People will generally tell you they like driving.

For some, it’s the only quiet/alone time they get in a day - and they like it. For others, they can access a lot of things they enjoy with their car - and they like it. Some restore cars as a hobby, others book time on a race track to go fast, others mod their cars.

In general, many people are socially connected to a community through their cars.

For many people, it’s a domain where they are in charge. This is a big one. Driving a car feels like freedom to a lot of people - and autonomy is so important to feeling fulfilled in life. The freedom aspect is a big part of car advertising - and you know they researched that before they made the cars=freedom commercials. Car commercials are telling us the highlights of what people like about cars.

Except a lot of people really don’t like driving.

Objectively, driving makes a lot of people feel bad, negative, violent, scared, and angry. Objectively, it’s one of the most dangerous and deadly activities we can get involved with in 2023.

Some people become completely different when they are behind the wheel. Road rage is real. I’ve seen very friendly people scream and swear when they are driving. Some people are scared of driving - and while they are driving, they are dealing with a lot of extra baggage. It can be very uncomfortable.

For many people today, the closest they will ever come to death involves a vehicle. Either they are inside the vehicle or outside it - but the danger itself hinges on the vehicle’s weight and speed. Those physics are really the crux of the car’s threat; that’s where the death is. Dealing with that risk is a mental process - but physical reality overrides mindset. For some people, when a deadly vehicular reality does assert itself, the experience ruins their enjoyment of driving.

By the numbers, Halloween is the deadliest day for children in North America - and just about all of the excess deaths on that day are attributable to vehicles - and most specifically to the speed and weight of the vehicle.

In recent years, vehicles have become weapons of terror. This is a grim reality Toronto knows all too well.

For virtually 99.9% of human existence, the prospect of moving with the speed and weight of a vehicle was inconceivable; literally, physically impossible prior to the invention of the internal combustion engine. This turn of events - the harnessing of physical possibilities - has created a historically unprecedented and unique affordance for new human experience.

Suffice to say, cars are a mixed bag of extreme emotions, ranging from the actual-worst experiences of many peoples’ lives, which they will remember forever, to the peak experiences that will also be remembered forever. It’s hard to grasp how weird this all is because, for the most part, we were born into it.

As Prometheus gave fire to humanity, we have inherited an immense power and responsibility through this technology. The lived vehicle experience can be intoxicating and terrifying. I have known many people who have reached incredible highs with their cars - and they have loved it, too.

Ask any Toronto driver:

• Do you like driving on the Gardiner, Lakeshore, the DVP, or the 401?
• Do you think other Toronto drivers are skilled or inept?
• Do you think other Toronto drivers are friendly or assholes?
• Do you like your commute?
• Do you think traffic levels are comfortable?
• Do you think car insurance rates are reasonable?