Cars are by far the most popular method of transportation in the United States, but they are also the most dangerous. So why do cars continue to dominate American transportation infrastructure despite the known benefits of alternative methods? In Saving Ourselves From Big Car, former journalist and author David Obst develops the concept of “Big Car.” Drawing on years of research, he unpacks Big Car’s past to present a game plan for crafting a more sustainable and equitable transportation future. In this interview with Renee Bales, Obst describes the Big Car industry and lifestyle and its negative impact on society, and offers advice on how consumers can fight back.

Renee Bales: In the book, you argue that the auto industry is part of a much wider network of organizations and interests. What is “Big Car,” and what other industries does it include?

David Obst: Big Car is a confederation of industries such as gasoline, auto manufacturing, car insurance, lobbyists, asphalt producers, tire producers, and others, who work together to push a lifestyle that has made us all dependent on their products.

The vested interests that make up Big Car work together in many ways. First, the civil engineers who plan our roads measure off the neighborhoods where they will build them. Most throughways run through poor neighborhoods. Next, the companies that provide the raw materials to make these roads get very generous deals.

The media’s coverage of Big Car has been overly slanted to make the automobile the answer to people’s dreams. Finally, those in charge of enforcing standards and regulations on the industry have been part of a revolving door process that virtually ensures Big Car gets away with whatever they wish.

Bales: You’ve described Big Car’s impact on society as a problem “hidden in plain sight.” Can you give an example of something most people don’t question about car culture but probably should?

Obst: Big Car, in the last seventy years, has killed more humans than World War II did. The prevailing technology for these new machines was the internal combustion engine. These engines, however, did not burn gasoline cleanly. Cars would backfire, knock, and not run smoothly. In 1923, General Motors and Standard Oil developed an additive that helped address this problem. They called their new product Ethyl, and the miracle additive to gasoline was lead. The result of their being able to sell that for the next seventy years without any journal, research lab, scientist, or government agency seeing their data has been a devastating public health crisis and millions of deaths from lung disease.

Electric vehicles are also problematic in that they are all powered by lithium batteries. They must be replaced every few years and contain large amounts of lead. According to the World Health Organization, these batteries are responsible for more than 75 percent of all deaths caused by lead poisoning today.

Bales: The book points out that marginalized communities often suffer the worst effects of car-centric policy, from pollution to lack of mobility. Can you share a few examples?

Obst: Big Car has had a devastating impact on low-income Americans in two particularly egregious ways: how we decide where to build thousands of new roads and predatory car insurance policies that targeted people of color. The road system in the United States is one of the most significant public works projects since the construction of the pyramids. The lasting impact of these decisions was the carving up of established neighborhoods and the flight of middle-class white people from city centers to the suburbs. This systemic change drastically reduced the amount of tax revenue cities could collect and drove retail shops from downtown to suburban malls. And until a few decades ago, people of color were not able to get car insurance unless they worked with predatory lenders who would only allow them to insure top-of-the-line cars such as Cadillacs.

Bales: Your professional background is in film, journalism, and publishing. What inspired you to do an in-depth investigation of the car industry?

Obst: This book began while I was driving with my granddaughter in Los Angeles and we got stuck in one of its usual traffic jams. I said to her, “I hate traffic jams.” She looked back at me and said, “Pops, you are the traffic jam.”

Having grown up in Los Angeles, I’d never considered how this had happened. So, I began to investigate how cars had taken over my city. I first watched a presentation that General Motors had produced for the 1939 World’s Fair. Called “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” it depicted what Los Angeles would look like in 1960. I’d grown up in that city, and it was nothing like the optimistically utopian world they had promised. What had gone wrong?

For the next three and a half years, I investigated how what I had once thought of as the “American Dream” had become the world’s nightmare.

Working with an organization as respected as Columbia Business School Publishing has meant that I have to back every opinion in the book with hard facts. The book contains almost three hundred footnotes, compiled over four years of research. The story has been there for decades, but this is the first time all of the dots have been connected.

Bales: One emerging anti-Big Car movement you highlight in the book is Mobility as a Service (MaaS). What is MaaS, and why does its model stand out to you as particularly promising?

Obst: MaaS is one of many movements that people all over the world have joined to try to limit the addiction that humans now have to using private automobiles to travel. It continues to grow, and the lessons learned in each community are quickly shared and adopted by others. Only by discovering how we can save money and lives by breaking free of this addiction can we ensure the continued survival of our species.

Bales: The book lays out in striking detail how extensively Big Car is backed by corporate and political power. What steps can those who feel powerless against this system take to advocate for change?

Obst: Corporate power is dependent on profits. If these profits are made without consideration of the long-term effects they have on consumer safety, the same irresponsible methods will persist until it’s too late for us to save ourselves.

Many great minds are now putting together alternatives to using our own cars to get places. I profile ten cities in the book. For example:

• • • In West Palm Beach, Florida, a square has been built to encourage people to come and shop without needing to bring their cars. As curbs were removed, a new pattern of gray and white pavers gave visitors the feeling that they were in an enlarged town square.
    • In Helsinki, Finland, the entire metropolitan transit timetable has been downloaded to a simple app, allowing riders to know precisely when their bus, tram, or trolley will arrive next.
    • In Taipei, Taiwan, a system of millions of easily accessible bicycles provides transport to all parts of the city without the need for a car.
    • Copenhagen is now one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world—almost half of its population commutes to university, school, and work by bike. The city is lined with countless well-used bike paths and cycle tracks. The result is that Copenhagen has become one of the best examples on the planet of transit transportation working without the private car.
    • Salt Lake City, Utah, has built a shopping mall in its city center that people don’t need a vehicle to use. And the list goes on.

These communities are experimenting with everything from car-free zones to MaaS networks, electrified public transit, and walkable, livable cityscapes—signaling that a different kind of future is not only possible but already in motion.

Bales: Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share about this topic?

Obst: This book should be a wake-up call to all who read it. It should encourage them to find organizations in their communities that are already working to save the environment and offer their help. If we can get enough of us to work together to find an alternative to “Big Car,” we may still have time to save our grandchildren and great-grandchildren from an unthinkable future.

If we don’t stop Big Car, then Big Car will stop the human race.