JumboRider

If it were illegal to use a motor vehicle for any point-to-point of less than 10 miles. I know, it is not doable for a billion reasons, but could you imagine the affect?

Zeuser

McDonald's would go out of business.

mtnwalker

A lot less traffic thats for sure. But that is impractical especially for those who have to haul, carry a whole bunch of stuff like bags of rice, construction stuff, gardeners, etc. What would be better is if a law was passed that is similar to some Asian countries that are very congested right now. In the Philippines cars in the city are given stickers by the DMV equivalent there that specifies what days those cars can and cannot be used. If applied properly people here will be forced to plan better and carpool, ride bikes, use public transit and such. Either that or buy a second car that will cover the other days.

Artkansas 

The accident rates would plummet because most accidents are close to home.

Elusor

win win win

swwhite

Maybe the corner grocery store would come back.

crtreedude 

I beg to differ on the McDonalds - they would turn into refueling stations...

lil brown bat

I won't quibble about "impractical", but I will point out that such things do get hauled all the time without motor vehicles -- just not in the United States. People don't have cars, or more to the point, have drivable roads. And they haul all of the above. I saw suspension bridges in Nepal, footbridges rather than vehicle bridges, made with steel cables and uprights. That construction material was brought for days up footpaths, with fifty or a hundred porters to carry a big cable or steel beam. And check out what they're doing with bikes in Rwanda! Or look at what organizations like Bikes Not Bombs are doing to supply cargo bikes and trailers in Ghana!

We say "impossible" when we mean "impractical" and "impractical" when we mean "inconvenient". As you can see by looking at what's done elsewhere, these words have only local truth based on current situations. Let gas go to $10 a gallon, and we'll see how "impractical" it is to do hauling in the US with bicycles.

JumboRider

I think public transit would be useful everywhere.
I think traffic would ease.
I think people would move back to the cities.
I think bikes would be more plentiful than vehicles on many arterial roads.

Tom Stormcrowe

This would be a good thing!

chipcom 

Well, it sure would make moving to a new home a longer, more physical process.
Maybe horses and wagons would make a comeback! Well..that might not be as attractive to cyclists as some might think.

Tom Stormcrowe

Depends, there's always Swedish Modern minimalism!

mtnwalker

I mean impractical. Lets say you are going to Costco to buy your groceries/home stuff/etc. NO way that stuff can fit on those bikes you showed. Even if it did, if you are living where there are hills like that over in Antioch, Pittsburgh, Livermore, etc that would be painful. And how about if you are a contractor and you have to buy lumber, bags of cement, mulch, a door, a cabinet? The multiple trips alone will kill any profitability or progress.

acroy

I think it's impossible to legislate common sense....

scottyk

Or maybe people would downsize the amount of stuff that they have. That way, when they move, they could transport everything that they own by a few loads of a bike and trailer. You could have your friends help you and use their bikes too.

thebankman

There would be a lot of junk littering the roads if people couldn't easily transport large items for sale or to trash. Similar to what my neighborhood looks like, with neighbors hauling their unwanted items to the street corner to be taken by other neighbors or hauled away by the city dept. of public works. Except there would be a lot more couches, old projection TV's, etc. which people already don't want to deal with and illegally leave it on the street.

InTheRain

I think the government should just tax gas to raise the price. Hey, add a $3 per gallon tax to gas in addition to the current taxes. Offset my income taxes by gas tax. Use a portion of the proceeds to develop public transportation instead of building more highways. European countries do this. Their gasoline prices are significantly higher than ours in the U.S. and I wouldn't say that it has had much of an impact on their "development" and profitable businesses.

And gas at $7-$10 a gallon still gives the rich the option to drive around their 8,10, 12 cylinder vehicles. It would take me off the roads for most things. But truthfully, most of us could get 90 percent of what we need to do with the use of other transportation if it were dependable, cost effective, and readily available. I know I'm going to hear the argument about the salesman, construction worker, etc. that need their vehicle to do business. No argument from me on that... just price the cost of gas into your end product. It's just a cost of doing business and if your product is necessary for us or we want it bad enough.. we'll pay the higher price (just like we do for gas.)

I need my car at times too. When I do, i'll pay whatever I have to for the gas. For most people, driving habits haven't changed with gas prices going from $1 per gallon to $3.50 per gallon. But, I think at $10 per gallon they would. It's also nice to know that you could avoid paying some taxes by not buying gasoline... it would actually be more fair... the rich that could afford lots of gas and buy it would be paying a larger portion of the taxes.. (I would encourage them to have 16 cylinder vehicles that get 4 mpg).. and the proceeds would go toward buses, trains, light rail, MUP's, and bike lanes.

jmeier

take to distance from 10 to 4 miles and try it then, with exceptions for heavy load days...
for some inspiration, just look to Europe, where until a few years ago, people did daily shopping and walked/rode to most places they went on a daily basis. if it was too far for that, they took mass transit...
I try to live near work and amenities...thats my decision...2 min to store on bike, 5 min to about 20 restaurants, 18 min to work, 10 min to theater...
people are jealous that its so simple for us to get what we need, yet they are the ones who chose to live in a McMansion in the burbs with only 1 road out of their subdivision and 5 miles to the grocery store on a 6 lane road... suckers

crtreedude 

What would American look like? Like a lot of the rest of the world!

lima_bean

The only thing that would REALLY happen:

People would move farther out into the suburbs. Cities would suffer massive population decline. Everyone would drive 11 miles to the store.


after 8pm and on weekends every city would look like downtown chicago at night, or that first scene in 28 days later. (you can go blocks and blocks among the skyscrapers without seeing a single car or person after 8pm or on sundays here, the loop completely evacuates).

mtnwalker

Agreed. I would happily get rid of my vehicle too if there was reliable public transportation and I was paying less taxes. Unfortunately though this may not happen at all. The US is just too car-centric and people in power are tied to the oil industry. Even at $10/gallon people will still drive their vehicles no matter what. Maybe if an EMP bomb went off a mile up in the atmosphere then people will stop driving cars.

Tom Stormcrowe

Sounds like cycling heaven!

lil brown bat

No? Really? You buy so much at Costco that you couldn't even fit it on the coffee bike or the trailer bike? Well hey, if that's true, all I can say is that if you lived like most of the world, you wouldn't be buying so much stuff that you couldn't carry it home on a bicycle

This is the core of the issue, I think, mtnwalker: if we want to continue to "live like Americans", then yes, we "need" cars. But "living like Americans" is a historical anomaly. It's not the destiny of the human race and it's not something the planet can support. As a friend said to me at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, "there's not enough oil in the world for them to live like we do."

I'm not a luddite and I'm not into sackcloth and ashes. I just think that this is where our consumption is eventually going to take us: into a time where we're going to learn some new "practical" realities.

deputyjones

The Netherlands with hills.

thelazywon

Who is going to do the farming? Or are we going to hand carry the crops from the field to the barn? Get a grip. America must have powered trans. to remain the incredibly rich place it is. I guess we could ban cars altogether, but get used to buying a 20 dollar bike instead of a zillion dollar Cervelo.