Why do many Americans hate walking so much?
10-minute walks and other medieval tortures
I want to start this post by saying that it annoys me when non-Americans who live in the US make fun of many aspects of the country. You don’t need to love every single thing about the place, but if you’ve decided to come here, there’s got to be a reason!
So, this post doesn’t intend to make fun of Americans but to point out a phenomenon that shocks me, which I can understand. Since I came to the US, I realized that most people use the car for everything—they don’t walk anywhere. To be fair, it’s hard to do so when you live in the suburbs. You need to take the car for almost any errand, at least in my experience. For the few that don’t require a vehicle, you will need to go through places without a sidewalk and cross the highway—not the most enjoyable experience.
Most here don’t even think about this. They grew up in this environment, so they see it as obvious. It’s not their fault. Last year, I was hanging out with some American friends, and we had to walk to the university campus from where we parked—a 5-minute walk. Somehow, the topic of walking came up in the conversation, and someone mentioned that, when they were in high school, they had to walk almost 15 (!!) minutes to get to class. The way they said it resembled a story about being tortured. This impacted me. In Spain, I had to walk 10 minutes to school, and I considered this a short walk. I would say most Spaniards will walk to a place as long as it’s not more than 25-30 minutes away, or they need to carry heavy stuff on the way back.
In my city, you can perfectly survive without a car. I came back last Monday, and I’ve used the car three times since then. This is unimaginable for most people in the US, at least in the suburbs. Cities are probably not as bad—the ones I visited were somewhat walkable, at least.
I guess one has to make trade-offs sometimes, and I understand how suburban life can be incompatible with walking to places. Still, I think the country would benefit from becoming more walking-friendly instead of being designed for cars.
Self-Driving Cars: the solution?
With the development of self-driving cars already becoming a reality in the US, I wonder if this innovation will exacerbate or mitigate the problem. I’m not entirely familiar with how these cars work—by working, I mean how they will change our transportation. I like to think that it can reduce the number of parking spots needed. Everyone could have a parking spot in their house or close to it, then let the car drive them to their destination, and then the vehicle can return to that parking spot, thus freeing a lot of parking space that would be unnecessary. This space could be destined for better uses, such as building much-needed housing.
However, if this is not possible and driving becomes even more convenient, the problem might get worse, as more people would use cars. After doing some research, it looks like both options are possible, and it will be hard to find out which one is more accurate until autonomous vehicles become an everyday reality.
Again, I like to be positive and believe that it will alleviate the issue and increase the housing supply. Americans could benefit a lot from this, as well as from cities becoming more walkable. Considering the obesity problem the country faces, this would be a way to get people to be more active and healthy, not only physically but also mentally. Walks are a hack for mental clarity.
I really hope you enjoyed this article, and I’d love to hear your opinions on cars, walking, and how the future will change our transportation methods! If you liked what you read, consider subscribing! Please leave a comment or message me on X, Instagram, or Facebook, and we can chat! Thanks for reading!