Have you ever seen people get into a huff about losing parking spaces for a bike lane? Have you ever seen people loudly complain when the speed limit is lowered on their commute? Have you ever been around when people go on and on about how terrible traffic is while they hop into their vehicle for every single errand, no matter how close it is?

These people may be suffering from a increasingly common condition called Car Brain. This dreaded condition is what happens when you begin to see car dependent transportation as not just normal, but the correct and default way of travel for everyone (Or at least it should be). Your brain is warped so that you begin to prioritize highways and speed even if it results in more car crashes and pollution. You begin to see parking as sacred, so parking lots, garages and on-street parking is more important to you than building things like housing, even if the parking is unnecessary and wasteful. After all, a lack of parking spaces is a disaster, while a lack of affordable housing is none of your concern.

One of the post insidious parts of Car Brain is the stigmatization of people who don’t or can’t drive. You’ll look down on people who take public transportation, walk, or bike places and treat them with disdain. Their desires for safety, walkability and connectivity are secondary at best, if not completely irrelevant. The only thing that matters by the way, are your concerns.

They say: “Crossing the street is really dangerous at this intersection”

You reply: “No one in their right mind should be walking there in the first place”

They say: “The painted bike lane feels unsafe next to cars going 40mph”

You reply: “You should be grateful that you got a lane at all”

They say: “It’d be really nice if there were a bus stop in the neighborhood.

You reply: “No one rides the bus anymore. It’s a waste of my tax payer dollars”

And so on and so forth the argument continues. Be honest, you are probably all too familiar with these arguments and may even use some of them yourself. So the question is: how do you deal with Car Brain? First, you must recognize that those sufferers do not all have the same severity. Car Brain comes in stages.

Stage 1: I’m not opposed to walkability/biking/public transit, but cars must take priority here.

Stage 2: Non-Driving transportation may work in some areas, but won’t work here.

Stage 3: Driving must take priority everywhere, and if you don’t drive, you’re probably poor and your opinions don’t matter.

Stage 4: Non-drivers are theoretical, only drivers are real.

The way to combat Car Brain is exposure to well constructed, efficient and pleasant walking/biking and public transit infrastructure. Places that have this people-centric design are very popular even among the most severely warped stage 4 car brain. This is why people vacation to small towns in Europe, ski resort towns and even amusement parks like Disney World. They love the experience of quiet and safe pedestrian oriented cities, yet they vehemently argue against them when they return home. This is because they cannot disconnect the idea of pedestrian oriented infrastructure with vacation. Their everyday existence is a choice between the car-dependent suburbs with the occasional strip mall, versus the downtown full of parking lots and office buildings that die at 5pm.

A solution may be to turn sections of downtowns across the country into a copy of these people-centric designs. Starting even with a single side-street or two, you can add a protected bike lane, narrow the street from 3 lanes to 2, or add a median to accommodate safer crossing or a dedicated bus lane, etc. Now these steps are easier said than done, but progress must start somewhere, why not start it in areas of least resistance where people are already walking, biking and using public transit anyway. Once the Car Brained see that this type of design is possible and successfully making these neighborhoods more pleasant and vibrant not just in a far-flung vacation spots, but a mere few miles away, they may soften their views.

Well……Maybe.

For the Car Brained condition is a difficult one to dislodge from the mind.