By Brock Yates
January 30, 2008 - 126,611 views
Car and Driver fired me. Editor Csabe Csere sat down in my kitchen and said he had to "let me go.” The magazine could no longer afford my services. No surprise there. Car and Driver had become a pale shadow of its former self. Like Detroit’s carmakers, Csere and his team had refused to recognize reality. The internet had arrived, the game changed, they didn’t. The magazine got thinner and thinner, making my paycheck seem fatter and fatter. I was sorry to see it go (the paycheck). But what the Hell. Here we are. Now what?
Now I’m ready to take a shot at making trouble on the net. I know some of you guys hate my ass because I occasionally shit on your beloved cars or make cracks about the Winston Cup or whatever. So if you don’t like my writing, stop reading. But if you stick around, I’ll tell you exactly what I think. And I’m ready to hear from you, love or hate. And yes, I’ll respond to what you write. What do you think this is, a magazine?
Let’s get one thing straight. I did not work with the original Henry Ford on the first Model T. Yeah, I’m old. But I’m still ready to kick some ass on this kick ass site. What you’re going to read ain’t going to be cute, proper or civil. That’s the way I like it. Always have. Some things never die– even if you want them to.
Like the private automobile. Despite becoming Public Enemy Number One for self-serving, self-appointed, sanctimonious “policy planners,” the automobile remains this country’s life-blood.
To be sure, anti-pollution standards have reduced choking emissions. Seat belts, airbags, crush zones, etc. have reduced death and injury. And hybrids make part of the process someone else’s combustion, somewhere else. But what’s so different today from when Daimler first did his thing? Traffic.
Every day of the year, millions of miles of American roads jam up with workers heading for their stores, factories and cubicles. Meanwhile, countless Mr. or Mrs. Moms clog-up the side streets in their cars, minivans, SUVs and CUVs; ferrying children, groceries, dry cleaning and God knows what from one side of their suburban sprawl to another.
We’re wasting millions upon millions of barrels of increasingly rare and expensive petroleum products doing fuck all.
Yes, I love cars. But like any person who likes to drive fast cars, I hate congestion. I don’t see the point. So what’s the alternative?
Mass transit is a pipe dream. Outside of New York City and Chicago, there are no truly effective rail systems. After a flurry of high speed rail hype, both Washington and private investors have lost interest in commuter rail. Buses only serve a small percentage of the population. Bicycling? You’re kidding, right?
Moreover, as car-friendly suburbs spread like kudzu, there are no simple routes linking the geography of nowhere to center cities– never mind with each other. And we keep building these damn communities; “suburbs” where the disturbing lack of sidewalks mirrors the distressing lack of rail connections.
Despite the understandable anger of the environmentalists, there is no substitute for the millions of private vehicles rolling across our nation. The plain truth is that “the people” aren’t interested. The most they’ll consider is telecommuting– but only a day or two per week. They like their co-workers. They like their cars. Congestion is nothing more than background noise to their everyday life.
Yes, the automobile of today is safer and more efficient, available in every size and shape, from tiny smarts to stupid limousines. But the same basic old world engineering sits under the slick bodywork. It’s like the weather; everyone complains, but no one does anything about it.
So Americans continue to lead the way into a dark future of more emissions, oil use and wasted time. And here comes the third world, as India, China and other Tiger nations of the Far East start producing millions of private cars for a wildly eager population.
I have messed around for much of my adult life with these machines called “automobiles.” Like many car nuts, I too wish we could reduce the traffic and create communities around industries and commercial areas where populations could walk or use public transit.
But quite the opposite has happened– is happening. Industries are moving away from major cities, forcing workers to use private cars for work and their children’s education and economic survival.
And so it goes– until the underlying economics of private transportation changes. And then someone, somehow, will provide a solution. But until that day arrives, the world’s most powerful economies will be saddled with the private automobile, whether they like it or not. As my experience with Car and Driver taught me, nothing ever changes– until it has to.
Brock Yates' column appears on www.ttac.com every Monday.
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January 28th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I’m honored to be one of the first readers to say, welcome aboard, Mr. Yates. I’ve been an avid reader of Car and Driver and your column for as long as I can remember and it’s good to have you “back.” I wonder: how far will the corn ethanol hullabaloo go on before the realization that it solves nothing catches on?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Welcome aboard, Brock. I look forward to your thoughts. Apparently we agree on a lot so far.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Let me be the first to say Welcome, Mr. Yates. We missed you.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Damn.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Welcome to TTAC!
And non, I didn’t know you before. Got into cars and car mags just as C&D was sinking low, so I never really read it (that was 4 years ago).
As you correctly point out, the car is not the culprit in all those choke-inducing pollution fumes we endure. The people are (duh!).
As far as I’m concerned, we could very do with far less suburbs, and communities built around actual train stations, or at least having more apartments, less lawns, and less strip-malls.
This is not the way America has chosen for itself. It prefers “communities” (if we can call suburbs that, given the disturbing lack of social communication and support, beside kids’ birthday parties where moms get to see what it takes to keep up with the Joneses) based on 5br houses for families of 4.
As for traffic, there always are solutions. I have an agreement with my boss: I’m at work at 7:30 and leave either at 4:30 or after 6pm. 20mn of commuting. Should I leave during rush hour, it would be 45mn. And that way, I burn less of that precious dino juice idling in traffic. But shh, don’t tell the secret, other people may find out.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Double damn.
Welcome Brock. Good stuff.
Watched a two hour show on the History channel last night entitled “Crude”. Scary stuff. Especially if “peak oil” is already behind us. This could get very costly….very quickly. Supply and Demand, aka Mother Econ, doesn’t care whether or not you believe climate change is caused by man or not. No more oil means no more oil. Double scary stuff.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Good to read you again Mr. Yates. Just yesterday I noted how thin the latest issue of C/D is and how Csabe’s full column tribute to Pat Bedard makes your ungracious exit that much more appalling.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Welcome, Welcome. Have read your columns for along time and almost always agreed with you. With regard to traffic, look at old pic on New York from the late 1880s on and you see traffic, with horses and horse shit everywhere. The more things change the more they stay the same (except for all the horse shit).
January 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Mr. Yates,
Welcome to the fold sir. A pleasure to have you here, piss, vinegar et al.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Man, have I missed your stuff Mr. Yates. I’m looking forward to many more articles on here.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
C&D has less and less to offer.
Every edition is the same. Here’s the last one, the current one and the next one in a nutshell:
Pollution control and mileage improvements are for pussies, safety measures are nanny-state Big Brotherism, and boy does that new German car have the grunt to go like stink in the twisties.
Every freakin’ month, the same crap. A bunch of crabby old men trying to impress each other with their labored writerliness.
C&D and the other mags have the smell o’ death. TTAC and Autoblog are breaths of fresh air.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Mr. Yates -
Welcome! I look forward to your material - it is sad what’s happened to Car & Driver, but TTAC fills the void for me.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Welcome aboard, Dude. You won’t likely become a millionaire writing here but it’s a very entertaining place.
If it’s traffic you hate, move to a small city in Central or upstate New York. They built good freeways years ago and then the morons in Albany stopped any growth from happening. 20 miles to work? How does 20 minutes sound? Just don’t look for any new buildings.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Welcome Mr Yates! I had the fortune to see you at a couple One Lap of America events in Tulsa 5 or 6 years ago, the diablo on the dirt track was something I’ll never forget.
I’m hoping the One Lap event is still yours, and will be continuing?
January 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Welcome back to The Assassin!
As a 25-year C&D subscriber, thier shabby treatment of one of the best commentators out there was the final straw. When my subscription runs out, they’re done.
Good to have you aboard. Keep the piss and vineger coming.
