But it's also the amount of driving that surprises me. Me 9000 has
done 100k miles in 11 years. Perhaps the US is a larger country so
people have to drive more. They also have drive-in cinemas, burger
bars, everything and I've heard that many people live their lives in
their cars?
We have a pronounced car culture in the US, in which all other forms
of transportation are seen not as alternatives but as impediments to
driving: pedestrians, cyclists, buses, trains, etc. Many American's
private policy is to avoid personal exertion and use the car at all
times, even to drive to the health club for exercise.
Our transportation policy tends to be centered on moving cars rather
than moving people and goods. It's not unusual for people to have a
40 mile (64 km) one-way commute to work. Do that 250 times a year and
you've got 20,000 miles right there. On top of that, places like
supermarkets and doctor's offices are often unapproachable except by
car or by risking your life to get there on foot or by bike.
However, America is not unique. Wherever people buy cars, they tend
to develop this behavior pattern. My wife's relatives in Denmark have
developed this (despite the aggressive taxation on cars there) and
this is also becoming a phenomenon in China as people become more
affluent and can afford to buy a car. Much of Europe seems to be
struggling with how to reduce driving; America has not yet confronted
this and prefers instead to spend hundreds of billions of dollars
building roads that are already obsolete by the time they are
completed.
My area got its first modern light rail system, all of 8 miles long.
Initial ridership was hoped to be 9,500 people per day and twice that
by the end of the year; actual ridership was near 20,000 per day in
the first week of operation! Perhaps there's hope for a more rational
transportation system after all, even here.
Through it all, I try to ride my bike to work when I can and
consolidate my driving trips as much as possible. My 1990 240 has
only 138,000 miles on it, 34,000 of which I have put on in 2 1/2 years
of ownership. My wife's 1990 240 just topped 200,000 miles, but it
had 184,000 when we bought it.