How America Got Hooked On Cars

Americans drive much more than in any other country – twice as much as the average German, for example. And the actual experience of driving isn’t quite as romantic as the image. Drivers are often stuck in traffic. Cars pump out pollution. Less walking means less exercise. Cars also can kill people. Some skeptics say, indeed–cars are awesome. But they got a lot of help from favorable policies and strong lobbies. CNBC spoke with some researchers and looked at numbers to get the full picture of why Americans became so dependent on cars.

Chapters:
0:00 - 01:37 Introduction
01:41 Chapter 1: A nation hooked on cars
03:47 Chapter 2: How we got here
08:00 Chapter 3: Cars are subsidized
11:32 Chapter 4: Solutions

Producer: Robert Ferris
Editor: Andrea Miller
Animation: Jason Reginato
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Additional footage: Getty Images

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How America Got Hooked On Cars

Post from CNBC on February 11, 2025

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