Divorce your car - wed your life!
Wheel Life column - November 04, 2000
by Todd Litman and Suzanne Kort - Victoria Transport Policy Institute

A new book, "Divorce Your Car" by Katie Alvord, argues that our relationship with automobiles requires intensive therapy. Like other self-help guides, it helps readers understand the dynamics of their unhealthy affiliations. Some drivers may find that it provides the encouragement they need to dump their attractive, but sometimes abusive, mechanical partners.

Alvord is a clear and witty writer who combines history, social commentary, interesting stories, and practical advice for developing a "car-free" or "car-lite" lifestyle. The book is stuffed with helpful information for anybody who wonders whether their liaison with a car is a love affair or a shotgun wedding.

Alvord is a bike enthusiast. She cycles for transportation and recreation, installs snow tires on her bike in winter, and hauls bikes on a kayak in summer in Upper Michigan where she and her husband live "car-lite". But the book is not monogamous. It covers a variety of travel options, including walking, cycling, transit, alternative fuel vehicles (including electric bikes) telecommuting, and "playing the field" (using a combination of travel modes).

There is a lot of common-sense advice, some rather obvious. For example, her suggestions for cycling include: educate yourself; wear a helmet; use lights and reflectors; ride with, not against traffic; wear comfortable clothes.

But even experienced cyclists will find useful information and inspiring ideas. She describes creative ways to make cycling easier, such as the Buttemer family in the Comox Valley, who only insure their car during the rainy season, and a firefighter in suburban Maryland who commutes using a foldable bike and public transit.

Here's an exercise Alvord recommends for people just starting to rely on cycling for transportation: Take a few test rides to determine how far you can comfortably ride. Then, on a local map draw a circle of that distance around your home. For example, if you can comfortably cycle 2 kilometres, draw a circle with a radius of 2 kms with your home in the center. Now, list the places that you might visit within that circle. Whenever you plan to go to one of those destinations, "don't think car, think bike".

There are also suggestions for improving transportation choices in a community, or as one section is titled, "Visions of Less Auto Dominance." This section describes how a transportation system could evolve to be more balanced, and how that could improve residents' quality of life. The book includes specific suggestions for making streets safer and more attractive for walking and cycling, and examples of successful pedestrian and bicycle advocacy organizations.

Being a professional librarian, Alvord is a stickler for detailed references: there are twenty pages listing books and organizations that support alternative transportation. Many of these resources have Internet links, making the information easy to obtain.

The book cites the city of Victoria as one of the best places to live car-free in North America, due to "compact, walkable downtown; bicycle cargo delivery available; excellent transit; good bicycling support." Our local BikeCartAge, pedicabs, and the Victoria Carshare Coop also receive mention.

Do you agree? Although there is plenty of room for improvement, the Victoria region provides better travel choices, and better conditions for cycling and walking, than most North American cities. That's the start of a healthy relationship.