Even when you piss on Formula One. Which reminds me, what do you make of the latest shenanigans?
January 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
The year 2008 just got a lot better…
C&D is still my favorite car rag, winning out over the other Ann Arbor pub years ago.
But I let my C&D sub run out awhile back because the breadth of information and entertainment from the paper rags just isn’t there anymore.
Brock, we love you man!
January 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Welcome Mr. Yates, good to have you here… looking forward to reading more.
Note the photo chosen to illustrate this bit is my daily Nemesis: Interstate 5 here in the Puget Sound region. Sigh.
–chuck goolsbee
arlington, wa, usa
January 28th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Welcome, Mr. Yates. I look forward to your contributions.
I still have my copy of your 1983 book, The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry.
The scary part is that most of it is just as applicable to what’s left of the Big Three today as it was 25 years ago.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Thank you for all your comments. I am looking forward to writing for TTAC. Keep the comments coming, whether you love or hate me. Either way you'll be hearing more from me on this site.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Hey tulsa_97sr5, the One Lap of America still belongs to me. You can check out our website at http://www.onelapofamerica.com. Come along if you’d like, it’s great fun.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Cannonball!!!!!!
Welcome! Glad to read you again.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Well, Mr. Yates, it appears that you have found a new venue for your narrow-minded and Cro-Magnon diatri………JUST KIDDING! I figured you were getting glazed eyes from all the lovefest comments so far.
Great to see your current thoughts on a regular basis. Exciting development for TTAC. I hope you enjoy the process as much as we will.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Mr. Yates:
I may not have always agreed with your articles, but I did enjoy reading them and they are missed.
I had just renewed my Car & Driver subscription a few months before your “retirement”. Thankfully, my subscription ends in a few more months and it will not be renewed.
I’ll keep checking in to read your comments, even if I do or do not agee.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Glad to see you on-line. Great start and will be a great year. Keep ‘em coming
January 28th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Is there any way I can get C&D to stop sending me magazines? I haven’t paid for a subscription in quite a while…
Welcome, Mr. Yates.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
The author complains that our cities are badly designed and so we really need to drive cars all the time. There is an easy solution to that. Jack up the gas prices to 5-6/gallon and those distant suburbs will suddenly become less attractive to a whole lot people. There will be a strong demand for housing in walkable neighborhoods, like the inner cities, and for good public transportation systems. Cheap gas and cars have more or less destroyed America’s cities. In many sprawled out cities, like San Antonio, TX, you need to drive like 3 miles to buy a damn cup of coffee or a soda six pack. If you want to walk fine, but there won’t be even a sidewalk, and that’s well within city limits! That’s not the way things really should be.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Brock,
Welcome. Loved your column in th Wash Post Mag. I think I protested when they dropped you. I don’t agree much with your politics. I’m a dem, and I wear Birkenstocks. (But so did Ariel Sharon.) But I love internal combustion. I don’t want to own a Prion, I want a Porsche.
As for traffic, the US needs a population policy–stabilize it. Otherwise, any efforts we make on behalf of the environment–including the driving environment–are going to be running in place at best. We’re growing by roughly four New Jerseys a decade; we’re projected to grow 50% in the next 50 years, 2/3s of that due to mass immigration, and unless that’s stopped, the roads are going to be increasingly sclerotic. But it’s not PC to worry about population.
I hope you’ll check out my website, motorlegends.com, where you can see the world’s only menorah made out of Porsche valves, and find out about Richard Nixon’s biggest mistake (had to do with LBJ’s Buick, “Hannibal.”
Best, –David
January 28th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Brock,
Welcome aboard!
Like many other readers of this site, I’ve been a fan of yours since I was too young to drive. And like many of them, I’ve also been disappointed with the direction the paper car magazines have taken of late.
The only paper ‘enthusiast’ publications I still pay for are a few airplane and fishing ones.
Looking forward to more from you on TTAC.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Meh. Far-flung suburbs are on their way out. I’m willing to bet within a generation or two, walkable cities will be back because of lifestyle and resource issues. The current model of sprawl development isn’t sustainable on many different levels.
Energy prices now aren’t high enough to make a big dent in people’s budgets, but they have nowhere to go but up. Market forces will force mass transportation and the city model back upon people whether we like it or not.
For those who choose to live 50 miles from where they work in order to get a yard and a big house, I feel bad for you guys. I live in a college town now and once I graduate from medical school I will NOT be among the sad saps who wastes 10% of my life trapped in a car.
Oh and thanks for the hybrid flame-bait. It kind of shocks me just just how many people try to play that angle to get some responses.
Brock, I’ve always felt that your editorials were lots of whiney doom-and-gloom and nothing’s changed. But glad to hear your opinion anyways.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Welcome Brock!
I moved out from New Jersey, where its pretty much mandatory you own a car, to Portland, OR, and I haven’t driven my vehicle in about a month, and haven’t filled up my tank since 10/17 (yes, I know the exact date). Part of that is due to my telecommuting job, but another is due to the easily “walkability” of downtown Portland, as well as our wonderful and growing light rail and bus system. Even if you live out in the suburbs, you’re only a $2 rail ride into downtown. Especially wonderful for you if you don’t mind the rain, but its been very mild this winter …
Yes, I just wanted to brag about my lack of driving, and Portland ;). Its amazing how I love to visit this site, and still love cars in general, and yet rarely drive, and generally don’t enjoy it when I do (Mr. Brock is correct, the main reason is traffic).
January 28th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Mr. Yates,
It is absolutely great to have you here. Looking forward to a lot more.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hey Mr Yates, it’s fantastic news that you’ll be writing here!
TTAC may not (yet) have the status of C&D, but one thing is certain: your readership is now international.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Pleased to see Mr. Yates writing for this site.
Mr. Farago, not sure if the mild uptick in the use of the f-word and the s-word is really a step forward.
Regards.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Found your book on detroit fascinating 20 years ago and am angered that they did not rectify their short coimings the. I am looking forward to reading your articles here on TTAC.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I don’t know what I can say that many others haven’t already said. As an eleven-year-old in 1986, everything you wrote in C&D was a must-read for me each month. I’m thrilled that you’re here, and I’m sure your commentary will thrive in the sincere, free-thinking environment this website embodies.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Thanks adding to an already fantastic staff, Mr. Yates. I’ll be building a car specifically for One Lap in the next few years, so I’ll see you then :)
I can’t wait for the first back-and-forth in the comments. This site eats up too much of its readers’ time due to the actual, hearty content generated in the comments. Now it’s going to get even worse…for the better.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
shabster :
Mr. Farago, not sure if the mild uptick in the use of the f-word and the s-word is really a step forward.
I think Brock is just kicking out the jams a little, after not being able to swear for… a long time.
I’m sure he’ll calm down. Or not.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Uptick in shit and fuck as a step back? Why bother replacing words with other words when the meaning is the same (or, even, insufficient)? Being afraid of the 4 letter words is just as bad as being afraid of 12 letter words, imho.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Brock Yates. THE Brock Yates….wow.
The Truth About Cars has come of age.
Congrats Brock! Glad you are aboard!
-ted
January 28th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I don’t agree much with your politics. I’m a dem, and I wear Birkenstocks. (But so did Ariel Sharon.) But I love internal combustion.
Wow, now that’s conflicted. You poor tortured soul ;-)
January 28th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Welcome! Just don’t make fun of BMW e46’s and e30’s. That is all.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Meh. I say we’ll drive ‘em until we die. I’m anxious to see what the so-called government watchdogs do when gas is $15/gallon and John-n-Jane Q. can no longer afford to drive their 43 mile commute to work.
Sorry if it sounds a bit gloomy. Not on my best today.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Welcome.
