ATTITUDES That love affair with...

ATTITUDES

That love affair with...

No wonder the dominance of the private car continues to grow in the US. A survey by the USDOT (“Transportation Users’ Views of Quality” Dec 97) shows strongly positive attitudes towards car travel and only mild concern among the general public about congestion, pollution and accidents — a vivid reminder that the media and activists may give a misleadingly negative impression of opinion about cars and highways.

By 95% to 3% the public says cars give them the freedom to go where and when they want to travel. Only 3% don’t enjoy travelling in private vehicles. 27% say congestion is a major problem for society, to 43% who disagree. Only 16% say private car travel is very stressful compared to 69% who remain unstressed.

The survey — of a 4,000 sample of the public as part of the National Personal Transp Survey — found only minorities who think that there are large problems associated with private cars. Only 21% think air pollution caused by motor vehicles is a large problem. Only 17% think accidents are a major problem, the same proportion who agree that congestion is a large problem for them. Crime against motorists a “large problem” for 22%.

The USDOT survey authors observe: “The primary observation is that large problems (of cars) are not very large...The American public is pleased with its transp system... There is strong appreciation for the mobility and flexibility afforded by the private vehicle...Concerns about supposed negatives are quite limited with congestion the biggest concern.”

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That love affair...cont from p4

However USDOT and USEPA have recently announced a joint campaign to persuade the US public to abandon their cars for “alternative modes of transportation.” According to USDOT’s TRANSPORTER newsletter (Apr 98 p4) taxpayer money is to be spent by these two US agencies to “build national and local coalitions of public and private organizations geared toward changing attitudes and behaviors related to transportation...” To this end there will be “information packages, radio, TV and print advertisements” and funding for “local public outreach initiatives.” There will be pilot programs in Dover DE, San Francisco CA and Milwaukee WI with expansion to 25 other cities in 1999.

These aspiring social engineers in Washington DC, who presume to know better than the American people what is good for them, will of course be financing their little manipulative efforts with the motorists’ gas tax money. All in the grand tradition of King Canute, ordering back the waters of the ocean. (Contact Kathleen Daniel USDOT 202 366 6276)