Why do most Americans feel as though they ABSOLUTELY MUST own

Empty headed consumerism its the American way.

>>35302908
As a foreigner who travelled the US for several months. It is literally impossible to survive in the U.S without one unless you live in the centre of a major metropolis with good public transport. Here in Europe things tend to be close enough together that a car isn't a complete necessity, but in the US all infrastructure has been constructed with the presumption that the people using it have a car. Nothing is pedestrian friendly at all, crossing your average suburban road is ten times harder than in Europe, there aren't even pedestrian refuges and in many places there aren't even sidewalks/pavements.

>>35302927

Fucking this. The NEAREST bus stop to get to ANOTHER bus stop is an hour... For me.

>>35302908
Things in America are often spread out a lot more. People in cities don't own cars a decent amount of the time. More people could probably stand to lose the car and gain a bike, though.

>>35302927
Yeah, but it wouldn't hurt to at least put up a few bikes lanes here and there. American road infrastructures seem to ignore bikers entirely, to the point where they are forced to ride in traffic and hope they can keep up, and American drivers seem to want to actively kill cyclists. It's strange.

Why are cyclists seen as plebs of American society?

>>35302908

Because driving is fun and it also seems like one of those rights of passage to adulthood.

I don't need a car but have one because I love to drive. Always a good time ripping skids to piss the normies off.

>>35302987
This is a generalization. Some cities in the US are VERY bike-friendly. I used to live in Philadelphia and there were bike lanes on nearly every road, and getting anywhere you wanted without a car was fast and very easy, with or without public transportation.
Portland is the same way.

>>35302987

> American drivers seem to want to actively kill cyclists. It's strange.
>Why are cyclists seen as plebs of American society?

They slow traffic up and they think they can go 10 mph on a 30 mph road. Fuck them

>>35302988
Why should having to maintain something you don't need and can't afford be a right of passage. You may enjoy driving, but some people don't. Why can't walking, biking and taking public transportation be just as fun as driving your own car?

Hell, most women won't even date a man who doesn't have a car.

>>35303005
>They slow traffic up and they think they can go 10 mph on a 30 mph road. Fuck them
Hmm...Maybe if they had their own lanes to stay in, this wouldn't happen. Maybe if cars could somehow bypass cyclists, it would almost be like they're not even there in the first place.

>>35302927
So much this. My parents lived to the middle of the sticks, so I had to take the bus from college back to town which in and of itself took two hours. Then I had to wait for my parents to pick me up since the bus didn't go out to where I live, which took another hour since they were extremely unreliable.

There's no fucking way I'm going to bother with public transportation after this.

>>35302987
>Why are cyclists seen as plebs of American society?
They're annoying. On the face of it, I have no issue with bikers. But they seem to think they can pick or choose which rules they want to follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZn07rZJ88
Portlandia is an eerily accurate depiction of Portland.

>>35302908
Have you ever even been to the U.S.? I live in a smaller sized city (around 305,000+ IIRC) in the suburbs and I have to walk to 3 different boroughs to get to a bus stop. And forget the city itself, its moving non stop and would take you forever to find a bus stop, let alone actually getting on the damn thing in time.


>>35302987
There's bike lanes in most major cities here, and even where I live there's bike lanes and a bike rental place. But that's only convenient for those medium/big sized places.


>>35303021
Status symbol. And good luck living here without a car, Hermes. Because if you don't have one you're fucked in a lot of ways. Just get some used beater if it's that much of an issue for you.

File: amerifags_cannot_into.jpg (220KB, 982x409px) Image search: [Google]

220KB, 982x409px

>>35302987
Just to put the cherry on the cake. Since i'm English I tend to walk everywhere instead of driving. When I was staying with relatives in U.S suburbia I would walk from the house to the town. On several occasions I had the Police following me since they assumed I was sniffing the houses out to burgle because God forbid somebody is actually walking around in the middle of the day in suburbia land.

>Why are cyclists seen as plebs of American society?

It's strange. Here in the UK although cyclists are generally disliked, there is still a level of prestige for it and many cyclists tend to be wealthy bankers, lawyers etc. who keep fit that way. If the same became true in the US then there would be funding for cycle lanes. You have fuckhuge wide roads and you don't reserve 2ft wide space for bicycles, it's bizarre.

