TABLE OF CONTENTS The popularity of individually controlled vehicles responds to the basic human impulse to act and move without constraints caused by others. Even if this is not always achievable due to limited resources or the lack of open movement space, the expectation or hope is always there. Americans have lived with these opportunities now for quite some time, and there is no mystery as to what the advantages of automobiles are. Yet, for the record, it is well to briefly list them since they fundamentally influence the choice of transportation modes in any contemporary setting.
Individuals and families owning automobiles are not constrained by the limited range of walking distances or the alignment of transit services. The car can reach any reasonable destination, as long as a road is available (and sometimes even if one is not). The radius of daily operations is extended manyfold, and a much richer array of possible destination points for any purpose is brought within accessible range. No rural location is completely remote; all suburban places are reachable from any other place most of the time. All job locations within a metropolitan area (save the very largest ones, where distances from one edge to another can exceed a hundred miles) are potentially available; all service nodes and entertainment/cultural centers are reachable. This is sprawl, and the automobile is in its natural environment.
Any travel for any purpose can be done at any time at least...
