Car Culture

                     
                                

Over the couse of the 20th century, the automobile rapidly developed from an expensive toy for the rich into the de facto standard for passenger transport in most developed countries. In developing countries, the effects of the autombile have lagged, but are emulating the impacts of developed nations. The development of the automobile built upon the trasport revolution started by railways, and like the railways, introduced sweeping changes in employment patterns, social interactions, infrastructure and goods distribution.

The effects of the automobile on everyday life have been a subject of controversy. While the introduction of the mass produced automobile represented a revolution in mobility and convenience, the modern consequences of heavy automotive use contribute to the use of non renewable fuels, a dramatic increase in the rate of accidental death, social isolation, the disconnection of community, the rise in obesity, the generation of air & noise pollution, urban sprawl, and urban decay.

Worldwide, the automobile has allowed easier access to remote places. However, average jouney times to regularly visited places have increased in large cities, especially in latin america, as result of widespread automobile adoption. this is due to traffic congestion and the increased distances between home and work brought abaut by urban sprawl.

Examples of automobile acces issues in underdeveloped coutries are :

• Paving of mezican federal highway 1 through baja california, completing the connection of cabo san lucas to california, and convenient access to the outside world for villagers along the route.
• In madagascar, approximately 30 percent of the population does not have access to reliable all wather roads.
• In china, 184 towns and 54,000 villages have no motor road.
• The origin of hiv explosion has been hypothesized by CDC researchers to derive in part from more intensive soceal interactions afforded by new road networks in central africa allowing more frequent travel from villagers to cities and higher density development of many african cities in the period 1950 to 1980.