy, further restrictions on passenger car traffic in the centers of urban agglomerations will be introduced, while promoting and encouraging the use of public transport. Some cities have already abolished tolls for public transport, i.e. buses, trams, trolleybuses, city trains and subways. In addition, during the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic, many companies and corporations increased the scope of digitization and internationalization of their business, including the use of remote work. As the number of people working remotely via the Internet has increased significantly, it is associated with savings in time and costs of early commuting to the workplace. As a result, the amount of travel by motor vehicles in the urban agglomeration has decreased. On the other hand, some people fearing coronavirus infection could switch from public transport vehicles to passenger cars or bicycles. In individual urban agglomerations, these relations may appear in a different scope. However, the pro-environmental changes triggered by the pandemic could continue. In a situation where a citizen commutes to a nearby workplace, e.g. by bicycle instead of a car, it may also be related to health-related aspects. During the pandemic, there were opportunities to accelerate the processes of pro-environmental transformation of the economy, but basically these opportunities were not used. I invite you to the discussion,
Regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Frankly, I don't see the problem.
Having difficulty with vehicles?
Go on foot (at worst, take public transport).
In the future, by changing the public transport techs and types fundamentall, maybe using the vehicles will decrease.
Dear Dr. Filipe Wiltgen ,
I hope the car salesmen won't listen to me but, in general, buying a car is, in my opinion, one of the worst possible investments of money. However, there are several factors that contribute to favoring the purchase or the needs, the ready availability, the pleasure of use without particular constraints in the movements .... single or with the family.
I am not in favor of limiting the freedom of choice of the individual citizen but of making sustainable alternatives of various kinds available to him, including public ones (car-sharing, other means of transport, etc.) and perhaps favoring the purchase of less polluting vehicles even if today, in Italy, the real reliability of hybrid / electric cars (surely the future will be theirs ...) is still a subject of debate.
My best regards, Pierluigi Traverso
My dear friend Prof. Pierluigi Traverso ,
I agree with everything!
As always, thank you for your always objective placement!
My best regards,
Wiltgen
Dear Carlos Stavizki Junior ,
Public transport needs to be of quality, here in Brazil, we know how it is.
I prefer walking. But I live in an average city of 300 thousand people.
Best Regards,
Wiltgen
Hello,
Important question. The vehicle is essential as a means of work
Dear Filipe Wiltgen ,
Indeed a good question and most importantly at the right time before we make other Mistakes. Are cars important, YES I believe so. Are they necessary, Maybe not to everyone and not for all situations? I believe if we take away the business and the desire to be rich by the manufacturers, a car will be a very good addition to the society, BUt at the same time, the effects of having too many of them outweigh the benefits.
Proper SWOT analysis was not done before the world was flooded with fossil-fueled cars. That can't be undone. BUT now we are faced with another problem by trying to solve an existing one. Electric cars, as long as they use batteries after 30 years the whole world will be faced with battery disposal issues. we all know this now but no one seems to care because we are greedy on the business side and careless on the environment side.
The proponents of such technologies like cars are not the ones who suffer the effects. The future generations and the disadvantaged poor are the sufferers. I give an example of what is happening now. First world countries have indicated they wish to and will to move away from fossil-fueled cars by as early as 2025. See how much of those cars are being dumped into Africa and poorer countries in these few years. They enjoyed the cars but do not want to be associated with the waste associated with them. they dump to other nations for them to suffer the permanent problems. Why not take responsibility for the disposal issues, that might make us think clearer before we into unnecessary overproduction.
Some might argue the need to travel to and fro work, China has started coming up with carless cities, a city where everything is designed to be within walking distance. Is it going back as some might say? I believe this is moving way forward. In short, we need cars, yes BUT we can avoid unnecessary use and an overproduction to balance with the environmental effects.
Dear Tadiwa Elisha Nyamasvisva ,
The right word in any technology is to maintain a rational and pragmatic balance. A good researcher doesn't have passions, preferences, or is even influenced by glimpses.
Therefore, it is necessary to see the entire problem domain and its dimension to assess its boundary limit. Otherwise, it will happen as always, everyone marvels at the new technology and its disadvantages and problems are postponed to future generations (putting under rug).
Thank you for your important participation in this debate.
