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We should feel compassion towards addicts. Yes, even car addicts.
Sure, provided they show they want to make changes to the way they do things -- at the very least by not actively fighting tooth and nail against systemic measures that could free them of that addiction.
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You can call literally call anyone you know we all have cars here. If you don't know anyone at all you can taxi or Uber. In smaller towns you may even be able to call the police non emergency number and get help from a community officer type employee who has a car and does minor non police related stuff. Many many many things would have to fail before you need to ask a stranger and even in that case you would be hard pressed to not find help within the first couple people you ask.
My point is that this entire situation is a massive systemic failure. You shouldn't have to find yourself in a situation where your car breaking down means you're stuck at the grocery store with no way to get home unless someone deigns to come and get you -- hell, you shouldn't even need to drive to get groceries, any well-designed city would have multiple grocery stores within a few blocks regardless of where you live, and a dense public transit network and/or cycling infrastructure so you can get to the ones that are farther away.
Believe it or not, some people don't care to live in cities, and prefer the outskirts. Explain, how should a train station or a bike lane get me to the grocery store when I live on a farm?
I've been in the situation where my car broke down and I had no way to get home without someone deigning to get me. That's literally how life is when you're living out of town. One of my least favorite part about this comm and the sub before it is the sheer ignorance and unwillingness to acknowledge that a non-urban perspective exists, it comes across as arrogant, ignorant, and condescending.
This situation happened at a high-density gathering point (a grocery store) in a major city (Columbus, Ohio.) The people in the story didn't break down by the side of some lonely highway passing through the desert with no signs of civilization for a hundred kilometers either way. I am therefore speaking of systemic failures in major cities that render people in major cities stuck like this.
That said, I've been to (and briefly lived in) multiple tiny rural farming villages in the middle of nowhere in India that still had a bus stop and/or a train station within walking distance. When that isn't the case there are minivans or even livestock carts that get people to where they need to be going (those count as public transport too.) Public transit is literally how people (and their groceries) get around in the heartland. Y'all bring up this point of how not everyone lives in cities every single time -- we know. Americans aren't the only ones who live on farms or out of the way. We do, too, and we get by just fine without cars.
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In my country, most people who own a car are also members of a drivers' club where you pay a membership fee in exchange for being able to call them for assistance in situations like this (they might repair or tow your car). Is that not a thing in the US?
That sounds similar to AAA, pronounced “Triple A.” In the US, it’s an optional “club” that provides emergency road service to members. I’ve had to rely on it before, and recommend it for those who drive a used car (which can have unforeseen issues in the works.)
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It is, but they're expensive, and since owning a car is already a pretty expensive necessity not everyone has it.
American drivers are required by law to purchase car insurance, and "roadside assistance" as it's called is usually a mid or premium feature of said insurance
I see, car (liability) insurance is also mandatory here, but it's a separate thing from automobile club membership.
roadside assistance costs significantly more than the legal minimum amount of automotive insurance
i mean your insurance is supposed to cover the fees of tracting the car to the first garage, and pay you a taxi or whatever
isn't that a thing in Murica
American car insurance covers collision damage from other cars or external factors. It doesn't cover mechanical failures. You can get extended warranty coverage, both from your car dealer or from third parties, but this is usually not financially worthwhile.
oh. I do get coverage for all failures & replacement car for about 110€/month
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Uber exists. They could have easily spun up the app and called for a ride.
Buses also hit grocery stores or surrounding areas, often even in towns with limited public transit.
Also AAA is very widely used to tow/get a ride when your car breaks down
Y'all wilding out. Uber, lyft, AAA - those are paid services. If your car is randomly breaking down in a parking lot, you probably don't have a lot of money, people with money don't drive unreliable cars. I mean sure, maybe they left the dome light on for hours, but I doubt it.
Yes its insane you can't find affordable housing close to stores. Yes needing a car sucks.
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I’m assuming this lasy does not have much money at all. You can get road side assistance with your car insurance and they’ll come to you and get you taken care of. If its a dead battery then just use a jumper. Gone are the days of needing a second car for this. Its just a big rechargeable battery with jumper cables attached to it. If you don’t have these then you are either ignorant to their existence, can’t afford it, or just want to live on the edge. If you don’t have the money for it then thats fine. Times can be tough, I get it. If you do have the money for it, then don’t be dumb and pay for these things. Having simple car knowledge helps a lot yet so many in the US don’t know shit about cars
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I hate the impacts of cars too, and desperately want better transit options.
But we should maybe put up a sign for stories out of North America:
"North America is really really big. It sucks that it doesn't have better mass transit coverage, but that's still a genuinely hard problem to solve in rural North America."
Most folks in rural North America have stories both of being the rescued and being the rescuer when cars have broken down.
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Columbus, isn't that where that school shooting happened?
Do you have any idea how little it narrows it down?
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this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Fuck Cars
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