Without a Car

At 21 years of age I am proud to say that I have not ever owned a car.

This in of itself is not necessarily mind boggling. There are lots of students that do not have cars. In a rural small town however this can be very challenging. My favorite store to shop for food is a about 8 miles away. It is out of walking distance and could be biked to but the road is dagerous. See here is the problem with being car-less in a rural area:

1) Public transport systems are underdeveloped. Their hours are not always convenient and the buses are not always frequent enough.
2) Motorists are not always aware of bikers and do not know how to drive around them. I have been waiting to turn at an intersection and on coming traffic will stop for me. I have also been honked at for biking in the street, which is legal. Rural motorists are just unaware of the protocol. Plus there are rarely designated bike lanes.
3) Walking is great but often in the winter sidwalks are not kept up and become slippery and dangerous. When the weather is less than ideal being outside can be an absolute pain and usually small town suburbs are not well lit at night. On top of this I cannot count the times that I have been crossing the street and have nearly been hit by someone who was not paying attention.

Cars are such status symbols in our society and in a rural culture they are especially important. If you do not have one you are pitied or snubbed. Everything is geared for cars. But I still refuse to buy one just yet and thankfully there are many more like myself who are in the same boat. Relying on public transit and riding our bikes makes us somewhat freer than people think. We do not have to worry about gas prices. We do not have to worry about engine trouble or getting snow tires. We don't need to stress about car payments. That makes all of the other things worth it!

The video below is rather inspiring to me. It makes me not so ashamed for not having a car. I hope you will enjoy.


Diane Meyer — “Without a Car” slide show from Orion Magazine on Vimeo.