When the first Model T rolled off the Ford assembly line in 1908, it was impossible to predict how it would remake the United States. In those days, most people got around on foot, by bicycle, in horse-drawn carriages, or by streetcar. But in the decades that followed, car sales grew as the automotive lobby pushed for policies and investments to encourage their use while sidelining public transit.

All these decades later, people see suburban communities and personal vehicles as central pieces of American life — and that’s come with dangerous drawbacks.

In 2020, the National Safety Council estimated that cars killed 42,060 people in the United States — up 8 percent from 2019 — and recent years have seen a significant increase in pedestrian deaths. In addition, transportation accounts for 29 percent of US carbon emissions — more than half of which is from light-duty vehicles — and those emissions rose more than any other sector between 1990 and 2019. Cars also account for an additional 53,000 premature annual deaths.