Although this manifesto is thus far ripe with this spear metaphor as a means to explain all the different ways that cars cause us harm, it is now time to discuss in brightened tones the delightful and refreshing subject of bodily injury and vehicular manslaughter.
Proponents of the automobile will relish the opportunity to tell you how quickly (or rather not) they got to Costco that day, and while we cannot deny that cars are quite good at navigating suburban infrastructure designed to funnel the mentally frail between their live-in drywall box and the concrete hell where they get their bulk processed meats, we think car owners ought to talk loudly about the automobile’s greatest strength: the smearing of unsuspecting victims across pavement.
Automobiles are so fucking good at killing people that they actually beat out gun violence in the United States in total death toll. To be clear, Americans cannot be trusted with guns (unless said American is queer, in which case, lock ’n’ load, cocksucker!), but the evidence goes to show they can’t actually be trusted with cars, either.
So why is it that when a kindergarten class goes tits up because a loser got his fingers on some firearms, as happens seemingly every Thursday in America, the media is quick to condemn the actions of the killer, call for a ban on guns, and argue that such violence cannot possibly stand?
They do this because it is the logical and rational response to the bloodshed caused by guns in the United States. What is not logical is that we collectively fail to apply this same rationale to a much more dire and omnipresent threat: the automobile.
Why is it that we do not apply the same pressure to something that causes even more death? Why do we not try to legislate away a weapon that can so quickly turn an inattentive driver into a killer?
Why do we try to make the inside of the automobile safer for the person inside of it, the person perpetuating the violence, and not try to create a world where people are safe from cars?
Untold research and development goes into making the automobile safer for the occupants, while simultaneously making larger SUVs and larger liftted trucks that can barely the smaller cars directly in front of them, let alone any pedestrian who may dare to cross at one of the few demarcated crossing.
It is madness to call this safety, and not the aiding and abetting of violence.
Of course, it is of no surprise that these are our attitudes. This is the Greater Cultural Context at work again. Cars are the centers of our cities, the centers of our neighbourhoods, the centers of our households and, increasingly, the center of our very lives as more and more infrastructure is built that requires their usage. Who gives a shit if I turn an errant cyclist into vélo tartare, so long as I can get to Costco and back in forty-five minutes to fill up my flatbed with bulk fruit from a distant abattoir.
You may think to yourself, well, fine, I just won’t get hit by a car then. I’ll be extra safe, and I will avoid injury. I’ll wear a helmet every where I go.
It won’t be enough. It cannot save you from the untold and increasing damage wrought by automobiles upon the environment that will poison you for the rest of your life.
