[pleasecalllater]

I'm always wondering what about people with disabilities, older people with problems with walking, pregnant women, families with four kids, etc.

Sometimes the public transport for such people is problematic and using taxi all the time is too expensive. Total banning cars makes a great space for the healthy ones, the rest is happily ignored. And this is sad.

I like decreasing the number of cars, not forbidding them at all.

[99052882514569]

>people with disabilities, older people with problems with walking, pregnant women

Are precisely the kinds of people less likely to be able to drive. Accessible and convenient public transit is a better option for them, provided of course that it's accessible and convenient throughout their journey - that means sidewalks, intersections, transit stops, building access, etc.

If families with 4 kids don't need a vehicle at all, it's a huge financial benefit for them. Here in Canada a mini-boat on wheels large enough to accommodate such a family is friggin' expensive. Cities tend to have free or very cheap tickets for kids, so if you can get away with doing commutes by transit and have a Corolla for weekend errands and groceries that you don't have to shove all 4 into, you win $1000s every year.

[Valgrim]

I'd like to add another thing to consider: good urbanism, specifically mixed-use development, which reduce the distances immensely.

I live in Montreal and I use my old used "mini-boat on wheels" maybe twice a month to see my family outside the city. I intend to sell it actually. I travel to work on public transport because most of the city is covered 24/7 with a pretty acceptable bus and metro.

Everything is close enough that I can simply walk, even in winter. There are 5 schools, 4 parks, 3 pharmacies, 2 grocery stores, a bunch of shops and restaurants, two medical clinics, two metro entrances, several of my friends, etc, all within 15 minutes on foot.

And I don't even live in a "dense" area. It's actually considered a food desert compared to the rest of the city.

[Xylakant]

> I like decreasing the number of cars, not forbidding them at all.

No one plans to.

That aside, cars also pose major problems to all those groups you mention. Elderly people feel unsafe driving and unsafe walking because of cars. They're the primary victims of car-caused accidents. Elderly people in bad health can also be a danger to others when driving.

Kids cannot go anywhere on their own - in large parts because traffic is a killer for them, too. This places a large burden on families, as the parents need to drive them everyplace.

Nearly all of the groups you mention would be better served if you'd remove cars and use the space to improve public transit. For example using dedicated bus lines - improving both speed and - more importantly - reliability. Or build tram lines.

[burfog]

With or without traffic, those groups do not feel safe out on the streets of San Francisco. They are easy prey for bad people. They don't handle the hills well; they might fall and break a hip.

Public transportation isn't safe either, even before the latest elderly-killing virus. Cars work. People too weak to drive can have family members drive them around.

[astura]

It's much safer and easier to navigate around in a wheelchair without cars zooming by honking and splashing you.

A world designed around cars is extremely hostile to the elderly, disabled, and children.

[zip1234]

Dangerous to all people not in the cars--those people are just affected more.

[mumblemumble]

Parent here. I would love better public transit in more places. Herding the family around on buses and trains is relatively easy, and the kids enjoy it. It's visiting grandparents out in the suburbs that sucks. Cars are expensive enough as it is, and cars big enough to accommodate a family of more than four can be a real financial hit.

Back when I lived in a town that had a car-free street, it seemed like the people at the retirement home on that mall had it fairly good. Even the folks with limited mobility were still out on the sidewalk, living in the world and interacting with the wider community. Compare to my grandmother who's living in an area with no sidewalks. She basically never goes outside - can't go outside - except for brief moments when going to and from the car. It's a life without much sunlight. It's bleak.

My suspicion is that a lot of the fewer cars whataboutism comes from having never known anything different, and therefore being stuck imagining that a world with fewer cars would be the kind of environment they're used to, minus the cars, and not much else. It can be so much more than that, though. It's amazing how much great stuff a community has to forego in order to make room for all the cars. They take up so much space. Physically, but also financially and psychologically.

[crystaldev]

> families with four kids

We're talking about San Francisco here.