I think gridlock is here to stay…only because politicians at the municipal and provincial levels have absolutely no vision of the future and are unwilling to do anything even remotely daring. Sprawl has been a hot topic in and around the Greater Toronto Area for about 20 years and it just keeps getting worse, with the bedroom communities getting further and further away. The local paper was recently extolling the virtues of small town east of Toronto as good ‘commuter’ town. I’ve driven there on a clear day, somewhat over the speed limit, and onramp to offramp it was an hour. Add getting too and from the highway, and traffic, and you are easily looking at a two hour journey one way. It’s ridiculous.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Welcome Mr. Yates.
I quite reading C&D in the ’70s, so I can’t really say I recall any specific articles you wrote. I do remember that I didn’t love you, or hate you.
For those who think higher gas prices will drive everyone back densely populated city centers and and possibility of mass transit, you have to consider land prices too. Land is still cheap here in the USA. It’s cheapest out on the outskirts of nowhere, where cows are grazing.
It’s wildely expensive to knock down an old relatively small building in Chicago and put up an new bigger building to house more people. The rents necessary would easily buy a house out in the ‘burbs. Guess what people are going to choose.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Mr. B. Yates,
Back when() I was involved with road rally and autocross I was a avid reader of yours and enjoyed your unbiased opinions on various makes and situations, I am now begining to return my intrest to auto’s and am glad you are on the internet and hope to follow you once again, into joy and tantrums, and yes the need for alternative fuels is a necessary evil of our love of the automobile, and we do have to get back to some of the old solid engineering that proved its self so well, along with melding our new technololgies.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Keep in mind that not all of us live in the cities OR the suburbs. Out here in rural America you’re often forced to drive to the next town over or farther for a decent job. For over 6 years I commuted 40 miles a day to work until I finally landed a job close to home. Now it’s 4.5 miles one way and I can’t wait for warm weather so I can bike it. If my posts end abruptly this spring, figure I’m a red greasy spot on the bumper of some hick’s SUV. :)
January 28th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
# jazbo123
(me) I don’t agree much with your politics. I’m a dem, and I wear Birkenstocks. (But so did Ariel Sharon.) But I love internal combustion.
jazbo123
Wow, now that’s conflicted. You poor tortured soul ;-)
(me again) not really. Part of being human is learning to live with contradictory stuff. I don’t let my environmentalism interfere w/ my enjoyment of internal combustion.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Not surprised that C&D is hitting tough times, it’s turned into ‘Oil Sheik & Millionaires monthly’. I like the occasional review of exotics, but when the whole magazine is like that it’s like a meal made completely of spices.
Motor Trend is far better nowadays, Angus Mackenzie has done an excellent job.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Good to have you here, Mr. Yates!
We still have a lot to learn from you. I look forward to reading your direct, no-BS reviews right here at TTAC.
Agreed: Public transportation rarely works as intended or promoted.
Until and unless smart highways and automated cars can keep us all moving at the same speed, we’re doomed to sit in traffic.
But, where’s the fun in that?
January 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Friday night Red Ball Garage, Cannonball Run just cropped in my mind.
You are correct we are wasting precious resources multi taking in vehicles and going nowhere fast. It would be interesting if the era of “cheap gas” evaporated, how many changes would start occuring in a hurry.
Who has the “political genitals” to raise the price of gas?
January 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hello and Welcome!
Good article.
I have a way to reduce traffic and increase the demand for better mass-transit and better-designed cities.
Reduce the number of drivers on the road. Eliminate all incompetent drivers. After all, 49% of all drivers are “below average” in ability.
So let’s eliminate half of those. This year.
I propose the following:
1. Tougher driving tests that test not only knowledge, but also competency.
2. Everybody takes a road test once every 10 years.
3. “Competency points” for infractons such as driving next to somebody else’s vehicle when there are openings in traffic, not letting traffic merge, not accelerating quickly enough at entrance ramps, or driving too slowly in the left lane.
If we can even eliminate just the worst 10% of the drivers on the roads, I think we will clear up many of our traffic problems, requiring that we burn less oil too, becasue all traffic will flow more smoothly.
Those newly-non-drivers will have to find another way to get where they are going. Or not. Mass transit, carpooling, telecommuting, or living closer to work and school are all options.
This will further reduce our dependance on oil.
Eventually, when demand increases, somebody will see the market for more mass-transit options, and they’ll figure out how they can provide that service and still make a buck on it.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Welcome Brock,
It will be fun having you aboard.
I realized years ago that “agreement” has little to do with whether I enjoy another person. I look forward to agreeing and disagreeing with you.
BTW, I always appreciated the warm and respectful way you have mentioned your wife in print. Too many “tough guys” out there are afraid to let the world know they can love a woman. Glad you are a bigger man than that.
Respectfully,
Bunter1
January 28th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Trip to the past.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
AGR
Who has the “political genitals” to raise the price of gas?
Gore. Too bad he’s not running.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I agree that traffic sucks…but as some have already mentioned, the problem is too many PEOPLE!
Solutions:
Close the borders
Build nuclear power plants
Use compact flourescent bulbs (j/k) :)
January 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Welcome, Brock.
I’d love to see a new version of your 1983 book, The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry, or at least a few columns on that subject matter.
It seems like Detroit still has the same problems you highlighted a quarter century ago, and is still ignoring them with arrogance and bureaucractic stupidity.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Wow, when I got my first issue of C&D in the mail in July of 1986, I never imagined that I’d be able to interact with Brock Yates on a personal computer. Gotta love the interwebs! ;-)
Great to have you here, sir.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Hey Brock:
How much is an FFR nowadays?
I liked your article about the Dodge SRT-10 Ram Pickup back in the day.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Great stuff Mr. Yates, and I look forward to much, much more.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I have noticed that C&D has been tryin’ to get hep to the cool cats by using words like “stonkin’”, and bad double entendres lately.
However, they just come across like a bunch of old guys at a bar trying to pick up the young hardbodies.
In other words, pathetic.
They can’t even come up with the cojones to call the new Chrylser minivans what they are, which is crap.
They fawn all over the Malibu, without even mentioning that they did the same for the Aura, which they now describe as “cheap”.
Nor can they stand up to BMW for introducing a 1-Series that carries a $40K price tag.
Or call Porsche out for cheapening the brand with more Special Editions than Ford does with the Mustang.
And who has the ‘Political genitals” to raise the price of gas? Well…
The Arabs.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Well, although it is nice to have a seasoned journalist on this site, I’ll avoid the fawning and save my remarks for coupdetat who brought up some very good points. Coup, You seem to be the only one who actually read Brock’s piece with a critical eye. Too often auto writers are a bunch of luddites who are afraid of anything that would cause them anything remotely close to losing their grip on their good ol piece of Amurcan freedom-the CAR. Yes, it may take a whole new way of living, but there are choices that need to be made. I own a Prius and take a bus to work, though if I had to, I live close enough to walk or bike. That is the sustainable future. You can embrace it or fight, but it is the future.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Great to have you here Brock. Looking forward to reading more from you. I’ve enjoyed your style of writing and persnickety-ness for the last 20 years.
It’s a shame to see what’s happened to C/D. But we’re the beneficiaries of it. I’m curious: Do you think C/D, R&T and MT are dead? They seem to be headed in the same trajectory as print newspapers.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
When I sit in the storied traffic of Los Angeles, I quietly remind myself that congestion is good. How do I know this? Because when a recession (or a holiday) takes 4 - 6% of the cars off the road, travel times in urban areas are slashed. Anyone who witnessed the difference in traffic density in Boston between 1988 and 1989, or in Los Angeles between 1990 and 1992, or Silicon Valley between 2000 and 2001 will know what I’m referring to. Congestion? Keep it coming. When roads are clogged, people are doing well.
