The Car Society (Alternative Transport Strategy for the Twenty-First Century)

Winfried Wolf examines current policies on transport in Europe and North America and assesses the future for road and rail systems in the West. He analyses the social costs of our current transport system in the context of health, disintegration of lifestyle and ecology. Through a detailed comparison of the costs of passenger and goods transport – both road and rail – he demonstrates how the forces behind the relentless drive to increase motorization are rooted in the requirements of the market and multinational concerns, rather than in human need or social development. Wolf makes a penetrating examination of some of Europe's major transport projects, such as Eurotunnel, high-speed trains, Alpine tunnels, and Scandinavian bridge and tunnel links, as well as rail privatization. He also examines the ecological and social consequences of mass motorization in the developing world, the former-Soviet bloc and China, and considers alternatives to present transport structures.