In this podcast, they discuss the hidden health impacts of car culture, the societal injustices of auto mobility, and the need for sustainable transportation interventions. They delve into the negative impacts of automobility, including traffic crashes, pollution, and violence, and highlight the pervasive harm it inflicts on society. The podcast encourages shifting towards walking, cycling, and public transportation for safer and healthier cities.
Car culture contributes to 1 in 32 global deaths, including injuries, pollution, and societal isolation.
Automobility's negative impacts extend beyond fatalities to social injustice and environmental damage, urging the prioritization of sustainable transportation modes.
Deep dives
The System of Automobility's Harmful Effects on Society
The podcast discusses a new UK paper highlighting the harmful impact of automobility on society, estimating that car-related issues, including crashes, pollution, and lead exposure, contribute to one in 32 global deaths. The researchers compiled data from over 500 studies to quantify the negative effects of automobility, emphasizing that these issues go beyond fatalities to include injuries and societal isolation.
Defining Automobility and its Various Harms
The paper focuses on the concept of automobility as an encompassing term for not just cars themselves but the entire system surrounding them, including infrastructure, policies, and cultural norms. Through a literature review, the authors found that around 80 million deaths have been attributed to automobility, with factors like traffic crashes, pollution, and lead exposure contributing significantly to the high mortality rate.
Addressing Social Injustice and Environmental Damage
Apart from fatalities and injuries, the paper delves into social injustice aspects of automobility, highlighting how marginalized groups bear a disproportionate burden of harm. Additionally, environmental damage caused by automobility, such as the significant contribution of tires to microplastic pollution, raises concerns. Despite recognizing some benefits of auto mobility, such as increased economic activity, the authors suggest a need to reevaluate the societal costs and prioritize sustainable transportation modes.
Sustainable transportation advocates know all the stats about how many people die in car crashes on global roads every year. But what about all the deaths and injuries that car culture causes — not to mention all the other ways it diminishes and destroys our communities? On this episode of The Brake, we're bringing you an extended interview with the lead author of a new literature review that took on the impossible task of answering that question, and offered an astonishing glimpse into the many "car harms" that researchers around the world have tried to quantify. And then, we talk a little bit about how the costs of automobility measure up against its supposed benefits — and what it will take to shift the balance sheet towards human-scaled places. Listen in, and read a shareable digest of Miner's paper here.
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