Car culture
Basics
Study: What’s Behind Partisan Splits Over Transport Reform?
The majority of Americans support transportation reform that would reduce our national dependence on automobiles — but better messaging may be needed to persuade the rest, a new study suggests.
October 4, 2021
America’s Most Toxic Car Ads: ‘Autonomous’ Atrocities
Driverless cars do not exist. But we sure do have a lot of commercials for them!
September 27, 2021
What Would Our Cities Look Like If AVs Ruled the Roads?
Autonomous vehicles could unleash a second wave of suburban sprawl that makes cities inhospitable to people outside cars in new ways — unless governments adopt policies to soften their impact now, a new study argues.
September 24, 2021
America’s Most Toxic Car Ads: Child Endangerment Edition
In a rational world, a product that's routinely involved in the deaths and serious injuries of thousands of children every year would be immediately pulled from the market...or at least, maybe kids wouldn't be featured in hundreds of ads.
September 22, 2021
America’s Most Toxic Car Ads: A Toxic Masculinity Twofer
The all-powerful truck nut lobby wants you to believe that the kind of car you drive can make you sexier and less likely to belt out Shania Twain with your macho friends.
September 14, 2021
America’s Most Toxic Car Ads: Get Out of Dodge
We had a lot of repeat offenders in our pool of submissions for this contest, but seemingly none was quite so offensive as this automaker, which constituted roughly a quarter of the haul.
And if you know anything about car ads, can probably guess we're talking about Dodge.
September 10, 2021
How D.C. Might Kneecap Its Micromobility Revolution
A plan to limit shared scooters and bike operators in the nation's capital has some advocates wondering why micromobility providers are again being held to higher standards than drivers and automakers.
September 9, 2021
America’s Most Toxic Car Ad: Hummer EV vs. H3
As Americans come down from the sugar high of Labor Day Weekend sales at the auto dealership, we're looking at two bad ads for the same vehicle: one electric, one an original recipe gas-guzzler, both ultra-fatal to vulnerable road users in the event of a crash.
September 7, 2021
Op-Ed: Is Car Culture Is Getting Even Worse?
Cars are their own worst monster, and they will dodge on their last legs like a boxer on the ropes until the very end. No, cars will not go gently into that good night. They will lie, cheat and growl their way to the grave.
September 6, 2021
What If Drivers Had to Follow Scooter Laws?
It seems like there's a story every other day about an exciting new traffic law aimed at curbing the most dangerous behaviors on U.S. roads. The only problem? They're almost exclusively aimed at the riders of electric push scooters — not automobile drivers, who are responsible for almost all deaths on our roadways.
August 31, 2021