[hawkinspeter]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/29/extreme-car-dependency-unhappiness-americans

“Car dependency has a threshold effect – using a car just sometimes increases life satisfaction but if you have to drive much more than this people start reporting lower levels of happiness,” said Rababe Saadaoui, an urban planning expert at Arizona State University and lead author of the study. “Extreme car dependence comes at a cost, to the point that the downsides outweigh the benefits.”

The new research, conducted via a survey of a representative group of people across the US, analyzed people’s responses to questions about driving habits and life satisfaction and sought to find the link between the two via a statistical model that factored in other variables of general contentment, such as income, family situation, race and disability.

The results were “surprising”, Saadaoui said, and could be the result of a number of negative impacts of driving, such as the stress of continually navigating roads and traffic, the loss of physical activity from not walking anywhere, a reduced engagement with other people and the growing financial burden of owning and maintaining a vehicle.

Topic

[brooksby]

hawkinspeter wrote:

brooksby wrote:

It turned up eventually, Peter! 😀

It took about 24 hours!

Well yes, but it is the holidays 😉

[hawkinspeter]

ktache wrote:

Good picture too. But no squirrel…

I find your lack of faith disturbing

[hawkinspeter]

brooksby wrote:

It turned up eventually, Peter! 😀

It took about 24 hours!

[hawkinspeter]

mdavidford wrote:

I’m sure it’s a very interesting piece and all, but I’m more distracted by the unorthodox (apparently Russian/East European) car design, which appears to require you to open up the entire front of the car, headlights and all, and presumably climb over the engine, to get in. 

It’s a 1955 NAMI-050 “Belka” (Squirrel) – a Soviet concept car. It’s got the engine at the rear, so no clambering necessary.

https://www.story-cars.com/1955-nami-050-belka-squirrel

 

[mdavidford]

I’m sure it’s a very

I’m sure it’s a very interesting piece and all, but I’m more distracted by the unorthodox (apparently Russian/East European) car design, which appears to require you to open up the entire front of the car, headlights and all, and presumably climb over the engine, to get in. 

[Jogle]

ktache wrote:

Good picture too. But no squirrel…

Of course there was a squirrel

[ktache]

Good picture too. But no

Good picture too. But no squirrel…

[brooksby]

It turned up eventually,

It turned up eventually, Peter! 😀

[Author]

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