Do you own a car? Have you ever driven one? Many people would answer yes to these questions, and would agree that cars , in fact, are very useful. But have you ever thought of the adavantages that would occur if we limited car usage? While cars are very useful, they also have lots of negative side affects that come along with it. Cars accumulate lots of pollution in the enviroment and stress to humans. Also less cars, results in less traffic, which means you will be wasting less of you're life waiting to get somewhere and actually being there in the moment. Whether you realize it or not Americans are already starting to cut down on car uasge. In the article "The End of Car Culture" by Elisabeth Rosenthal, it even states "recent studies suggest that Americans are buying fewer cars, driving less and getting fewer licenses as each year goes by."

The world has been struggling with pollution for quite some time now and has been trying to come up with ways to cut it down. So why not start with where it derives from the most? Cars. Pollution by cars got so bad in Paris that they had to use license plate numbers to decide what cars could drive on certain days! But what did happen was "Congestion was down 60 percent in the capital of France, after five-days of intensifying smog." (Duffer). That is amazing! Just five days of less car usage and the smog went down 60 precent. Pollution would drop in great precentages if we just cut down car usage a bit. Pollution will always be harmful to the world, but steps should be taken to harm the world as little as possible.

Stress is something everyone experiences, but it is safe to say that everyone could do with less of it. Cars cause lots of stress to humans. A city in Germany does not allow cars and a women from the city says "When I had a car I was always tense." (Rosenthal). She is much more relaxed now and does not need to worry about all the stress that comes along with owning a car. Another person from Bogota, Columbia, where they have a car-free day, says "Its a good opportunity to take away stress..." (Selsky). People all around the world are reporting that their lives are a lot less stress free when they do not own cars. Stress is something that can be very damaging to a human when in large amounts and just cutting down on driving takes away lots of that stress.

Everyone has been stuck in traffic from time to time, and for some people in small cities, five minutes could be a long time to be stuck in traffic. But for some people in big cities like New York City and Los Angelos, people waste hours stuck in traffic! When you accumulate all those hours stuck in traffic, that is a lot of your time wasted in just waiting to get from desitination A, to destination B. Those hours could be spent on actually being there in the moment at the destination you want to be at. "A study last year found that driving by young people decreased 23 percent between 2001 and 2009....." (Rosenthal), many people now-a-days just want to get to the place that they are going to, as fast as possible; whether that be by car-pooling, taking the bus, or biking. Car usage is already decreasing, but that advantage should be taken that people want to live in the moment more and car usage should be even more cut down.

Car usage may never be completely taken away, but it defintley can be lowered. The advantages and benefits of just less car usage is astonishing. Less pollution to help the world, less stress to help the people, and letting people live life in the moment more are all advantages the derive from cutting down on the usage of cars. It may be diffcult to let go of something many people hold on to so dearest, but it is a change the will benefit us. While cars may have its pros, its cons outweigh it in the end.