Real pollution, that is to say particulates and noxious compounds, has plunged dramatically over the past 30 years and again, it’s easily witnessed by anyone who has spent any significant span of time in southern California. Or who remembers how walking in northeastern cities in the 1950s and 1960s made your lungs hurt. Despite a tremendous growth in the number of cars in service in southern California, each year new year generally sees air quality that exceeds any of the prior 40. The Air Quality Management District here has turned attention to paint, solvents, leaf blowers, lawnmowers and of course the massive growth of ship traffic into and out of L.A./Long Beach harbor. The fiction that CO2 is a pollutant, or that the atmospheric content of same can be seriously affected by reducing automotive contribution, is the latest distraction from that otherwise unbroken progress.
More to the point, new versions of existing vehicle types are more efficient (and generally more powerful) than the immediate predecessor. By increments, even today’s Escalade is more efficient than what it replaced. People moving into more efficient classes of cars are moderating petrol use. California has reduced its gasoline consumption over the past year to the point that California-grade gasoline is right now being exported to less stringent markets just to maintain a price floor in our own market. Myriad next-generation propulsion ideas are under active development and testing. While I don’t expect reliance on fossil fuels to end anytime soon, we’re on a one-way path to making a transition in energy sources, just as England did in moving from wood and peat to coal in the 1600s.
The point is, the automobile is on the mend as an environmental liability. And it’s going to stay with us because it’s in basic human nature for people to act on urge for privacy and control as wealth rises. Sure, we might see another cycle of limited re-urbanization similar to when many Boomers gentrified our older cities in the 1970s/80s, but it won’t lead to the elimination of the private automobile. Mass transit will work for people who can live near their work. That will not be everyone’s option, however. There is too much career and labor mobility in our economy (a good thing) to provide the geographical stability for most people to ensure they never have to commute. When where you work is unpredictable, people tend to be sticky about their location-specific social networks.
There is a lot that is dysfunctional about the way the U.S. developed from a land-use perspective after WWII, but it was a reflection of basic human desire. You can even see it today — when inner city folks get traction on the economic ladder, where do they go? Usually somewhere much less congested.
The economy of an older America had enough situational stability for people to plan their personal lives around their work. Live in Fairfield so you can take the train into Manhattan; stay close to the factory in company-built communities; but as soon as you can afford it, get a house with some space and a patch of green with one, then two, then three cars in the garage. Guess what? With high taxes penalizing car use, even Europeans who can afford to, do the same. Well, a return to that economy of situational stability is not going to happen and if it did, it would reduce opportunity for everyone.
Mobility is a central driver of aggregate wealth, resulting in a vast expansion of individual opportunity. Congestion, whether on the roads or in overloaded trains, is a result of concentrated opportunity and success. We have so much success, we can’t put it all inside the city limits of just a dozen megalopoli. I own fast cars and love using them. But congestion is not my enemy. It is a sign that I’ll continue to be able to afford to get to the open road.
Phil
January 28th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Actually, “marc,” most automotive journalists have depressingly mainstream wishy-washy, politically-correct views on things like the evilness of The Car, despite the fact the automobile is hated by our self-appointed intelligentsia precisely because it is the most potent symbol of the triumph of personal freedom and Capitalism.
Our road system is a mess because we build roads the same way Communists built cars. The solution is not yet more central planning to force people to live in the “correct” way, that’s a cure worse than the disease, the only solution is privatization. That means paying tolls, and we’ve got a hundred years of stunted technological progress to make up for so there’s no quick fix, but that’s the only way to take control of the system out of the hands of bureaucrats and politicians who, in an Orwellian bit of logic, don’t actually want traffic to flow well because that will encourage people to drive.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Just like the car mags refuse to adapt to the internet i feel like the manufactures them selfs need to change somethings. i remember when autoshow season was a big deal. very few people knew what was coming. mostly just rumors and speculation. maybe a pic of a camouflaged prototype. but now, everyone knows what the car looks like before it even gets to the show. there is no surprise, no excitement.
its seems like most if not all of the embargo breaks in the last few months have been by magazines. maybe once the manufactures figure this out they will stop sending out pics until after the car is revealed. They will be on the internet with in an hour. yea, so the mags will be late to the party, but they are now anyways!
January 28th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Congestion is a tax paid with time rather than money. Those who have more money than time use the former to avoid wasting the latter.
The SF Bay Area’s wealthiest suburb, Marin County, has largely eliminated congestion (at least in moneyed southern Marin) through a combination of controls on development and roadway taxes (the soon to be $6 toll on the Golden Gate Bridge, with an additional $2 surcharge on deck). Traffic on the Bridge moves at the limit during rush hour virtually every work day. The cost? A median home price of $1 Million.
Meanwhile, real estate developers in San Francisco are erecting the tallest residential towers west of the Mississippi, earthquakes be damned. The cost? Well, you could save money by moving to Marin. But if you can afford it, you can walk to work.
Govenment doesn’t need to impose congestion taxes. We already pay them one way or the other.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
And, glad you’re here, Mr. Yates. There was a time when Car & Driver’s arrival in my mailbox was eagerly awaited. Two of the best reasons over the years were Gordon Baxter and that disturber of the peace writing under the byline of ‘Brock Yates.’
Phil
January 28th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
As a former 35K mile road warrior I have had many, many moments, stuck in traffic, with which to ponder the problem. Any civil air pilot can tell you, in Southern California at least, you can see where the pinch points are quite easily from 5,000 feet. The number one cause is usually a Caltrans “work” crew, blocking off a lane for repair. Now, one might think that this sort of thing might be better performed at night, so as not to delay the many tens of thousands of workers during the work day. The next two pinch points are lane reductions, where 6 lanes become 5, or 5 become 4. And when two major freeways cross. Arent’t roads much like pipes? And traffic much like fluid flow? No one in traffic planning seems to have considered the fluid dynamics of traffic. Several rules obtain. Once the traffic density reaches a certain point (measurable, I’m sure) traffic can only move as fast as the slowest driver. Every driver has a special speed where they feel most comfortable in their particular vehicle. And if they are allowed to drive slowly in the left lane, clumping quickly ensues. Some quick, cheap, and doable fixes for the mess: 1. Schedule maintenance in non peak hours. 2. Install more metering lights at major freeway intersections, and longer, double on-ramps to store the mergers. And 3. Implement mandatory lane discipline, fastest to the left lane, slowest to the right, with fines for lane-blocking. (I seriously doubt that any driver in California history has ever been cited for this. And talk about the major cause of road rage!)Nothing is quite as stupid as seeing a mile or more of empty freeway in front of a clump of slow drivers. Talk about a waste of available resources!
January 28th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Dear Brock,
My first CAR@DRIVER mag is framed in the billiard room. It is the Feb 1970 issue with a very neat road test. A LS6 Chevelle, 340 Duster , and a Boss 302 Mustang against a little bitty 289 Cobra. It is an awesome cover and it is still exciting to look at to this day.
You are the stuff of dreams man! You are the guy that co-drove with Dan Gurney in a Daytona Ferrari across the US in a record time. Oh how I would like that under my belt.
I really hope you enjoy yourself at TTAC.
Thanks, John T
January 28th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Given:
1) American’s need cars
2) Global warming is real and CO2 is bad
Solution:
1) All electric cars with better batteries, higher energy densities, equal range to a full tank of gas. We’re almost there. re: http://www.a123systems.com/
2) Carbon free electric sources, mainly nuclear.
3) Figure out wtf to do with the nuclear waste.
problems solved.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
willbodine:
good observation. I noticed this myself from inside the flow as a kid. Cars en route act somewhat like a fluid.
