Sometimes when I’m forced to stand there, and especially if there’s one of those huge, militaristically branded cars, I glance at the driver’s face. And then, if I’m honest, my consideration begins to evaporate, and I slip back into seeing the world through a driver’s eyes again. But the greater the intervals between driving, the more strongly I feel I don’t want to see the world through driver’s eyes any more. Buildings, gardens, trees, flowers, people’s faces – the enormous ecology of city life is there to be studied up close as I move slowly through it. In this way, cars divide us from the environment, whether or not we are in them.

Source: The Irish Times March 28, 2026 07:32 UTC