Today, it is not often we see somone walking or taking the bus as transportation.  Cars are the more preferred option of getting from point A to point B in a quick an easy way.  It is hard to even think about a world where car usage is limited, but there are many advantages of it and several efforts being made to accomplish this.

To begin, there has been a slow decrease of miles driven, driving by young people, and people obtaining a driver's license in the United States. President Obama has made it a goal to curb the country's greenhouse gas emissions, but how is this to be accomplished?  As studies show, America might have already had its peak in driving.  People are finding alternatives to the car such as public transportation, walking, bicycling, or carpooling.  As for limiting the pollution, many sociologists believe if this decrease persists, it will benefit carbon emissions and the environment.  Mimi Sheller, a sociology progessor at Drrexel University and director of its Mobilities Research and Policy Center, said: "different things are converging which suggest that we are witnessing a long-term cultural shift."  Car companies have even began to worry and proposing ideas if this is to be accomplished and personal vehicle ownership is unnecessary.  "Pedestrian, bicycle, private cars, commercial and public transportation traffic are woven into a connected network to save time, conserve resources, lower emissions and improve safety," said Bill Ford, executive chairman of the Ford Motor Company.  He proposed partnering with telecommunications industry to create cities where this ideal would be a reality.

Moreover, there are several other reasons why limiting car usage is advantageous.

Recently in Paris, there has been near-record pollution and in response, Paris enforced a partial driving ban to clear the air.  Congestion was down 60 percent but delivery companies complained of lost revenue.  If Paris did happen to continue this ban, pollution would have decreased even more.  Also, in Bogota, Columbia, there is a day each year dedicated to fray from car use with only buses and taxis permitted to drive.  People hiked, biked, skated, or took public transportation which was the cause of the absense of traffic jams.  The goal of this day is to promote alternative transportation and reduce smog.  "It's a good opportunity to take away stress and lower air pollution," said businessman Carlos Arturo Plaza.  Enrique Riera, the mayor of Asunción, Paraguay said, "these people are generating a revolutionary change, and this is crossing borders."  This will hopefully spread into other countries, occur on more occasions throughout the year, and lead the way to ridding the world of pollution.

Furthermore, a suburb in Germany has taken a more extreme approach to the car-free situation.  70 percent of the residents of Vauban, Germany have given up there cars.  This is a growing trend in Europe and the United States and has become a movement known as "smart planning."  larger cities full of families are to blame for the impediment to current efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emmisions from tailpipes, says experts.  "Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States."  This experiment is very advanced and proves that living without cars is possible and has many advantages.  "When I had a car I was always tense.  I'm much happier this way," said Heidrun Walter, resident of Vauban.  Many experts expect public transport serving suburbs to play a much larger role in a new six-year federal transportation bill to be approved this year, said David Goldberg, an official of Transportation for America.

To conclude, I believe there are many advantages of limiting car usage.  Pollution would decrease and traffic jams would stop.  Although many efforts are being made such as the ban in Paris and Car-Free day in Bogota, Columbia, people seem to be leaning more towards other means of transportation other than the car.  Both of these as well as the growing cities that forbid cars I think will lead the way into a world where personal vehicles are impractical and unwanted and pollution from cars is a thing in the past.