Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>For me the most stressful aspect of driving and car ownership in general is
>not the mechanics of driving - which I find quite boring and soporific - but
>the constant awareness of being a prey to a wide variety of rackets - from
>the so called "law enforcement" (hefty fines for crossing arbitrary lines
>drawn by state bureaucrats and cops, arbitrary pullovers, searches and
>seizures, insurance racket, parking racket, towing racket, etc.) to plain
>old fashioned crimes (e.g. breaking a $300 window to steal a $5 phone
>charger.)
>
And then there's the cost, both obvious and hidden. I sat down to
compute how much my car was costing me (purchase, maintenance, repair,
gas, insurance) and realized that it was almost $500/month. This is for
a car that is 16 years old, used for a few very short trips each day.
Never mind the cost of the roads and the enforcement administration --
which eats up taxes. I almost cried when I realized that in NYC, for a
little over 100/month, I would be able to get around just as easily.
In my case, the car saves me time -- which I then have to spend working in order to support it.
Incredible racket. Incredible.
Joanna