We all know that driving makes life easier in terms of getting from point A to point B, but there are also many benefits that come from not driving or maybe not even owning a car. Not driving proves to affect the community in a positive way such as: less polluted air, happier people, and less congestion on the roads.

A study in Paris showed that the less drivers there are on the roads, the less smog there is in the air. France uses diesel and they tend to have more smog than "other European capitals" (par.17) who use gasoline. So by cutting the amount of drivers on the road, it also cut the amount of smog in the air. People used the roads less due to the amount of smog in the air and when there were less poeple on the road, there was also less pollution in the air, making for clearer skies. Also, in the United states, the percentage of people getting their licenses and of those who own cars has gone down in recent years. "If the pattern persists... it will have beneficial implications for carbon emmisions and the enviornment" (par. 34). Just like in Paris, the fewer people driving, the better our enviornment gets as the years go on. Alternatives to driving could be walking, using "public transportation", or biking to get to the places we need to go. These alternatives can help us "save time, conserve resources, lower emissions and improve safety" (par. 43) which are not only beneficial to us, but to our enviornment as well.

In Germany, there are certain places where you are not permitted to own a car and if you do, you have to pay $40,000 to be able to park it in a garage along with the payment of your house. Obviously, not many people are going to want to pay that much money, so they get rid of their cars in order to live in those parts of town. Not owning a car can even reduce the stress levels of some poeple and make them happier in the long run. A "mother of two" stated "when I had a car I was always tense. I'm much happier this way" (par. 3). So maybe this whole not owning a car thing is not only good for the enviornment around us, but also for our physical and mental well being. Sure, driving is nice, but it can be very stressful when having to deal with all the careless drivers around us and all the rules and responsibilities that driving entails.

Not only will less driving improve our enviornment, it will also result in less congested roads. "Congestion was down 60 percent in the capital of France, after five-days of intensifying smog" (par. 14). No one likes having a polluted enviornment around them, and the more pollution there is, the less crowded roads will be. The clearer the roads are, the clearer the skies around us are. In conclusion, driving does have its benefits, but not driving has even more, such as: the ability to keep our enviornment healthy and clean, less congestion on the roads, and happier people all around.               