“I despair, too, at the increasingly fortress mentality that many drivers seem to have. The depressing rise of SUVs is probably responsible for this. Drivers feel safe and cocooned from the world around them, and with that seems to come a lack of regard and thoughtfulness for those around them.
Yes, climate control, double glazing and a high seating positions can be wonderful things, but you cease to be part of the world around you, observing what’s going on outside with a disinterested lack of engagement. In an older car without those creature comforts, you drive with the windows open – you hear the sounds, smell the fragrances, and feel part of things. As such, you lose that imperious sense of isolation that leads you to lose sight of the wildlife and humanity that surrounds you.”
— Keith Adams, AROnline (2023)
RE:SOURCES
- Adams, Keith; 2023. “Blog: I’m falling out of love with driving.” AROnline. Posted March 6.
In the U.S. there are twice as many drivers than when I go my license in the 1960’s.
There are four times as many cars on the road. There is roughly the same number of miles of road/highways. Many or even most drivers are angry, in a hurry, on their cellphones, driving behemoth vehicles, distracted, and speeding. All in all no “fun” driving anywhere. When I was a kid my dad would take us out for a drive in the country on Sundays. Now, you just want to stay home and off the highways.
Except for the ride height, there isn’t really much difference between today’s SUVs and the broughams of the 1970s.
People did not buy Caprice Classics, LTD Landaus, Ninety-Eight Regencys, New Yorker Broughams and Continental Mark Vs to drive around with the windows open and “feel part of things.” I believe that someone is romanticizing the past.
And driving in urban areas has never been particularly pleasant from an enthusiast’s standpoint. This dates back to…the 1920s. (In some respects, it’s better today than it was in the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to improvements in roads. At least around here.) There are still plenty of rural areas around here (southcentral Pennsylvania) where it is possible to take an enjoyable drive at one’s chosen pace.
I tend to agree with all the above comments. Driving a stick shift really helps with driver pleasure with me but I drive on a lot of rural roads with the windows down as much as I can. I have a 2017 Audi A4 Quattro 6-speed, I believe it was the last stick shift car that Audi sent to the USA.
Yeah, drive with the windows down at 74mph. Or, sit at the stop light with some car playing BOOM BOOM BOOM on his 10 speaker stereo. Or, come out our way and take a country drive past the feedlot, or get a window full of whatever the spring dive bombers are spreading on the fields. Things aren’t like they used to be. In fact, they never were.
l do not agree with the author. Cheaper and effective air conditioning popularized the closing of all windows. Ubiquitous automatic transmissions made driving a car less engaging (please pardon the pun). The vehicles used by crazy lane-weaving, speeding, chance-taking-with-MY-life-too drivers seldom seem to be SUVs, but more commonly are Jeep Wranglers of any age, poorly-looking small Asian tuner cars, often Volkswagen Golfs, sometimes Teslas, plus BMWs of any age/condition and high-powered motorcycles. I fear that the choice of driving style is more often just a factor of youthful convictions of living forever, aggressive personalities and unthinking total disregard of others and the consequences of being potentially fatally stupid.
Happily, fine secondary roads leading to pleasant places near home are available to me, my much better half and my Studebaker any day the weather is nice, although denser and more “intense” growing urbanization is starting to make driving in my small town a little less of a pleasure. Winter snow/ice tires and marginal foot-operated “parking” brakes -which no longer function effectively as emergency brakes – make “handbrake” turns (still a worth-while skill) more difficult than in my old Beetle.
Having vacationed in central Florida by automobile recently gave me a rude taste of todays congested traffic. THIS is the environment that the recent ICE stop/start technology is made for. You spend LOOOONG times waiting in traffic. A current TV ad shows the simplicity of buying a car with a few “clicks” on your phone. Well, the good news is that you likely have the time to trade cars while waiting for a green light in Orlando! “Almost” the ultimate fun while driving!