What might transportation and community access look like in these United States if we-the-people were no less insistent about modal inclusion and modal diversity than we are insistent about respecting diversity in race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation?
I am quite sure we would not tolerate the swift, the powerful, and the heavily armored* dominating the transportation landscape - our communities would bustle with self-locomoted and transit-sharing citizens instead. I am quite sure that private motor vehicles would not be our primary means of access. I am quite sure that America would not have focused her military power in those parts of the world where most of the remaining petroleum is to be found. And I am certain the scourge of sprawl would not afflict a people who did not indulge the belief that we have a God-given right to drive a motorized, climate-controlled extension of our living room* wherever we want to go. Instead what I behold in my nation - even among transit advocates and the sustainability-minded - is great reluctance to make any motorists feel bad or guilty. Hans Noeldner <http://www.entropicjournal.blogspot.com/> www.entropicjournal.blogspot.com *Note: I'm not just talking about Escalades and Hummers here. When compared to self-locomoted modes (walking, rolling wheelchairs, pushing baby strollers, pedaling bicycles, etc.), even a vehicle like a Prius is "swift, powerful, and heavily armored".
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