>>35303001
A few major cities have them. That's it. In the UK even villages have at least some provision for cyclists and pedestrians. There are always refuges for pedestrians to safely cross the road. When I was in America i had to frequently run across the road at intersections because you have some bizarre rule where drivers can turn into the road without stopping to let pedestrians cross and there was no refuge in the middle of the road in which I could stand.

Because women don't date men that can't drive or own a car

>>35303051

Unless you're Chad. You can drive Mercedes Benz but Chad will always be on the bus on his way to fuck your oneitis

>>35302908
>even if they don't need it

The thing is most people do need a car. Unless you live in one of the top cities in the country public transportation is poor to nonexistent. I live in a city of about 75,000 people and we don't have a public bus system. Also things are very spread out and not realistically possible to get to by foot or even bike.

>>35303051
why would I want to date someone who's more interested in my belongings than me anyway?

>>35302987
>he's been to 1 US City so the rest of the country is the same

Nigger pls, where I live there are bunch of those "bike friendly roads" and I hate it so much because sometimes them fuckers make a nigga be late for work. There are bikes everywhere, but still not having a car here will make your life a living hell.

File: hqdefault.jpg (26KB, 480x360px) Image search: [Google]

26KB, 480x360px

Shitty public transportation and smelly slow bicycling is timesink and steals precious energy from productive things. leave it for excercising

Living in city and having car somewhere else costs same

>>35303082
You're new to this women thing, aren't you?

>>35303021

Can't speed on a bicycle.

I do most of my actual transport by bicycle. I cycle to the shops, to work and occasionally a nice early morning ride. But when I want to go fast and blast corners, I drive.

>Hell, most women won't even date a man who doesn't have a car.

Correct, my car is a projection of my masculinity, a symbol of sex. My car is my phallus.

File: peaceful focks.jpg (116KB, 604x453px) Image search: [Google]

116KB, 604x453px

>>35303001
Philadelphia is a biking haven.

File: 72c.jpg (18KB, 600x450px) Image search: [Google]

18KB, 600x450px

Bought small atv to beat up car costs and shittyness of public/bicycle

Owning a car doesn't even have to be that expensive. You can buy a used car that's still reliable for only a few thousand dollars. A lot of people are just retarded and buy new cars.

Because the automotive industry has a chokehold on the way people travel. The automotive industry and the food industry are the most powerful industries in the US, with much more power than most of us realize.

Public transportation isn't exactly widespread or accessible, and our infrastructure is built about automobiles.

And this:>>35303182

Because public transportation is for coloreds. Taking a bus in most American cities is like a trip to the zoo.

>>35303218
>>>/pol/ is calling your name.

>>35303164
I live on just above minimum wage. I had a 96 Buick that I hated. It fell apart at every opportunity and sucked up almost all of my money. Got rid of it and I have to admit, it's actually better not having a car than having to take care of a shitty, cheap one.

Because you absolutely must own a car. If I had to walk to the nearest store from work, I'd have to walk for an hour. The closest store to my house would be 30 minutes by foot as well.

File: 1367541248671.jpg (36KB, 225x200px) Image search: [Google]

36KB, 225x200px

>>35303218
>mfw a well dressed white foreigner on a Baltimore bus with not a single other white person on there

I was legitimately quite scared. I had to get to the bus station to get back to New York though and the bus was the only way.

>>35303111
>Can't speed on a bicycle.
Yes you can. It's easy to speed in a school zone, and possible for most people to speed in residential areas if they have a fast bike.

Is America really that spread apart?
Why?

>>35303218
I take the bus almost every day, and while most of the passengers aren't white, it isn't bad at all. Stop being so judgemental.

File: 1Sparta_elec-4-BW.jpg (179KB, 809x538px) Image search: [Google]

179KB, 809x538px

> americans will never enjoy a nice ride through the dutch polder on their electric bicycle.

>>35302908


Because America lacks the city planning and infrastructure to support a pedestrian workforce. Millions of people have to drive or they won't get to work.

America has terrible public transport and massive suburbs.

>>35303304
Because America is fucking huge you absolute retard

>>35303340
Literally fag-tier. Fuck off

>>35303358
But why are the cities so spread out? Why can't people cycle from the suburbs into the city centre like in Western Europe? What public planning incompetence led to this?

>>35303366
Obese and insecure american detected. probably a manlet as well!

>>35302908
Because jews of course
Whats a cheap and profitable way of building housing? Miles of suburbs and a city core somewhere where all the jobs are at
https://youtu.be/f80zBco_-VY

>>35303373
>What public planning incompetence led to this?
the kind that was trying to deliberately separate white people and minorities.

