The automobile has many advantages. Above all, it offers people freedom to go where they want to go, when they want to go there. The basic purpose of a motor vehicle is to get from point A to point B as cheaply, quickly, and safely as possible. However, to most people, cars are also personal fantasy or dream machines that serve as symbols of power, success, speed, excitement, and adventure. In addition, much of the world's economy is built on producing motor vehicles and supplying roads, services, and repairs for those vehicles. Half of the world's paychecks are auto related. In the United States, for example, one of every six dollars spent and one of every six nonfarm jobs are connected to the automobile or related industries, such as oil, steel, plastics, automobile services, and highway(otoban) construction.

In spite of their advantages, motor vehicles have many harmful effects on human lives and on air, water, land, and wildlife resources. The automobile may be the most destructive machine ever invented. Though we tend to deny it, riding in cars is one of the most dangerous things we do in our daily lives. Since 1885, when Karl Benz built the first automobile, almost 18 million people have been killed by motor vehicles. Every year, cars and trucks worldwide kill an average of 250.000 people-as many as were killed in the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki-and injure and permanently disable ten million more. Half of the world's people will be involved in auto accident at some time during their lives. In America alone, almost three million people have been killed on the highways-about twice the number of Americans killed on the battlefield an all U.S. wars-since the automobile was introduced(tanitilmak). In addition to the tragic loss of lives or causalities, these accidents cost American society about $60 billion annually(yillik olarak) in lost income and in insurance(sigorta), administrative, and legal expenses.

By providing almost unlimited mobility(hareketlilik), automobiles and highways have been the biggest factor leading to urban spraw in the United States and other countries with large livable land areas. This spread of cities has made it increasingly difficult for subways(metro),trams(tramvay), and busses to be economically worthwhile(deger) alternatives to the private car. Los Angeles, for example, is a global symbol of urban sprawl built around a vast(genis) network of freeways. An estimated one-third(1/3) of the city's total area and two third's(2/3) of its downtown area are devoted(-e adamak) to roads, car parks, petrol stations, and other automobile related uses. Each day, its network of streets and freeways is crowded with more than five million vehicles, which are responsible for 85% of both the air pollution and the noise polltion in this urban area.

If present trends continue, U.S motorists will spend an average of two years of their lifetimes in traffic jams. Companies are losing billions of dollars because many of their employees can't get to work on time, can't find a place to park when they do get there.

City streets today are not the as they were 100 years ago. In 1907, the average speed of horse-drawn vehicles through New York City was 18.5 kilometers per hour. Today cars and trucks with the potential power to go over 160 kilometers per hour creep(sürünmek, cok yavas gitmek) along New York City streets at an average speed of 8 kilometers per hour. Streets that used to be for people are now for cars. Pedestrians(yayalar) and people riding bicycles in the street are subjected noise, pollution, stress, and danger.

Motor vehicles are the largest source of air pollution in the world, producing a haze of smog over the world's cities. Even with strong laws requiring anti-pollution controls on automobiles in the United States, automobiles continue to produce at least 50% of the country's air pollution. How much more do automobiles contribute to air pollution in other countries with weaker or no regulations?