Americans & Their Cars

January 11, 2010

Interview with Anne Lutz Fernandez, author of the book Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives

_______________

Mike Carruthers:
We Americans love our cars but I bet you’ll be surprised to realize how much time we actually spend in them.

Anne Lutz Fernandez:
On average American’s spend (either as a driver or passenger) 18 and a half hours a week in their cars.

Anne Lutz Fernandez, co-author of the book Carjacked…

Which may not sound like a lot until you total it up and out of our waking hours that means that we are in our vehicles almost 2 months out of every year. Versus 25 years ago we are driving twice as much.

While cars are safer than ever before drivers are not.

The statistics have shown that all of the additions that we have had to car safety has made us feel more invulnerable than we are. So that a lot of the driving that we do that is dangerous; driving too close, changing lanes quickly, braking suddenly, driving while texting – a lot of that dangerous behavior arises from a false sense of security that our car is safe and that the safety equipment will protect us.

Whether or not you’re likely to get in a car crash is determined mostly by one thing…

The amount that you drive is your biggest risk factor and your cars safety equipment can help protect you but there’s nothing safer than driving less.

For Part 2, click here.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here