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Plan helps you divorce your car

by Kelly Daniel, Austin American-Statesman, Monday, July 8, 2002

 

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Divorce rates aren't high enough in this country, some transit advocates say.

 

One relationship is still too lasting, still too committed to be healthy, they argue: drivers and their cars.

 

As part of the national push to get more people into comfortable walking shoes, a bus seat or some other form of moving about, some transit groups are pushing drivers to break up with their sport-utility vehicles, sedans, sports cars or pickups.

 

Reducing the number of cars on the road is a goal of Central Texas leaders and traffic planners, as agencies, companies and commuters tout the benefits of such things as telecommuting, van pools, car pools and buses.

 

Austin drivers rank sixth in the nation for the amount of miles they log on the road each day, according to federal transportation statistics released this year.

 

And the amount of time Central Texas commuters waste in traffic jams has been well-covered in the past weeks, ticking at 61 hours a year for each rush-hour driver.

 

But all that can get a bit dull to say over and over. And we all know sex sells and romance captivates. So listen to how transit advocate and author Katie Alvord approaches the topic in her 2000 book "Divorce Your Car: Ending the Love Affair with the Automobile."

 

"Our romance with cars has become a very troubled entanglement," the introduction says. "Our relationship with automobiles requires intensive therapy."

 

The book's chapters are titled "Falling Head Over Wheels" and "This Isn't Love, This Is An Addiction!" for starters.

 

But among all the florid talk is a nifty little piece of advice for people who truly want to stop driving so much.

 

Alvord's book recommends the "circle game," a five-step plan that Austin bike advocate Michael Bluejay has included in his on-line newsletters at http:// BicycleAustin.info over the years.

 

The game is designed to help people plot out daily trips they now drive and turn them into walks, bike rides or bus rides.

 

Paraphrasing how Alvord's book describes it, the idea works like this: Get a map and compass, and mark your house. Then draw a circle depicting a two-mile radius from your home.

 

Next, mark places you routinely visit. Obviously, mark where you work, but also include the video store, the grocery store, your church, synagogue or mosque, the live music clubs you favor and so on. Mark any place you visit at least once every two weeks as well.

 

Now the easy part: Pick one of the places you marked inside that two-mile radius. And the hard part: Make a promise that you will walk, bike or take the bus to this place every single time you go there, leaving the car parked.

 

Repeat that step periodically to include each spot within that two-mile radius. Eventually, the theory goes, you shouldn't drive to any spot within two miles of home.

 

If you try it, let us know how it goes.

 

Getting There appears Mondays. For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at (512) 912-5977 or commuters@statesman.com.

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