Our car dependence prevents many of us from converting garages to safe in-law apartments that could help ease our housing crunch. We have stricter rules assuring affordable housing for cars than we do for people. Capitulation to car dependence has prevented an aggressive program of ticketing vehicles parked on the sidewalk, providing near impunity to scofflaws and adding more traffic to the streets. According to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, every 10 days a pedestrian is hit and killed by a car in the city. Traffic delays for drivers have made driving across town hardly faster than biking, but biking in increasing traffic is not an attractive option for most people.
Muni delays get worse every year, as buses get stuck in thickening traffic.
Don't even get me started on the children who face a life of dealing with asthma caused in large part by pollution from car exhaust. When we residents and policymakers shake ourselves from our denial, we all agree that there are too many cars in this city and that it would be a good thing to reduce traffic, improve safety, and provide more choices such as better public transit, bicycling, and walking. But for 70 years we've done nothing but cut away at our city to squeeze in more cars. Well, City CarShare has arrived, and the excuses are over. We can start to change our building patterns, zoning codes, and traffic decisions to emphasize the alternatives to cars, allowing residents to sell their private cars while still providing them with a car when they need one.