BY MATTHEW MERITT

As frustrating as the COVID Lockdown has been, one thing I was happy to do less was use the car. With more done at home, I’d go days between drives and weeks between fill ups. 

As a result, instead of speeding by my surroundings as I combusted along from place to place, I could take them in on foot during more frequent walks with my family. 

Even so, the car was still present – not in itself but in my very surroundings. We walked along the side of a street, not on a sidewalk. I realized that as things recovered, I’d go back to using the garage door far more than our front door. Though biking seems a fairly popular activity in our vicinity, I cannot help a bit of apprehension when I see those daring souls cycling along various state routes as every manner of mechanical contraption grinds past.

When it comes to transportation, the car has priority and everything is designed to its scale, not human scale. The idea of walking for anything beyond exercise – say, with a destination like work, shopping, a recreation area or visiting friends – doesn’t seem to be part of the way things are.