The motor car has been among the biggest influences on life in the 20th century, a powerful factor in the progress of civilization. It can, unfortunately, be a source of danger but for every life it takes it saves a dozen, speeding the desperately ill to hospital, carrying food to the famine stricken. It has disturbed many of the tranquil preserves of the leisured, but opened new playgrounds to millions. Because of it the ability to ride a horse is a rare skill, railways are no longer a decisive factor in shaping our communities, and many people have forgotten the value of using their own two feet. But it has given the world a new mobility.
Perhaps the basic appeal of motoring is its promise of independence. It offers freedom from the time-tables of public transportation, from the need to travel by the same route in the same vehicle to the same place as countless others. It is the opportunity to meander, to leave disappointing places for more hopeful ones; to flee from bad weather and to get the children to school on time. To exploit these advantages the motorist has to accept responsibilities. At the wheel a driver has a duty to be patient, skilful, and sober. All too easily he can shatter the health of other road users and, indeed, the happiness of all of us who have a right to enjoy privacy and the countrysides beauty and tranquility. And there is the financial responsibility. For many families a car represents the second largest financial investment of their lives; in pursuit of the freedom a car can bring, millions of people stake something approaching a years net income to buy a bright metal box that may depreciate at the rate of the rent they pay and cost as much to run as it does to heat and light a home.
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