Rush hour viscosity varies according to locale. Viscosity is wrong word, heat not being involved, but you know what i mean. Density is major factor, so is street design. Logical street layout lowers viscosity by primary effect (no obstacle induced standing waves) also by secondary “people understand linear behavior” effect which is lacking in Boston.
You see standing waves in same place every morning on Boston’s south east expressway and everywhere else there is an obstacle like and exit or entrance or boston’s favorite, necking down from many to few lanes, permanently on a major interstate. I make same lane changes every day in same spot northbound and southbound. Leaving early or late its the same wave every day.
Cars have a unique fluid property, they stop faster than they speed up, especially driven by average public. However they speed up from a blockage faster than they slow down, due to people behind seeing problem ahead. So, the non-standing waves travel backwards.
Somewhere out there is a Phd program for traffic dynamics, I saw reference on NYTimes a few year ago. Cant find it. Probably a subset of civil engineering.
I could take the T to work, its 9 miles each way, it would cost $4 and take 180 minutes round trip, walking to T and waiting and then waiting to change and changing and walking to building rain or shine. So, I pay to drive and park, probably $20 a day all in, with 60-90 minutes a day drive. I earn enough to gladly pay extra $16 to buy back 1.5-2 hours a a day of peak time.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Do the people calling for a gas tax and a return to urbanization truly believe that everyone in America can fit inside a major city? That we can do away with suburbs and rural areas and cram everyone into NYC, Chicago, LA, etc. like cattle?
Aside from the obvious (why would anyone give up personal space to pay a higher cost for a cramped space with higher crime), there are practical considerations. As a teacher in Chicago, I live in a near western suburb because it’s cheaper, safer and my commute by car is only around 15-20 minutes. I could take the train, but that would probably take an hour.
If gas shot up to $6 a gallon, it still wouldn’t be practical for more people to live in the city. The basic law of supply and demand says that in-city housing would become a hot commodity. 1-bedroom condos within a couple mile radius are already “from the 300s.” Artificially inflated gas would only force most people into deeper poverty, as their housing costs and transportation costs would increase.
Suburbs weren’t created overnight, and replacement communities won’t be either. While it might be desirable to have walkable communities with jobs and housing close to one another, there’s little chance of moving the bulk of the jobs to another location. The infrastructure required to effect such a massive nationwide change would invalidate any pollution or energy savings.
Besides, people like having lawns. People like having little gardens that they can tend and places for their dog to run around. Force everyone to cram their families into one-room hellholes in the middle of a gang-infested urban area just to make ends meet and watch our national morale plummet.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Holy …. shit.
Brock Yates!
Worst still / better yet:
Brock Yates on a Blog. Let the fireworks begin!
January 28th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Welcome aboard, Mr. Yates.
I’m probably one of the older readers here. I started with Sports Cars Illustrated in 1958–er, no. Motor Trend in 1955.
And I still enjoy cars–mainly as entertainment. I would guess that you do, too.
I’m looking forward to your next column.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Way back six pages ago, somebody suggested to Brock that he move away from congestion, to somewhere like Upstate New York.
That’s where he lives, silly boy. So Upstate his town is named for the state next to Montana.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
“We’re wasting millions upon millions of barrels of increasingly rare and expensive petroleum products doing fuck all.”
“geography of nowhere”
somebody’s a closet peaknik
January 28th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Welcome Mr. Yates, I hope you enjoy yourself here.
I don’t know if bring published on the Internet is another high watermark in your career, but TTAC has been very, very good to me. And good for me. I hope you get that same kinda lift too. :)
Like everyone’s already said, the article was a good read (as always) and I look forward to reading more in the future.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Don’t worry, the government is here to help. When the 35mpg CAFE standards hit, the per-mile operating costs for cars will plummet. Yeah, you pay a little more up front. Take that extra trip. Go to the grocery store three times a day. Move even further away from the office.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Hiya Brock. Old or not, you were one of the few redeeming writers for C&D. Glad to see you here.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Hey, Steve old buddy. Let’s stay in touch. Say
hi to Susan and come back to the boondocks and
visit.
cheers Brock
January 28th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Ok.
Time for an alternate solution.
I live 35 miles from work. I therefore haul my 165-lb butt 70 miles per workday, minimum. Since insurance costs are by vehicle and not by driver, I have to have one vehicle for all seasons, so I can’t get away with a 70-MPG motorcycle here. As a consequence, 2300 lbs of Miata also go this distance every day.
Now, I’m commuting “spoke to spoke”, so there really isn’t any feasible way to plant myself on a train; 40 miles on the train to the Hub is bad enough, 40 miles, a transfer, then another 20 miles out along a different spoke is completely impractical.
However, if something that weighed less than 165 lbs could travel that distance, it could be economically transmitted at much, much higher speeds. How about shoving a whole bunch of electrons that way, and back? If they travel 186,000 miles every second, it doesn’t really matter that they had to go all the way into Boston to come back. Heck, it wouldn’t really be so bad if they made a round trip to LA by way of Omaha on its way around Massachusetts. The energy savings are such that telecommuting twice a week reduces my energy consumption by about 39.95%.
The only problem here is that if I were to work from home, there wouldn’t be any way or time that I could be really Away from the Office. It gets rid of the compartmentalization that allows for someone to work a professional job and enjoy the rest of his time as a free man. So I’ll end up going somewhere outside the house to avoid it - but I won’t be taking the Miata most of the time.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:48 am
And then someone, somehow, will provide a solution. But until that day arrives, the world’s most powerful economies will be saddled with the private automobile, whether they like it or not.
Mr. Yates, have you been to Europe ? It is a bigger economy than the US, and we have walkable cities, public transportation, and fast trains for long distance travel. One can live life there without a car. The solution is already there, in front of you.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Mr. Yates, have you been to Europe ? It is a bigger economy than the US, and we have walkable cities, public transportation, and fast trains for long distance travel. One can live life there without a car. The solution is already there, in front of you.
Well, let’s be serious. The EU and the USA are not similar in the origins of how they’re organized. The EU is only a bigger economy than the US as a market, not as a nation, and only because as a political artifice in-the-marking, what constitutes “Europe” is for now elastic. But the component parts were relatively small countries that were not settled and organized as continental entities. France, Germany, Spain, Italy, et al built their own mass transit systems between all their major cities which were located quite close together. Moreover, in most component countries comprising the EU, their capital city metropolitan area held and still hosts ~25% of their respective total populations. Further, Europe suffered the debilitating and impoverishing setback of repeated war, including two devastating world wars in the 20th century, which inhibited social and economic patterns that became firmly established in a much richer post-war United States.
The US, by contrast, has been organized as a continental proposition since the early 19th century, with investments made early to tie west coast to east and foster unfettered mobility within more than 3,000,000 square miles of contiguous territory. This was true in wagon train days, the early laying of the transcontinental railroad, the early federalization of key state roads, and the build-out of the interstate highway system. We had a continent to settle, so we willfully dispersed our people. While it is true that over 70% of Americans live on about 2% of our land, the distribution is still quite atomistic with much greater distances between localities that speak the same language and truly are at once common nation, country and market.
We also don’t have a single dominant megalopolis ala London, Paris, Berlin, Rome. The New York metro holds only about 6% of our population. Another 6% are in the aggregate Los Angeles/SoCal metro. These are the two largest metros by population, located 2600 miles apart and collectively representing less concentration than the major European capitals’ share in their respective countries.
Energy is more affordable to the US than it is to the EU. We still produce significant share of our oil & natural gas, hold completely unexploited shale oil reserves that dwarf the Saudis’ conventional oil holdings, and sit on something like 400 years worth of coal. We have vast portions of our geography that enjoy intense sunshine 300+ days per year, which we’ve barely exploited. We are also less dependent on Mideast oil specifically than the EU and Japan, and Russian energy suppliers aren’t poised to step on the hose.
