Cars aren't for just for getting around, they are the chariots of dreams.

Dreams of the open road.

Dreams of sexual success.

Dreams of domination.

But, in reality, the dreaming driver simply ends up sharing the road with countless other people with the same dream.

Frequently, a car just becomes a comfortable place to sit and wait whilst the carnage is cleared away.

M23 and section of M25 are closed both ways after motorcyclist is killed in horror smash 

This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway

Oh no, this is the road

Said this is the road

This is the road to hell

 

The Road To Hell, Chris Rea

Cars leave marks other than tyre tracks.

In 2019 1,870 people were killed on British roads and a further 157,630 people were injured.

21% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions came from road vehicles in 2017.

Between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths each year in the UK are associated with exposure to air pollution. There is strong evidence that air pollution causes the development of coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer and exacerbates asthma.

Emissions from vehicles are the principle cause of air pollution in urban areas.

Perhaps the most lamentable aspect of car use, is how it separates the occupants from the outside, the real world. In-car entertainment drowns out the sound of engine and tyres. Climate control means it's never too hot or cold. Central locking ensures that other people stay outside.

The climate crisis is not just too much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. It is the profound human separation from nature that permits persistent and damaging abuse of the ecosphere. Natural systems are so damaged that they can no longer regulate the environment as they once did.

Exploitative, destructive activity takes place in plain sight. But cossetted in their cars, homes and cities, most people choose not to see. Much less do something about it.