Carfree: John Mossbrook

Here’s a great story, originally posted by John Mossbrook from Utah on the forum at www.GiveUpYourCar.com. Reproduced here in full.

“What's Driving Insanity?

I quit driving involuntarily 7 years ago when my 23-year old car went down for the count. It was a devastating blow since I lived 8 miles from the hotel I worked at. Fortunately. I had bad credit and not much cash to buy anothert car. I was forced to buy a bicycle and commute from Fredonia, AZ to Kanab, Utah, 8 miles north on Highway 89A.This commute began in November and ended in May the following year when I took an apartment in Kanab. UT. I've been biking ever since and above all have avoided owning anything with a combustion engine. During my 8-mile commute I lost 25 lbs., down to a svelte 150 lbs. I am no kid. I am 70 years old, 6 ft. 2 in. tall and very fit for any age. Gradually it dawned that my neighbors who drove cars were insane. Crazy, in the clinical sense of the word. I reasoned: Kanab, UT is at the center of a ring of National Parks--The Grand Canyon is 80 miles away. Bryce Canyon, Escalante National Monument, Zion National Park are all 70--80 miles away in various directions. There is nothing within 80 miles of Kanab, UT except the starkest of cliffs and deserts that have appeared in hundreds of western movies.

The Kanab motorist absorbs all the expenses of operating a car to ride 2 miles at most, and frequently they use the car to drive several hundred meters. This is a disgrace. They are fat beyond measure and have to absorb all the prescription drug bills, and healthcare bills that their obesity generates. It's killing them in Kanab and may other places. This is true insanity.
I'll never drive again and have no regrets.”