University of California Transportation Center

Cars have become the overwhelmingly favorite transportation mode in all the developing countries, and they're rapidly taking over in the rest of the world, as well. They've been one of the most powerful forces for economic and social change wherever they've been adopted, changing the ways we do business, the ways we live out our daily lives, and probably the ways we think. Like telephones, autos have the fantastic capability to shrink geographic distance, permitting people to maintain close contact with each other, even though they live miles apart.