An incisively critical idea on transportation in America, by Lewis Mumford, courtesy Wikipedia.

Mumford commonly criticized modern America's transportation networks as being 'monotechnic' in their reliance on cars. Automobiles become obstacles for other modes of transportation, such as walking, bicycle and light rail, because the roads they use consume so much space and are such a danger to people. Mumford explains that the thousands of maimed and dead each year as a result of automobile accidents are a 'ritual sacrifice' the American society makes because of its extreme reliance on highway transport."