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Book Cover
Book
Author Dunn, James A., 1943-

Title Driving forces : the automobile, its enemies, and the politics of mobility / James A. Dunn, Jr
Published Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, [1998]
©1998

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  388.3210973 Dun/Dft  AVAILABLE
Description x, 230 pages ; 23 cm
Contents 1. The Automobile and Its Enemies: The Making of a Policy Vanguard -- 2. Promoting Highways: Trust Funds and Taxes -- 3. Regulating the Auto Industry: Washington versus Detroit -- 4. Restoring Urban Transit: Between Protection and Rejuvenation -- 5. Intercity Passenger Rail: Subsidies, Speed, and Suspense -- 6. "Rationalizing" Sprawl: Can Access Be Improved by Restricting Mobility? -- 7. Toward a Politics of Mobility: "The Auto, Plus"
Summary This book presents the controversial view that, for the vast majority of Americans, the automobile is not the problem, but the solution to transportation needs. While acknowledging the automobile's significant drawbacks, the author refutes much of the shrill rhetoric and doomsday predictions of its opponents. He takes a skeptical look at the major policy initiatives to tax, regulate, and provide alternatives to the automobile, pointing out that any policies designed to remove Americans from their cars without offering them a superior means of mobility are "worse than useless" and doomed to failure. The book offers suggestions and guidelines for politically realistic initiatives that preserve the benefits of the automobile while building public support for policies that will be less harmful for energy use and the environment
To its critics, the automobile is a voracious consumer of irreplaceable energy resources, a leading polluter of the environment, and a destroyer of cohesive communities
Analysis Environmental impact
Government expenditure
Government regulation
Motor vehicle industry
Motor vehicles
Overseas item
Public transport
Rail travel
Roads
Taxes
United States
Urban transport
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-222) and index
Subject Local transit -- Government policy -- United States.
Transportation and state -- United States.
Transportation, Automotive -- Government policy -- United States.
Author Brookings Institution.
LC no. 98025420
ISBN 0815719639 (paperback: alk. paper)
0815719647 (cloth : alk. paper)