Welcome to the em space, a staff writer's commentary page with observations about life experiences in Logan County and beyond. Thank you for visiting.

- Mary Krallmann


How are you getting along with your
 horseless carriage?

Like a traveler specializing in side trips, I started by asking e-mail questions about the current prevalence of white vehicles, moved on to viewing specifications for several new cars and the results of safety tests on recent models, and unexpectedly arrived at a site dedicated to the Remember Bliss Campaign. The organization did not seek my vote, but suggested observing a moment of silence at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 13.

Personally, I don't expect to be in my car then (I did most of my current driving over the weekend), so I don't plan to pull over and shut off the engine to mark the occasion. Besides, I think it would cause more problems than it would solve on busy roads such as Woodlawn in Lincoln.

Instead, in various moments of silence, in front of the computer screen and elsewhere, I've been reviewing my feelings and choices about cars, driving and other modes of transportation. It's a complicated, changing relationship influenced by factors such as my parents’ travel habits and my own transportation experiences as a passenger, pedestrian, bicyclist, car owner and driver.

Since I did not remember Henry Bliss, I had to read about him first. He died 101 years ago. He had lived in New York City and worked in the real estate business. When he stepped from a trolley on Sept. 13, 1899, he was struck by an electric taxicab, which reportedly swerved to avoid a truck. His death the next day was the first recorded fatality in connection with an automobile in America.

Since then, automobile accidents have been one of the causes of death in our society. In addition, our use of cars has radically changed how we live.

The fact that Henry Bliss rode a trolley sounded familiar because my mother grew up in an Illinois city where there were streetcars. If she didn't walk, she went by streetcar, or later by bus, to wherever she needed to go.

In contrast, car travel has always been at least a small part of my life, though I didn’t spend much time in the car during my student years, and I’ve never enjoyed being in heavy traffic. School and church were just a few steps away. Groceries were also within walking distance after we moved to a town. Even during my first year of full-time employment, I lived without a car in a suburban setting.

Then, with a job change, I became a commuter, adding close to 50 miles to the odometer every workday in all kinds of weather. I was able to carpool to some extent, but driving was critically essential to my way of life.

The next time I needed to find a different place to live, I decided it would be easier to live near my work, and I switched to commuting mostly on foot. Since then, car travel has become more of a special event.

So, in a car-oriented society, I have a mixed view of personal transportation. I hope there will always be a niche where people can live a reasonably independent life even if they can't depend on driving (for medical reasons, for example) or if they choose not to. Perhaps working from home by computer will help to make this a continuing option.

Present concerns about gas prices encourage all of us to reassess the transportation choices we make. We do have opportunities to make new decisions about where we live, where we work and how we travel.

With more than 100 years of cars behind us, I'm not sure how our popular forms of transportation may change or how fast the developments will occur. We can't always see around the next curve in the road. However, as a nation of car drivers, we’d do well in our transportation planning to apply the basic outlook we were taught when we learned to drive: Keep your eyes on the road ahead and adjust accordingly.

 

[Mary Krallmann]      

 

Links to transportation advocacy organizations:

http://www.rememberbliss.org/links.html

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