Summarises car-related harm including crashes, pollution, land use, and injustices.
1 in 34 deaths are caused by cars and automobility with 1,670,000 deaths per year.
Cars and automobility have killed 60–80 million people since their invention.
Car harm will continue unless policies change; example interventions are discussed.
Abstract
Despite the widespread harm caused by cars and automobility, governments, corporations, and individuals continue to facilitate it by expanding roads, manufacturing larger vehicles, and subsidising parking, electric cars, and resource extraction. This literature review synthesises the negative consequences of automobility, or car harm, which we have grouped into four categories: violence, ill health, social injustice, and environmental damage. We find that, since their invention, cars and automobility have killed 60–80 million people and injured at least 2 billion. Currently, 1 in 34 deaths are caused by automobility. Cars have exacerbated social inequities and damaged ecosystems in every global region, including in remote car-free places. While some people benefit from automobility, nearly everyone—whether or not they drive—is harmed by it. Slowing automobility's violence and pollution will be impracticable without the replacement of policies that encourage car harm with policies that reduce it. To that end, the paper briefly summarises interventions that are ready for implementation.
☒ Adding more road and parking space for the ever-increasing number of cars.
☑ Taking a step back and realizing that the path of supporting these highly inefficient modes of transport is unsustainable.
"Owners of large SUVs and trucks in Colorado could pay more to fund pedestrian safety measures
Lawmakers consider draft bill that aims to add registration fees based on vehicles’ weight"
"A new sedan that weighs 5,700 pounds would carry with it a maximum fee of $6.40. On the higher end, for light trucks or SUVs that weigh up between 8,500 and 9,499 pounds, the new fees would reach nearly $30.
Commercial vehicles would be exempt from the measure."