A Love/Hate Relationship With My Car

I moved a lot as a kid but I always lived in the suburbs (or as I like to call it, purgatory). Therefore, public transportation was awful, nothing was walking distance, and I always had to rely on my parents to drive me everywhere, which didn't always happen.

That means, when I finally found a car, it revolutionized my life. Suddenly, the possibilities were endless, and I could go and see my friends whenever I wanted to. I could go to the beach. I could get boba. I could go to the library. No more waiting for Mom to pick me up from band practice! I remember my family had me pick up Starbucks a couple days after I got my license and it was the first time driving without someone else in the passenger's seat. When I realized I wasn't going to crash and actually knew how to drive, I turned up the music and sang at the top of my lungs.

But here's the catch: I'm in Southern California. And, if you've ever lived here, you'll know first hand that the traffic is the worst in the world. At first I was staying local: I didn't get on the freeway for a whole year and stayed in my town and the surrounding areas. I didn't mind driving at this time because most of my friends were a couple miles away.

Of course the time came when I had to start using the freeway. My radius expanded: my new found freedom multiplied. My road rage started.

I'm not the kind of person who will actually confront drivers who do something stupid, but most people in the car with me know that half the time I'm screaming and swearing at everybody. At the stoplight. At the dude who just cut me off. At the lady who's tailgating me. At the traffic that came out of nowhere (and boy, does it come out of nowhere). It's taken on its own character, as sometimes I'll sing Frozen when I'm trying to keep a Suburban from passing me on the right. "Don't let them in, don't let them see!"

Maybe it's because my car is so small and I can be easily taken advantage of; maybe I just don't have to drive much while I'm at school so when I do I can't stand it. Either way, I've really come to dislike driving. Going 85+ on an open freeway is one thing but LA traffic...

So I've come to really dislike driving.

My awareness about sustainability hasn't really helped with that, either. When I drive a lot, I am actively killing planet. New roads are constructed, and then get congested, so we have to build more new roads. And yet, cars are continually made a priority over bike lanes or train tracks.

It gives me a good perspective, though: I have to drive, and so do millions of other people. There are only so many hours in a day and ultimately it's the fastest way to get from point A to point B. We could definitely deal with cutting down, though: I took the train to LA last week and it was excellent. But individuals can only do so much until cities make decisions to make sustainable options more accessible and more efficient.