While driving, an individual can be confronted by a variety of issues; an assortment of reckless drivers barreling down the street, disregarding their surroundings; animals strutting across the road right in front of your moving vehicle; the police officer who seems to contain a vendetta towards anyone who drives three miles per hour over the speed limit -- most drivers have experienced this and much more. Multiple actions can be taken to avoid these troublesome scenarios, but the primary solution for this problem of dangers associated with cars may just be the simplest one --

cut down on driving

. It has been discovered in multiple articles that the minor actions of riding the bus to work or walking to stores, instead of using a car, can have a positive impact on communities.

In Vauban, Germany, residents have stopped using cars, only using "...the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community" (

Rosenthal,

Paragraph 2) for a way of industrial transportation. The purpose in the reduction of car usage in Vauban is not only to make suburbs "...more compact and more accessible to public transportation..." (

Rosenthal

, Paragraph 6), but to also decrease the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. Vauban's actions have been successful in that not only has the release of greenhouse gas decreased, but the residents of Vauban have also thrived without the use of transportation by cars.

It may be true that much of the world's populations may refute this style of living; they might believe that society will take two steps back along the line of progression by this small change. It has been proven due to thousands of motorists being fined after "...a partial driving ban to clear the air of the global city" (

Duffer

, Paragraph 10) was implemented. The reduction of car usage is a difficult prospect, but there have been scenarios in which this has been a positive change in society. In Andrew Selsky's "Car-free day is spinning into a big hit in Bogota", a description of a city's participation in a car-free day is given, and Selsky also characterizes that other surrounding cities participated because it was such a successful idea. Carlos Arturo Plaza mentions that the car-free day is "...a good oppurtunity to take away the stress and lower air pollution..." (

Selsky

, Paragraph 24).

This idea to cut down the usage of car transportation may not end up being a solution to any major problem, but it definitely will be a step in the right direction. If actions are taken to reform the typical transportation options, the world will be making progress towards better conditions for its inhabitant's posterity. Is it too difficult to simply walk down the street to purchase groceries? Is it too difficult to make actions for the improvement of our environment? Is it too difficult to not use cars for at least one day?    