Columnist Susan Snyder: Driving home a point

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 | 8:10 a.m.

A co-worker spotted one of the stickers on the rear window of my car last week and thought it was a joke.

" 'God grant me the courage to sell my car.' What's that all about?" she asked.

I spent $396 on new brakes a day earlier and will pay a car insurance premium this week that would cover the costs of the New England vacation I am taking later this month.

What part of "sell my car" does she not understand?

If we all sat down and added up how much owning and driving a motor vehicle costs us, we might be surprised. Fortunately, researchers at the Surface Transportation Policy Project in Washington, D.C., did the math for us.

Last month the nonprofit group released a study that figured average household transportation costs in 28 metropolitan areas. Las Vegas wasn't included, but Phoenix was. And demographers typically compare our area to Phoenix.

Phoenix residents spend an average $8,910 on transportation annually, which represents 24.6 percent of the household's average expenses. It's the study's second-highest amount. (Tampa, Fla., ranked first with an average $9,292.)

You know, $8,000 would buy a pretty sweet vacation. It also would make a pretty big dent in a down payment for a home. And that, the study says, is one of the most compelling reasons for finding ways to get people out of their cars.

"For many low and middle income families, the costs of owning and maintaining several vehicles may even be prohibiting their ability to own a home," the July 22 report says.

Sprawling neighborhoods that are the development model for much of the Southwest push families to the urban area's edges, farther from schools, work and other services.

We build more and bigger roads hoping to accommodate the ever-growing commuter population, and end up with a community designed for cars rather than people.

Local transportation costs have increased to three miles the minimum distance a high school student will have to live from school to catch a school bus. Most will choose to drive in their own vehicles or ride with friends or parents.

The latter is a car pool of necessity, not choice. We don't have many choices.

In the Las Vegas Sun's "Where I Stand" column on Aug. 5, Jacob Snow, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, said $2.7 billion will be spent on transportation improvements here over the next 25 years.

He mentioned adoption of design standards that call for wider outside lanes to accommodate bicyclists and sidewalks free from obstruction. These are not merely lines on a map for Snow, who often rides a bicycle to work.

But such plans can change. Municipalities may seek waivers whenever it's inconvenient to accommodate something other than a car -- waivers that teeter on the shoulders of elected officials who approve them or don't.

Keep an eye on an upcoming proposal regarding Industrial Road, Oakey Avenue and Charleston Boulevard. All are popular bicycle routes that are scheduled for major upgrades and fall under the wider lane standards.

Forget selling our cars. God grant us the courage to demand we have the option.

We can't afford not to.