Doug writes:
"Dan Lazare told me he saw research saying that the average suburban household in the U.S. takes 11 trips with the car. If gas didn't cost less than Evian, the number might be lower."
Perhaps its unexpected, but Europeans who pay much more for their petrol, especially Britons who pay much much more, continue to increase their car use. In fact the proportion of journeys Britons make in their over-taxed cars is pretty close to the proportion that Americans do in their - apparently - under-taxed cars.
I would like to suggest that your difficulty in imagining that those car journeys are, to those people, worthwhile, is your difficulty, not theirs. That your life is managed rather differently ought not make it so hard to understand car users. In the end, isn't it just snobbery on your part? -- James Heartfield Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99, plus GBP5.01 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'. www.audacity.org