Get Rid of Your Car

Navigating a car-dependent city after my accident

I did not realize how unnatural a 4,000-pound Volkswagen was until I crashed mine.

All I remember is the air bags going off, my ears ringing, and smoke swelling outside the shattered windows.

Every time I pass the intersection where the wreck happened, I go silent remembering the sounds of screeching rubber and colliding steel. No wonder car accidents were the leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder.

After my wreck, I realized there was no need for an expensive death trap in a big city.

I downloaded Uber and started using my student ID for free Austin bus rides.

I was set.

$400 a month for the car, $150 for the gas, $200 every towing - the $1.5 trillion automobile industry is shrinking your wallet. I did not realize how much disposable income I would have after my car was totaled: I finally have a savings account.

My rule is if it is less than 30 minutes, I’ll walk. Coming from a person used to driving to their university less than a mile away, this is progress.

On my walks, I realized how miserable people with cars are. They become cyborgs, losing their humanity behind a steering wheel. There are even self-driving cars running around Austin.

The number of drivers that honk at me while I have the right of way is ridiculous. Because people are not used to navigating on foot, they do not empathzie with pedstrians.

Unlike the drivers, I listen to more birds and smell more grass on my walks to campus. I am more at peace than the road ragers.

I was no longer tied to the 2-ton stress that came with owning a vehicle.

I drive my mom’s Ford Bronco when she visits because I have the winding roads of Austin as second nature. Even though she enjoys having a chaffeur, I am anti-car.

I’d prefer a $15 Uber, every now and then, compared to a $500 monthly expense.

Get rid of your car.