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Cars are much better than they were a few decades ago—more comfortable, powerful and reliable. They are equipped with safety features like air bags and stuffed with CD players, satellite radios and talking navigation gizmos. Adjusted for consumers'rising buying power, the typical powerful new car costs less than one a generation ago.
現在的汽車比幾十年前的汽車要好很多——更舒服、功能更強大也更可靠。它們配備了安全裝置，比如安全氣澳，裝上了 CD播放器、衛星廣播和語音導航設施。隨著消費者購買力的日益增強，一輛動力強勁的新車比上一代人購車時的價格要低。
But in part because cars are so desirable and affordable, roads are increasingly clogged with traffic. Today in the United States, there are 230 million cars and trucks in operation and only 193 million licensed drivers—more vehicles than drivers! Studies by the Federal Highway Administration show that in the 30 largest cities, total time lost to traffic jams has almost quintupled since 1980.
然而部分原因是汽車如此誘人且價格合適，所以路上的車也越來越多?，F在在美國，有2.3 億汽車和貨車投入使用，但是只有1.93億有駕照的司機——車輛比司機要多！聯邦公路管理局的研究顯示，在30個最大的城市中，自1980年以來，因交通堵塞所損失的總時間幾乎增加了4倍。
Worse, prosperity has made possible the popularity of SUVs and the misnamed "light" pickup trucks, which now account for half of all new-car sales. Exempt from the fuel-economy standards that apply to regular cars, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks sustain American dependence on Persian Gulf oil. A new study in the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty showed that the rise in SUVs and pickup trucks "leads to substantially more fatalities" on the road.
更糟糕的是，繁榮興旺使得SUV和被誤稱為“輕”皮卡貨車的普及成為可能，現在這些車占新車總銷售量的一半。除了應用于普通汽車的燃料經濟性標準以外，運動型車輛和皮卡貨車使得美國持續依賴波斯灣的石油《風險和不確定性雜志》上刊載的一個新的研究表明，SUV和皮卡貨車的增加“導致了道路上更多的死亡事故”。