Walkable cities in Europe? Absolutely. We’re not bereft of same. Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, parts of Los Angeles (believe it or not) and a hundred other smaller cities are walkable and worth it. Some of their residents eschew owning a car. But we won’t be piling everyone into car-less vertical density. We’re mobile, ambitious, growing, restless, effervescent and we’re going to stay that way. We’d rather see private automobiles be innovated to be environmentally benign at mass market prices than assume a retrograde future.
Phil
January 29th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Mr. Yates: I’m glad to see you published somewhere. I let my C&D subscription lapse a while back when I realized that every issue was pandering to an age group that my parents aren’t old enough to belong in. I look forward to seeing more of your work here - you may be old, but you are incredibly interesting.
Andras: Yes, Europe’s economy is bigger than the United States’, but that’s not the whole story. Europe’s GDP is roughly $13.2 trillion, compared to the US’ $10.4 trillion, so your assertion is accurate. There are two key points you’re missing, however:
1. Europe’s population is more than twice as much. Current estimated population in Europe is roughly 710 million. Conversely, the United States is sitting just about 303 million. This means that our GDP per capita is much, much higher than yours. Of course, some countries in Europe come rather close to the US’ GDP per capita (England, France, Germany), but some are very, very far away (Albania and much of the rest of Eastern Europe).
2. Europe’s 710 million are packed in 10 million km^2, compared to the 9.8 million km^2 that the United States occupies. In other words, there are more people in Europe in about the same amount of space, so there are certain density issues at play. Throw in that many European cities pre-date automobiles and, consequently, aren’t particularly car-friendly and you find yourself facing a very different set of traffic concerns than you do in the US. In short, the reason you have walkable cities is because, when your cities were built in the 1500s, they had to be walkable - how else were people getting around? Public transportation? Of course you have it - you have more people closer together, so it’s much more economical. Long distance travel? There’s an adage I read somewhere, and it goes something like this:
“In America, 100 years is a long time ago. In Europe, 100 miles is far away.”
The reason public transportation doesn’t work as well in the United States is because, especially in the West, our cities simply aren’t designed with it in mind. Proof of that is Los Angeles, which used to have a tram system just like San Francisco. Why did it fail? Because Los Angeles is too spread out - trams and rails cost more to build than a bed of asphalt, after all. The only reason it has one now is because politicians decided Los Angeles must have one… not that anyone really uses it.
The reason the United States has as much congestion as it has is not just because of all of the cars - it’s because politicians and the people have been in complete and utter denial regarding them. Everyone seems to believe that, if we don’t build any roads for cars to travel on, people will stop using them. This would be similar to politicians in Europe deciding that trains were too crowded and that the only way to do something about that would be to… stop building trains. It doesn’t make much sense, does it? The solution, of course, is that the United States needs to build more roads (this would be better for the environment, believe it or not, since it would result in fewer cars idling).
Raising gas costs isn’t going to do it - all that’s going to do is cause the cities to become ridiculously expensive and cause the poor to get shoved out into the suburbs, never to return. Their real incomes will get reduced as more of their income is spent just getting to work. Meanwhile, since only poor people will live in the suburbs, why bother building better roads? All the taxpayers will live in the cities, after all…
Yeah.
January 29th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Now we have the time we need to get Cannonball Run III produced! It can star me, in the Talon AWD. Burt and Captain Chaos will run blocker in my Ram MegaCab! We will make the run in 35 hours and 55 minutes missing your and Gurney’s run of 35 hours and 54 minutes teaching us all valuable life lessons. Then as you and Dan exit your 612 Scaglietti Sessanta at the port Dan will announce his candidacy for President in 08! Yates/Gurney 08′! RON PAUL! I mean BROCK YATES REVOLUTION!
January 29th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Oatworm,
I agree with your general drift, but the GDP figures are understated for the US. US GDP in 2006 was just over $13.2 trillion (Report for Selected Countries and Subjects (180 countries; 6 subjects). International Monetary Fund) and for the EU on a purchasing power parity basis was $13.06 trillion (http://www.indexmundi.com/european_union/gdp_(purchasing_power_parity).html)
It appears 2007 was the year in which EU GDP passed US GDP but it’s still close despite the EU’s elastic composition. On an efficiency basis, i.e. economic value driven per capita, the US is far ahead. The CIA pegs the EU’s GDP for 2007 at $14.4 trillion on a PPP basis. Population figures cited for the period are below your tally of 710 million, but much higher than the US’ 303mm.
Phil
January 29th, 2008 at 7:30 am
I’m impressed. TTAC got Brock Yates! Please don’t fire him.
My C/D subscription will lapase after 30+ years pretty soon. The car magazines are doomed. Who cares about auto show coverage 12 weeks late?
January 29th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Welcome Mr. Yates…you’ve brought me back to TTAC.
Phil Ressler, extraordinarily well said. Though mass transit could have been done better in spite of our distances. The former US auto industry played a major role in the lack of a mass transit/rail system in this country. There are entirely too many trucks on our highways (one engine per box) and entirely too few cargo trains (one engine per 50 boxes) on our albeit limited railways.
January 29th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Ah, a familiar name, even more familiar prose. Mr. Yates, welcome to the internet. (of course you found it long ago, this is your “official” entry) There goes the neighborhood, next thing you know we’ll see Peter Egan or his ghost on a 4×4 message board.
Anyway, I think you realize unlike the comfortable insulation found in a monthly print publication, every word you type will be checked for accuracy and nit-picked by some pimply faced tweenager still living in Mom and Dad’s garage or basement who will ignore the greater picture you always get spot-on.
I’m sure you’ve heard of “the Google”.
“What’s that, Mom? Yeah, yeah, I know it’s trash day.”
See ya around.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Brock Yates at TTAC. Cool. This is going to be a hoot.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am
In Germany, gas is 8 bucks a gallon. lots of trains there.
I’m afraid I am not familiar with the work of Mr. Yates. It seems from the volume of notes here, I might be the only one. Oh well. Another voice for TTAC. GOod!
January 29th, 2008 at 10:00 am
jerseydevil> I wasn’t familiar with him either, as I’m now ashamed to admit after reading his wikipedia entry. The founder and winner of the first cannonball run? Holy shit! Is “living legend” too cliched?
January 29th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Impressive. TTAC wins the day again.
I could do without the needless, moralistic whining about “curse words” from some of the other commenters. It’s 2008, man. (Not 1908)
Seconding the “A pleasure to have you here, piss, vinegar et al.”
Even the SA Goons have noticed.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2756471
I’m a Goon, too (hope you got ten bucks)
January 29th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Brock, welcome to TTAC. I’ll skip the fawning and such, everyone else has done it enough for me.
Interesting article, and as has been stated previously, mass transit doesn’t work well in the US because we aren’t set up for it. In my own case, I would have to drive about 17 miles in the wrong direction with equall trafic to get to the nearest train station. Then I have to pay to park, and pay for a round trip ticket. The nearest station to where I work over shoots my office by about ten miles, so then I have to get a cab to go back ten miles to get to my office. All of this would not only be more expensive, but would take much longer than the 20 minutes it takes me to travel 18 miles to my office. Oddly enough, almost all the trafic I get is around the highschools as we are forced to drop to stupidly low speeds because the average American teenager (which I’m not to far from being at 23) is to damned oblivous or stupid to pay attention to trafic.
