Eliminating car usage can benefit ones life in many ways. Vauban, Germany, is a community where street parking is forbidden, and as a result, many residents have just given up their cars. Residents seem to prefer it this way as well. "When I had a car I was always tense...I'm much happier this way," says Heidrun Walter, a resident. Cars emit up to 50% of greenhouse gas in some car-intensive aareas in the United States. As a result of the minimal car usage in Vauban, stores are being renovated to being a walk away, on a main street, rather than in malls along some distant highway.

Polution and smog are another big problem caused by car usage. Paris had once enforced a partial driving ban to clear the air of the global city, due to a near-record pollution and smog problem. Bogota, Columbia, has an annual Day Without Cars, where car transportation, with the exception of buses and taxis are banned. This is done in an attempt to clear smog. Violators are charged with a $25 fine.