I recently took a trip back to Tucson. I drove there from San Francisco. That’s a long drive (fourteen or so hours depending on the route that you take) but I had a sibling with me for at least part of the drive each way so it wasn’t so bad.

To be honest, I was kind of excited about driving. I gave up my car when I moved to San Francisco. Since I don’t drive daily anymore, driving has now become fun. The rental car was brand new, it was equipped with satellite radio and I got really lucky with low traffic both ways.

What I didn’t like was the driving that I had to actually do while I was back home. It feels like it takes forever to get anywhere in Tucson. The truth is that it takes me just as long to get places here but that’s because I’m walking here. I’m active and surrounded by interesting sights so it doesn’t feel as time-consuming as just sitting in traffic does.

I still drive. I’m not opposed to cars. However, I’m really glad that I don’t own one anymore!

Check out my top ten reasons to give up your car.

Tags: car, car-free, driving, give up your car, green, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, no car, society, stop driving

I recently researched a company in the UK that pays drivers money to place advertisements for businesses on their car. Is this something that you would do? A lot of people who wouldn’t have answered yes to that question a year ago are turning up with applications in hand for this business because times are tight and the need cash.

It doesn’t seem like a bad idea at all. You get paid money for the driving that you would be doing anyway. This allows you to reduce the cost of driving and gain an income that you didn’t already have access to. You don’t have to go too far out of your way to do it either – just commit to driving a certain amount of miles each month, checking in with the company and parking in visible areas.

There are certainly some drawbacks to this. You have to make sure to keep your car clean and to drive appropriately since you’re representing someone else’s company. And you have to remember that you’re going to be supporting a business or product while you do this. But that seems like a small price to pay for a little bit of extra cash right now.

From the reverse side of things, this could be a great way for small businesses to get valuable advertising without having to spend a lot of money during these tough times. Are there programs like this in the US right now? If there are, would you consider signing up?

Tags: advertising, business, driving, earn money, kathryn vercillo, marketing, money, Personal Finance, Travel

California has only recently changed its cell phone laws to make it so that you can’t text while driving. Prior to this change, you couldn’t talk on the phone while driving but you could text. How smart is that? After all, texting obviously requires more of your attention to be focused on your phone than on the road right?

The reason that I’m thinking about this is because I recently researched an article on 10 Tragic Accidents Caused by Cell Phones. These are primarily car accidents involving someone who was texting or talking on the cell phone whilr driving and hit and killed someone else. There was also the tragic case of the LA Commuter Train accident that was partially caused by the distraction of cell phones. And even one case in which a man merely went inside to go get a forgotten cell phone and ended up getting run over by his one car.

I’m not honestly sure how I feel about talking or texting while driving. I do think that it causes accidents. On the other hand, I don’t think that talking on a cell phone is particularly more distracting to drivers than talking to the three kids in the back seat or trying to navigate around an unfamiliar area by fiddling with the GPS system.

What do you think? Is it good that texting while driving has been banned in California? Should we ban other types of fiddling around in cars?

Tags: cell phone laws, cell phones, driving, issues, kathryn vercillo, laws, mobile phones, texting, transportation, Wireless

I got my first car when I was still fifteen because I was that eager to start driving as soon as I was legally allowed to do so. At 18, I took a photography job that had me in my car two days per week traveling to and from all of the little cities of Arizona. When I was 21, I took off in my pickup truck with the guy that I liked at the time and we traveled all over the country together. And at 25, I accepted a brief job helping an artist which included driving him across the country to different conventions where he sold his work.

The point here is that I’ve spent a whole heck of a lot of time in cars. Sometimes I loved it. I like road trips. I like the convenience of driving. But ever since I moved to San Francisco, I don’t own a car and I almost never drive and I much prefer life this way than the way that it was when I had a car that I drove every day.

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of things that I don’t like about not having a car. I don’t like the days when it’s raining out and my umbrella doesn’t work right and I’m trying to decide whether it’s worse to walk in the rain or worse to get on a crowded bus with dozens of wet people. I don’t like the times on the bus when the creepy people bother me. I don’t like that I can’t get in my vehicle and just drive up the coast for the day because I don’t have a vehicle anymore.

But overall, I’d rather have a car-free life. I live in a place where I can easily walk to and from most of the things that I need to do on a daily basis. I like that a whole lot better than living in a place where I’d have to drive to and from my daily stops. I live in a place where public transportation is decent and I can go a really long way from here on trains and ferries if I want to. Mostly I prefer that to those lonely hours spent on highways around the country.

Because of the way that I live now, I have trouble understanding how people drive every day. I don’t know how my mom and my brother can each spend multiple hours in the car each day running errands and running around. I don’t understand when friends mention that they commute several hours each day to and from work. And I don’t remember how it was that I drove as much as I did back when I did. But everyone is different. Some people love driving. What about you?

Tags: autos, cars, driving, green, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, transit, transportation, Travel