On another note, I would love to see an article on your opinion of the modern state of cross country races. I’ve read Cannonball a good number of times, and some friends and I have always wanted to “affirm truth and justice through an overtly illegal act.” The problem is it has become some massive social event for people with more money than brains. Last time we looked, there was actually an entrance fee, something around $15k. So much for a bunch of post college grad kids hoping in a Mazda hatch and seeing if they could do it in under 35 hours.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:40 am
We have an excellent mass-transit rail system where I live (Hudson River Valley), but unless you’re a five-day-a-week commuter, you can’t use it: there’s no parking for occasional travelers. Either you buy an expensive monthly permit for the commuter lot or you park illegally and get expensively ticketed by one of the cop-vultures who circle the station area endlessly looking for the poor fools who simply have to go to New York for the day. Crazy.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Welcome aboard, Mr. Yates.
I agree, most Americans will never voluntarily surrender their auto-centric lifestyle. The majority have now placed themselves in a position in which that is impossible to do until their little worlds are shattered.
Nothing will change, short of Band-Aid remedies such as hybrids and bio-fuels, until Americans are forced to change. In a world of ever increasing population, and ever decreasing resources, we are only one Mideastern dirty-bomb away from $200/barrel oil.
When change does come, it will be rapid, messy and chaotic. Americans will swarm back into cities and first ring suburbs. The X-burbs will will become McMansion ghost towns. The people who remain in rural areas will have a reason to be there –farming, logging, mining. We’ve already gotten a sneak-peak of this with the recently imploded mortgage socialism scheme.
To quote Winston Churchill, “America always does the right thing, after exhausting all other options first.”
January 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Brock - Let me add my voice to the chorus of Welcome to TTAC! As a 40-year reader of C&D, my subscription lapsed at the end of 2007 and I was not tempted to renew. While I’m sure that Csere and others are laboring to stay relevant, the magazine has become more Motor Trend like with each passing year; I just got tired of reading breathless prose which was simply re-written PR crap from the manufacturers.
A humble suggestion, however: with everyone concerned these days about safety, why not start talking about that sacred cow, driver competence? ZoomZoom has thrown the ball onto the court, and it seems about time that people realize their real safety will not be delivered by legislation, but by learning to actually pay attention while they are driving.
As to traffic, it occurred to me many years ago that blaming GM, Toyota, et al for heavy traffic was like blaming Columbian drug lords for cocaine abuse, as if they were each creating a market from thin air.
Welcome again, sir. I have frequently disagreed with your opinions, but would never ask for your silence. It will be most enjoyable to dice words from time to time with a master.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Complaining about driver competence is as big a waste of time as complaining that people eat fast food. Nothing will change. Any legislator/legislation that did anything about decreeing more difficult driving tests, more challenging licensing standards or more frequent retesting would be out of office in no time.
Unfortunately, as driver distractions increase and are encouraged–proliferating communications options, etc.–the only answer, unfortunately, is to have the vehicle compensate for lack of driver competence. i.e. increasingly autonomous cars.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Phil Ressler :
January 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
And, glad you’re here, Mr. Yates. There was a time when Car & Driver’s arrival in my mailbox was eagerly awaited. Two of the best reasons over the years were Gordon Baxter and that disturber of the peace writing under the byline of ‘Brock Yates.’
Phil
Phil,
Couldn’t agree with you more. Brock and Bax were two of the highlights of any C&D. I was 14 when I discovered Bax also wrote a column for Flying Magazine, and went out and bought my first copy. Several decades later, look where THAT got me!
The Feds actually named a fix on the VOR 34 approach into KBPT (his home town field) after ol’ Gordon.
Brock, how about a piece on all the notable figures you’ve had the opportunity to work with over the years? (Bax, et al)
January 29th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
“nothing ever changes– until it has to.”
Bingo.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
HEY! Bax didn’t “also” write for Flying, he “also” wrote for Car and Driver. Archie Trammell and I brought him to Flying when I was the Executive Editor there, and I much later brought him to C/D when I became Editor there. Gordon and I did a book together, “Bax Seat,” by the way…we logged a lot of hours flying together.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Welcome Brock Yates,
The first writer that actually made me interested in reading the the front part of C&D back in the 1980s. Wonder columns wrttten by a great writer.
P.S. Also miss you on C&D TV!
Traffic/ Mass Transit.
First let me start off by saying I live in the biggest mass-transit market in the USA, NYC. The first thing most folks that do not live in a large metro area need to understand that it is punishment (for not owning a car) to make use of just about any major city’s public transit network outside of “rush-hour” time frame. Public transportation is for poor folks and it is run in said manner. It is dirty, slow, has limited service, and is just downright inconveient to use during “off-hours and weekends”. I used to enjoy taking my child into Manhattan for a Saturday of entertainment on the subway until the service was cut to the point were it became easier to just drive in and pay for parking, yet I am only a half-hour subway ride away from mid-town Manhattan! Trust me I am a life long NYCer and there is NO reason for the subway to be jammed packed on a weekend day except for the fact that they are actually running less trains while the city is busier then it has ever been.
My point is there are so many serious (REAL) discouragements to using mass transit in NYC that sitting in traffic is the better choice.
I have an even better story of “letting Amtrak do the driving for me”. I frequently travel between NYC and South Carolina. It is a 12 to 14 hour drive and once I needed to do it with just my 6 year old son. Rather than endure this trip with just one driver and a small child I decided to give Amtrak a shot. What a big a$$ F#$kING MISTAKE.
The first problem was Amtrak’s Penn Station NYC terminal is an absolutely disgusting place to be! It is no place for a child. It is full of homeless drug addicts and has a bathroom that must be staffed by security guards. The waiting area was overrun with all types of questionable types and the Amtrak staff was completely indifferent. But hey I am giving our US rail system a shot, right.
While the first part of the trip to Wash DC was uneventful, once we pulled out of DC it was a complete disaster. Signal problems caused the train to crawl at less than 5mph to Quantico which took over two hours. From that point on we were forced to share tracks with CSX freight, making the trip a stop and go experience all the way into North Carolina. Now that the train is already at least 7 hours behind schedule it became time for equipment failure as we enter SC.
In a nutshell my scheduled 15 hour train trip turn out to last for over 25 hours! Needless to say I will NEVER do Amtrak again.
So in the USA you have exactly TWO choices for transportation. You either drive or deal with the hell of flying (To think I foolishly choose Amtrak to avoid the hassle of flying!) Unless the trip is more than 800 miles or 15 hours I will stick to my trusty car.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
In a world of ever increasing population, and ever decreasing resources, we are only one Mideastern dirty-bomb away from $200/barrel oil.
For the US, $200 oil would not be a disaster. At current gasoline tax levels, fuel here would still be cheaper than it is in Europe today. Better yet, at that price, extraction and processing of shale oil — of which we have truly vast reserves under the Rocky Mountain region — becomes an economically viable proposition, not to mention clean coal, liquid fuels from coal and more solar power. The price of energy will rise, but as domestic alternatives to conventional oil kick in from changing investment patterns, more of our energy money would stay in circulation right here.
Phil
January 29th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Mr. Yates -
As witnessed by the cacophony of welcome, I don’t think your writing has induced nearly the level of controversy that Mr. Farago has intended. Step it up! :)
Always glad to see another wordsmith join the press. I’ve read you probably a half a dozen times, and I only know that because I can recognize your style and link it to articles I remember reading.
I, personally, think that technology is beginning to deal with congestion. I haven’t heard/seen congestion getting worse in the last 5-10 years…Telecommuting and alternative work hours. Smarter traffic plans. And personal choices to eliminate driving during times of congestion.
I don’t think higher gas prices will decrease congestion. There are too many alternatives. I drive a 06 Honda Civic SI which gets ~26mpg right now in 70% highway driving (winter mix of fuel). I drive ~30k miles per year. If I switched to a Prius, I would save approx. $140 on gas per month by roughly doubling my fuel economy and using regular gas. If gas prices doubled to $6.40, I could drive the Prius and pay the same amount to commute I do today. Heck, my insurance would probably decrease.
