Transportation
Is America Breaking Up With Cars?
America hit peak car ownership in 2006. The numbers have been declining since—until recently.
Ah, 2006! It was a simpler time. Justin Timberlake had brought “SexyBack” to everyone’s iPods. Big Momma’s House 2 was in movie theaters. Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth magically convinced everyone that global warming was real. And the weirdest political scandal of the year involved the vice-president shooting his friend in the face while quail hunting.
That was also the year I got my driver’s license in high school: I inherited my family’s grey 1990 Subaru Legacy and officially joined some 202 million other drivers on U.S. roads.