Dear Michael and mid-60s Buick "time travelers,"
I have been out of the car scene for almost 40 years and am finding out how many things we took for granted in the "good ol' days".
I now get the "Rip Van Winkle" effect.
. . . . .
Now that would be a good premise for a movie...
Whether it would make a popular movie I don't know, but I'm certain these changes deserve more scholarly research. When we bought Biquette in 1968 the vast majority of families had only one car. Today it is common for every member of the family of driving age to have their own car. It has changed the way people live: much more time is spent in cars and people do things with their cars that would have been preposterous in 1968. For example, people drive their dogs to "nicer" places to walk them.
All this has unanticipated effects on society. Our roads are falling apart much faster because of all the additional miles we put on them. All the desperate efforts to reduce automotive pollution is in part because those cars are on the road more frequently producing that pollution. Even if the accident rate per mile is constant (which it isn't,) there are many more accidents because of the additional miles traveled, and of course, people get hurt in auto accidents. So increased automobile use has effects on 3 seemingly unrelated concerns of society: infrastructure, the environment, and health care.
Sadly, I don't think my former colleagues in academia are keeping up with the changes they are supposed to be understanding and informing society about.
Some heady food for thought,
Cheers, Edouard