>>35303373
Do you honestly expect us to fill every mile in this country with cities?

>>35303358
OK, America is huge. Still, why build so far apart? Why not plan buildings to be closer together in order to fit more in any given area as well as make it easier to get from point A to point B?

>>35303435
Because if you have a fuck ton of space to use then you're going to use it. Back when the 13 colonies were a thing and America was small like Europe cities were really close because there was no choice, that's why a bunch of the major cities on the east coast are clustered

>B-B-BUT I NEEDZ MAH CARZ!1!!!!!
*takes another bite out of third burger*

>IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE WIDDOUT IT!!!!!!111one

>>35303435

That would only serve to make the population centers around the country denser and leave even vaster expanses of nothingness in between.

>>35303535
You mad nigger? u mad?

I fucking hate bikers. I unironically hope we start seeing more of them get hit, just so we pass some kind of law outlawing them altogether.

>>35303535
It really is impossible if you don't live in a major city.

Where I live the public transportation consists of one bus that runs for a couple of hours and I'm 35 miles away from my job plus there's no sidewalks

>>35303602
Why? What's wrong with riding your bike to work?

>>35303535
What's the matter? Fail your driver's test for the third time?

>>35303613
It's impeding traffic, and if we hit you due to you being a retard, WE get in trouble for "negligence" or something stupid like that.

>>35303606
I live right outside one, and I survive. The problem is I can't really get anywhere except work and school.

>>35303435
The simple answer to your question is: yes; city planners did not care about making things 'close together'. The American government was so desperate to get the people in the East to expand Westward, that they practically were giving away acres, if you agreed to develop the land. Unlike in Europe, where you've been fighting for a thousand years, for a few parcels of land, the American continent was essentially just open for the taking of any American/European settler. So most of the Eastern parts of the country, are European like in their 'closeness' but again, everything in the West is sparse.

Look at it from this perspective. You have to keep in mind that most of the American territory is relatively 'new'. Most cities west of the Mississippi are less than 150 years old, some less than 100, even. You know what is also about 100 years old? The popularization of the automobile. There you go.

>>35303640
>be me
>try using public transportation
>due to construction, I need to walk an hour and take two buses for a trip that would take me 2 hours to walk
Overall, it takes the same amount of time; I just don't want to spend the whole time walking after work.

>>35302927
in the netherlands it's not always necessary to own a car, especially if you go to college since these are always reachable by public transportation. If you have a job, that could be a problem.
However I met some people from France, Germany etc and they all need a car cause it's just to damn far and there is no bus or train.
Also, it's quite cheap to own a car in these countries.
In the netherlands it definitely isn't

>>35303047
When I was in America i had to frequently run across the road at intersections because you have some bizarre rule where drivers can turn into the road without stopping to let pedestrians cross and there was no refuge in the middle of the road in which I could stand.

If you ever come back, know that all cars must stop for pedestrians regardless of where they are. Not to say you should jaywalk during heavy traffic or dart out from behind cover though, that's just dangerous.

>>35303691
>europoors can't even handle walking through traffic
What a surprise

I live in a major city (San Diego), alongside LA and San Francisco we have the 'best' public transportation in the state. You know how long it would take me to reach my high school/university? 1 hour. How long does it take to make the same travel on car (assuming little traffic) 20 mins.

If you're using public transportation here, you're thought of as just poor or retarded.

>>35303707
I forgot to >quote

Bed phoneposting is hard

>>35303670
Imagine it it varies a lot depending location. There are two buses that come near me. They each go to a different city. The problem is that I can't get anywhere other than those two cities or anything on the way there, and I really don't like going to them.

>>35303691
You're talking about shitty driving and something illegal. Pedestrians always have right of way, even when jaywalking, you must wait for them. But you're right, there is no 'refuge' in the middle of streets. Again, you're not supposed to walk across streets, often, outside of metro areas.

When are we going to get personalized helicopters so we can just forget about roads altogether?

>>35303723
It's my dream to live in LA one day, but I know it's a bad I draw since I can't drive.

