Amplifying the Call to Ban Cars

Lloyd Alter takes on one of the sacred cows of American lifestyles, the automobile, and says its time to have a serious conversation about banning cars from cities.

Alter takes a cue from the ongoing gun control debate, noting that after a mass shooting, people will inevitably call for a ban on guns, to which another group will reply something along the following lines: "Cars kill more people than guns. Do you want to ban cars, too?"

Increasingly, however, people are voicing the opinion that cars should, in fact, be banned. Alter collects a variety of media sources who have made that exact argument in recent years, from Jessie Singer at BuzzFeed to Alissa Walker at her former post at Gizmodo. Alter says he too has come to adopt this belief—moving beyond his previous of banning SUVs or pickup trucks.

According to Alter, "It's time to stop being wishy-washy and recognize that we have to go further. Private cars simply do not belong in cities and should be banned."