Recently, the chance of my appointments wanted me to cross Montreal by bike on one of those glorious spring afternoons when the sun and resurgent nature seem to reach out to everyone. In the parks, young children played happily under the benevolent gaze of their parents. In the streets, the not so young children laughed at the jokes they told each other or the more or less bad tricks they prepared, and adults of all ages chatted on the sidewalks, on their grounds or simply enjoyed the rays of the sun from their balcony. Everywhere, humans eager to take advantage of this window of vernal generosity… except in the streets where the traffic swells visibly.
Here, fewer onlookers enjoying their balcony or lingering to chat with a neighbor. Here, above all, captive drivers let loose their frustration loudly: insistent horns, invective directed at other drivers or simply at a sour destiny. Even without the sound, the frustration is palpable: hasty accelerations, sharp brakes, aggressive fishtails.
If it were possible to map the mood of the population in real time, we would have seen at this moment a cheerful green covering the map of Montreal, squared however by angry red lines: as many arteries and highways congested or of streets under construction.
As I pedaled, trying to avoid certain inhospitable streets, I was suddenly struck by this observation: how, in an age where machines can credibly imitate human discussions, do we continue to agree to render a part of our cities as welcoming as the surface of Venus, at the service of a modality of transport that makes us miserable and brings out the worst in us?
Because, let’s be clear, in my eyes, the drivers trapped in this way are victims in the same way as the residents of the neighborhoods who have to suffer the noise, aggression and pollution of the lines of stationary cars. At least, when my spouse or I have to drive, we feel victimized. Victim, admittedly partly consenting, of a mobility system that has given too much importance to the car and offers few alternatives for trips that require a payload of several hundred kilograms.
The private car is a transport system which, through its success, produces the conditions for its bankruptcy, to the detriment of neighborhood residents, but also of those who really need it: emergency care, movement of goods or equipment, etc For the good of all, this system must change; it is a change that we cannot make individually, but collectively. And in this collective approach, we have two individual responsibilities.
The first responsibility is to recognize the unacceptable footprint of cars in our cities and the steps needed to change this, even if it brings inconvenience, such as seeing paid parking periods extended, as seen recently. The second responsibility is that until things change, driving behavior is a personal act.
Even if everyone, pedestrians and cyclists included, must be careful in the street, the danger and the inconvenience capacity of cars are beyond measure. Whatever the cause of the congestion, everyone must not contribute to making living environments… unlivable.