Re: Dumb yanks
"For those not in a big city, how often do they drive?"
Let's see.
Mondays SWMBO to gym. We each pick up one of the grandkids from school.
Tuesdays SWMBO to her patchwork class (used to be me who drove her before some equipment changes were made & a smaller car was enough). Then SWMBO to art class.
Wednesdays SWMBO to gym then one of other of us take grandkids to tennis.
Thursdays Me take SWMBO to charity shop, collect her later then go for meal, one week in 3 go to local auction viewing.
Fridays SWMBO to gym, then often both of us out to where-ever (it's often the only weekday with nothing fixed for the afternoon).
Shopping? Oh, mostly me, two or three times a week.
The thing is, we both grew up in a time when private vehicles were rare. When they became generally accessible it was a change which had probably only been equalled once in human history and that was the introduction of the bicycle. It represented a huge expansion of individual freedom to travel at will. The introduction of railways probably came somewhere close but even then there was a constraints of distance from station, routes and timetables.
I suspect the entrenched hostility of TPTB to the private car is an expression of their instinctive opposition to any form of personal freedom - much the same as their current opposition to privacy of communication.