In other words, I have available choices to mitigate rising fuel costs that do not modify my everyday behavior and have little adverse effects on my lifestyle. And I drive a Honda Civic. Others, with less economical vehicles, also have these choices.
On top of that, Diesel is beginning a resurgence and small cars are offering more choices. Rising fuel costs are not going to solve much, and as pointed out previously will be a “regressive tax”…in other words, it’ll hit the poor the hardest.
If congestion worsens, companies will move to ex-urban localities and offer employees more flexible work schedules. Mass transit will increase…why? Because mass transit only works in areas of congestion.
Now, moving on…
Someone said Al Gore has the gravitas to raise gas prices. I don’t feel this is true. Al Gore doesn’t have the cajones to quit flying on private luxury aircraft all over the world, and switch to giving live web-ex presentations. He doesn’t have it in him to live a frugal, conservative lifestyle and make the necessary lifestyle choices. Yet. Unfortunately, that’s a common symptom among the “leaders” of the political-environmental movement nowadays (hey, lets have a climate change conference in Bali…the most remote place possible!).
Another topic: I’ve not been a big fan of ethanol, but it offers one things many of it’s opponents forget: The ability to switch to a renewable energy source using existing technology. The advent of ethanol creation through the conversion of biomass/biowaste utilizing enzymes, bacteria, etc. is quite promising, as it removes the “grow corn/farm corn/water corn/produce ethanol” energy equation. Of course, hydraulic-drive systems and advanced batteries hold a ton of long-term promise as well.
Perhaps, as one commentor put it, the answer to congestion and emissions (closely related items) is to more rigorously train drivers before allowing them on the roadways. People need to learn to utilize engine braking and slowing down without using the brakes, and the positive effects that lends to the traffic behind them.
Joe
January 29th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Enjoyed this article, looking forward to more from you in the future.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Unfortunately even the countries with great mass transit have lousy traffic.
Forest animals not withstanding, upstate NY is one of the best places for driving.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
There’s been plenty of traction in the light rail sector over the last 20-30 years - lots of people moving into areas where their 2-car-family becomes a 1-car family, for instance, in cities like Portland, Dallas, Houston, Salt Lake, Denver, Minneapolis, etc.
Those are just rail LINES; not rail SYSTEMS; i.e. not mature or ubiquitous to make the Manhattan lifestyle feasible for most, but they have had a strong impact - don’t buy the FUD from suburban highwayites that they’re empty - read the actual stats (tens of thousands of people per day riding these things; most of whom used to drive to work).
January 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
@whatdoiknow1
You’re parroting an old Limbaugh-esque canard about mass transit that demonstrates a complete lack of historical understanding. Mass transit was originally a private, for-profit, affair. Most mass transit patrons were working/middle-class people. Bums, and other undesirable types, were kept away.
The USA’s functioning pre-WWII mass transit system of railroads, trolley cars and buses were deliberately bankrupted, and then taken over by various government agencies, after the Federal government undertook a deliberate policy of subsidizing the US auto industry through construction of the Interstate highway system — dictated by believers in The Church of Keynes.
I live in Northern New Jersey. When I need to travel into Manhattan, I park my car in Weehawken and take the New York Waterway ferry. The ferry service is a private business. The boats are clean, and are efficiently run. The ferry service connecting buses are likewise well run. A one way ticket costs $8, parking is $10. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Stephan,
Sorry, my bad, what was I thinking! I bet I know which of the 2 Bax would have claimed first.
Archie Trammell? Wow, even more fond memories today. I can still remember his radar videos they showed us in Meteorology class. “The threat identification position can be found by…….”
In fact, if I remember correctly, the radar usage section of my airline’s FOM is basically a reprint of one of his texts. Talk about someone who literally ‘wrote the book’ in his chosen field.
Good stuff, good stuff :)
January 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Welcome, Brock!!
January 29th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Complaining about driver competence is as big a waste of time as complaining that people eat fast food. Agree, but who would’ve guessed thirty years ago that people would trade station wagons for these 6,000 pound behemoths, and much of that happened in the mostly false sense of “security” offered by the SUV. Believe it or not, there are changes occurring in dining habits as well; the growth of Subway and other burger alternatives seems a harbinger of change in that area.
Another “waste of time” is a track or acceleration comparison of the Z06 vs GT2; these are nonetheless entertaining to read for those of us who give a damn. And who knows - in the 70’s, it looked to most of us as if hoping for faster cars was a total waste of time.
After all, Ralph Nader managed to kill the Corvair with one book. Surely a writer as talented as Mr. Yates might sufficiently frighten people that they might begin to question existing laws about licensing.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
skor :
January 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
@whatdoiknow1
You’re parroting an old Limbaugh-esque canard about mass transit that demonstrates a complete lack of historical understanding. Mass transit was originally a private, for-profit, affair. Most mass transit patrons were working/middle-class people. Bums, and other undesirable types, were kept away.
Skor,
I do understand that. When the NYC subway was opened in 1904 the fare was 5 cents a ride. When adjusted for inflation it is quite a bit more than the $2 fare of today. The subway was rather luxurious back than and not for the rank and file. Many of those folks were still walking great distances to and from work at that time or still lived very close to their employment. You can simply trace the route of the first NYC subway to see that it did not service poor or working poor nieghborhoods at that time.
Needless to say the private automobile changed the whole meaning of what “private” transportation is. Finally transportation actually became private. If I have my own car why do I need the Railroad? As a matter of fact it bacame natural for folks to wants roads to drive on rather than rails to ride on.
My point is I find that unless public transportation is an absolute necessity in your life you will find the experience less than satisifing. Anywhere in America you can travel to you will find that there is a stigma to being a “bus rider”. The sterotype is that only poor folks would even consider waiting in the heat or cold for a crowded slow moving bus. Right or wrong that is the situation and it is not helped one bit by local governments that treat public trans like a bad joke for poor people.
Back to NYC. The quickest route into mid-town Mahattan for me IS (or should be) the subway. It is much more convinient than driving but the way the system is run (off-hours) it is better described as an exercise in frustration. In theory there is no reason to own a car in NYC. In practice unless you like getting jerked around by the MTA you do need your own private vehicle to enjoy life.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
There will always be a big or small minority–but a definite minority nonetheless–of people interested in “the art of driving” and “driver competence,” etc. etc. But thinking that the general population of drivers will give up anything-ANYTHING–in aid of greater competence is ludicrous. We live in a nation of drivers many of whom don’t know which wheels drive their car and have no more idea how a brake works than they do how nuclear fusion works.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Outstanding!!! It is great to be able to read Yates again. Car & Driver has lost its luster and with the exception of the online sites, Automobile is the only thing worth reading. Welcome back Brock!
January 29th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I saw on Jalopnik that Brock was over on this site, so I registered. Looking forward to many more editorials and writings from Yates. I’ve been a reader of his work for many years.
January 29th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Car and Driver lost me a year or so ago when they foolishly decided to “reformat” the magazine. Heck, I couldn’t hardly tell the articles from the ads anymore. And, they tried to drive readers to their website to get the rest of the story, or to find the info that used to be included in the article. Dumb move, because I always thought the purpose of a magazine was to be a stand alone piece. Why would I want to read half the story in the magazine and then have to get on the internet? I guess they figured a lot of folks have internet access from the toliet…..
Welcome aboard Mr. Yates!
January 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Hi Brock,
I did a double-take when I saw you name on the column. Great to see you back! I’ve been reading your columns since the 1970’s and I’ve missed them from C&D for some time now. Thanks for continuing to tell it like it is.