File: 7749393.jpg (49KB, 500x598px) Image search: [Google]

49KB, 500x598px

>american
>29
>can't drive
>have too much anxiety to ever learn to drive
>live in a shitty suburb area
>nothing around here
>only places I can walk to are a Publix (45 minute walk) and a couple of gas stations
>have a job working at the Publix
>been working there 11 years
>buy all my food from Publix
>buy anything else I need online
>parents won't drive me into the city because they claim I make the car smell
>for 11 years I've left the exact area of house-path to work-Publix exactly 3 times
>once was a hospital visit after I sat on my mother and dislocated her knee
>one was a family trip to Disneyland, I was only invited because my little brother likes hitting me and wanted to do it on the rides
>one was when I went for a walk round the block, didn't enjoy it
>tfw life is literally this tiny area

It really is a small fucking world for me. I used to have a globe in my bedroom but I felt it was laughing at me so I sat on it and flattened it. I can't even play non linear vidya without having anxiety because I feel so unsure when I have an open world. I can't even play Breath of the Wild, it feels so open that I just picked a random market in the game, and I pretend it is Publix and just walk back and forth.

>>35303767
Lrn2drive

>>35303783
I did that once. Can't do it again.

>>35302908
The same with having your own apartment or living outside your family house while attending college. Amerifats are amazing. Youre calling yourselves god tier although youre just a nation citizens wanting to show themselves off all the time

>>35303767
Have you ever been there? LA is one of Earth's armpits -- one of the absolute worst cities. No one who knows SoCal would ever tell you that LA is a livable place. It's a place where you go on a weekend to party/club and then promptly leave afterward.

>>35303790
Did you kill someone the first time?

>>35303795
The closest university from me was total shit, so I had to move states entirely to go to school and then immediately drop out due to college being so expensive.

>>35303779
>sat on my mother and dislocated her knee
What

File: IMAG0004.jpg (651KB, 3263x1951px) Image search: [Google]

651KB, 3263x1951px

>all these salty nocar eurofaggots itt

>>35303790
What's your hang-up? I'm curious because I had driving anxiety. Then I got over it. Now I like to drive.

>>35303872
Anxiety. I have a license, but getting behind the wheel just freaks me out.

I don't get American "I have to buy a new car no matter what and I have to sign away 10 years of income to pay for it no matter what!" mindset

>>35303909
Yeah. I have GAD and panic disorder, so I relate.

My mom tried to get me to learn how to drive, at 20, in her shitty old van in a major city with freeways. The thing was awful for driving handling and visibility. I had to exit the freeway on the next exit, and tell her 'I'm never doing this again.'

So 3 years went by, in the meantime I exercised, lost weight, got medication for my anxiety, one in particular, propranolol working wonders, and then I just started driving. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I had to drive myself to college, it was embarrassing to have my mom pick me up. I went without phone service for a stretch, and one time I had to ask strangers if I could use their phone, and I got turned down by like 3 people, before one volunteered. That feeling of shame and indignation made me want to become independent. I saved up for a car. Bought a very decent compact SUV from a family member. SUVs are great, the thing is tall and has great visibility. I started driving with confidence, and probably because I got better over the 3 years, and because of my shame of being a pleb who couldn't drive, I really got into it and started enjoying driving. Soon I was going out for drives. I've driven from San Diego to LA back and forth. No problemo. No longer fear it. Shitty drivers piss me off ,however.

So yeah man, I dunno, if you can get over your hump. But I came from a similar place. It can be done.

File: 1486945591956.jpg (19KB, 480x488px) Image search: [Google]

19KB, 480x488px

>>35303164
nope. A lot of people are retarded...BUT no one here even mentioned a scooter. Everyone is too embarrassed to buy a scooter or some shit. Literally see like 1 or 2 a day.

>>35303935
Cars are status symbols. Everyone has to own one, and people like to show off. Your criticism most directly applies to wageslaves who shouldn't be signing off 25-30k cars they can't afford. Half their cheque goes to the car payment. Those people are fucking stupid.

I paid for my car in cash. But I'm probably in a rare minority who isn't retarded.

>>35303935
>10 years of income

What shit country are you in? Half a years income will get you a car that's good for 15 years. Sucks to be you I guess

File: long-commutes.png (36KB, 494x350px) Image search: [Google]

36KB, 494x350px

>>35302908
America is big. Nearly as big as all of the European countries combined.

There is a lot of space in between cities. Cars make this space much easier to traverse, instead of waiting to pay for taxis/uber/subways/buses.

Within the big cities, public transit is more viable; but unless you want to spend your entire life there, having a car adds convenience.

The experience you may have had living in a fairly small country can't really compare.