Car Habit (or Driver's License Part 5)

I really enjoy my bike, riding my bike to work, and leaving my car in the driveway. I get a big kick when I'm locking up my bike and a stranger walks up, asks if I ride everywhere I go and offers encouraging words. I feel like I'm part of something bigger when I stop at an intersection to talk with a fellow cyclist. I want to spread the good news, to tell it from the mountain and to proclaim the simple beauty of the bicycle.

At the same time, my daughter is doing some pretty cool stuff with cars, and the more I look into this, the more I like cars. I had forgotten about paint markers and how much fun they are. I've written in previous posts (click on the Driver's License tag below) about what I'm learning about how we as a society develop our car habit. My daughter is making the transition to motorist, and I'm trying to take an honest look at the reasons we love our cars.

I have to admit, I enjoyed the attention I got when I drove the car with this message on the driver's side window:


This fun occurred when Grady High School advanced to the quarter-finals of the Girl's State Soccer Championship last Tuesday. On Friday night, they advanced to the semi's and play Tuesday night May 8. The community is loving it and my daughter (who scored the game winner Friday) is eating it up.

So, the question becomes, is it OK if the bike guy enjoys driving around in the car? Can the car really be so evil, if some fun can be had? Is there a place in the world (besides the driveway) for an energy-hungry, inefficient, transportable set of chairs with windows? I'll have to consider this further.

In the meanwhile, I'm glad to have an excuse not to wash it.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 13.4
Number of Cyclists seen: 17
In-bound Route: Lullwater/PATH
Out-bound Route: Errands
Weather: Completely blue skies, Low 50's in AM; mid-70's by afternoon; low humidity.

My Daughter, the Motorist -- Part 4

In recent posts, I've explored the mind-bending experience of your oldest child becoming a motorist. It's gone well from the perspective of how she drives and how courteous she is. As a bike commuter trying to change the world (or at least Intown Atlanta), I'm still reconciling my role in encouraging her use of the automobile. In this post, I'm exploring some unchallenged assumptions I've recently become more aware of.

First, we've gotten my 16-year-old a credit card. When you're on the road, broken down, you'll want to have access to funds to pay for fuel or towing without having to carry around wads of cash. I used to carry my bike in the back of the car for emergencies, but today you carry around a credit card. I don't mind she learns to be responsible with this priviledge, but I found it interesting that the use of a car became so closely related to an instrument of incurring debt.

Second, since I ride my bike to work, I had 'forgotten' that most people own a car so they can get to work. My daughter has just started her job when she turned 16. The job is less than a half-mile away, but because she's a young female working after dark, she drives. Safety for a young attractive female is a real issue and I support her use of the car to get to work. I'm at a loss to suggest otherwise.

Last -- and this is something I've touched on in Driver's License Part 2 -- the car has become so entangled in the way we schedule our lives. We don't give ourselves enough time to wait for the bus, to walk, or to take a shower after riding into the office. By shaving minutes here and there -- and time is indeed precious -- we incur the expense of an automobile.

The question I'm asking is, how do we spend the minutes we're saving by taking the car. Do we spend time in the gym getting the exercise we've missed? Do we plop down in front of the TV to decompress from sitting in traffic? Do we make one more phone call and send another email so we can get a raise, then celebrate the raise by getting a nicer car?

Life is about choices, and choices often are about overcoming inertia, the inertia of doing things as they have been done. I'm learning just how much inertia we set in motion when we put our children behind the wheel of a car.

Daughter's Driver's License - Part 3

I've mentioned in previous posts how as a parent, my eyes have been opened to how our society encourages the use of a car at exactly the age we become motorists. It is interesting to me how blind I've been to this simple explanation, but this post is about a different topic: urban vs. suburban for learning courteous driving.

We've lived intown for years (26 for me this month) and have always found it to be more livable. My daughter's driving presents yet another argument in favor of intown living.

First, I'm still tickled that Kala will take the car to run an errand while I'm sitting here writing this. I don't think I would be as comfortable with her taking the car by herself if we lived in suburbia with the higher-speed roads and large car-oriented shopping centers. North Highland is a busy street, but bicycles often travel the same speed as traffic. Pedestrians crossing at sidewalks have an additional traffic-calming effect. The overall attitude is more forgiving, more laid-back, and ultimately, more safe and enjoyable.

Kala learned to drive on these intown streets. I would have been intimidated learning to drive surrounded by so many cars, bikes, strollers and joggers, but I wonder if all new drivers shouldn't learn to drive this way. You do have to pay more attention to what is going on around you and you may not get there as fast, but you'll be in a much better mood when you do arrive. You'll be better prepared to be a courteous motorist as well.

Daughter's Driver's License - Part 2

This evening, Kala wants some things from the grocery store. I'm not able to go. My wife Beth suggests that Kala drive herself now that she has her license. Ansley is happy to jump in the back seat with her sister, and off they go.

So, the question comes up, where do we as a society go down the path of finding cars more convenient, and the person asking that question is tickled me, so pleased that we've got someone else in the house who can go get groceries.

Dadgum.

No wonder there are so many cars on the road. We're so happy the next generation can get us from behind the wheel.

As parents, who for 16 years have been running around from place to place, usually at distances and with time windows that require automobiles, we're grinning all the way around our head that we can finally begin chipping away at that pent-up demand to do some serious sitting around. I have seen the enemy, and they are us.

Daughter gets her Driver's License

I had already noticed that my older daughter stopped walking to school when she got to high school. The discussions didn't go deep into details, but essentially, it was no longer cool to walk to school. Middle-school kids showed their increasing independence by walking to school. High-school kids showed their independence by driving to school.

This really didn't hit home until now. My daughter is becoming a motorist.

One of my goals for this blog was to encourage and persuade others to leave the car in the driveway. Right before my eyes, I'm getting a good lesson in why this is so difficult. I'll be exploring this further in subsequent posts.