Best regards,
Wiltgen
Hi Filipe Wiltgen
This is an interesting question - we often think that we are rational beings! But it is a bit vague, as it lacks context. Implying that buying an appliance (which is what a car eventually is for most of us) that only gets used 2.6% of time (or ~37 min/day) is not rational is incorrect - I use my electric kettle (and washing machine and shower for that matter) for much less than that but with the energy systems in place where I live it is perfectly rational. So low usage alone does not equate irrationality.
There are many reasons people buy cars: vanity is one of them! But utility also plays a role:
- I don't use public transport at all where I live, but then I am of the priveleged with a well-paying job. It is too unpredictable, with limited routing options, personal safety issues and too slow - time is money. I was stunned with the public transport efficiencies when I went to Europe the first time - there the question of car ownership is very different!
- Once you've lost your job because of consistent unreliable public transport, a car becomes very important consideration for independence of that factor, especially if housing is expensive closer to work.
- And if I live in the north of Sweden, I suspect that I won't be cycling in winter - but then should I actually own the vehicle or time-share it (Uber, car-pooling, etc.)?
- Many people do not have a true understanding of the implications of car ownership, they only see the sticker price. Rational thinking requires remembering that there are maintenance and insurance issues at play. And (where I live) housing with off-street parking or a garage is required, that increases the cost of living even more, with higher rates and taxes payable on more expensive properties.
- Years ago I spoke to a guy in the advertising industry. When he started, he had an old, battered Toyota Corolla - he was not a petrolhead! So, when going to see certain clients, he'd hire an Avis VW just for the day, as first impressions does count in some industries! I always though that was a good example of rational thinking.
- I see a fair amount of car-pooling, mostly by people doing it for economic reasons - rationality again. Most fancy cars have one occupant only.
- Should remote working trends continue, the rationality of car ownership in such cases will be challenged, especially for two-car households. But a small percentage of people can work remotely at the moment, so a lot of service workers will still need to work outside of their home - factories, restaurants, shops, police, agricultural, etc.
And I am referring to the present tense, the future will be different. And geographically, answers will differ widely.
Dear Filipe Wiltgen
Interesting Subject. One cannot say we have made a "correct" choice in having a vehicle as NOT all vehicle owners actually "needs" a vehicle. Most Vehicle acquisition, specifically cars are based on "wants" not "needs" considering that people do own multiple cars. One can definately say manufacturers have NOT made correct choice in production as there are "too many" cars rolled out which contributes partly to the global environmental issues . Governments and Policy makers have also NOT entirely made correct choices in making policies to control vehicle acquisition but may make better policies to regulate transportation and technology industries as e-haling applications can help shapen the industry. With the provision of options that is easy can effectively cater for the transportational needs of the people, Governments ought to make policies to "raise" requirements for new vehicle acquisitions and limits the number of car an individual or household can acquire. Policies that will ensure that, even with enough money, One should not be able to acquire a vehicle that one do NOT need.
This is actually a good question, I believe a lot of factors should be put into consideration for having a car and one of these factors is based on the necessity not for the fun of it
Doris,
At no point in this debate was "fun" discussed or debated as a justification for having a vehicle, not least because, as you may have noticed, it is a scientific debate and the facts, as you know, are facts and there are no arguments to justify its use. Everyone has a conscience for future generations.
Regards,
Wiltgen
The car at the present time is necessary. Rather,it is considered one of the most important necessities in our country, where moving to and from an area with the family and without it is difficult due to the lack of mass transportation, but in the long run, and when mass transportation is available, the car is a very secondary thing.
The mega-cities of today were a response to automobiles and can only exist, unless infrastructure is radically transformed, with our present means of moving around. When cars go, we will have to develop other urban structures. The consequent social effects will or could be enormous.
In my opinion, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, slow down the process of global warming and limit the scale of the future climate crisis, combustion cars powered by the combustion of fossil fuels should be replaced by electromobile vehicles powered by hydrogen combustion as soon as possible. When hydrogen is burned with oxygen, water vapor is the result of this type of combustion process. It is a virtually emission-free combustion process, which also does not emit any substances polluting the environment.
Best wishes,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
It all depends on transport infrastructure. In my case, life would be much harder without a car. In the City, that's no problem. I don't drive the car to work. I choose a bus, but when traveling outside I prefer a car.