page_title: Effects of the car on societies
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Effects of the car on societies / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Sacrifices to the Modern Moloch
context_page_description: Since the start of the twentieth century, the role of the car has become highly important though controversial. It is used throughout the world and has become the most popular mode of transport in the more developed countries. In developing countries, the effects of the car on society are not as visible, however they are significant. The development of the car built upon the transport sector first started by railways. This has introduced sweeping changes in employment patterns, social interactions, infrastructure and the distribution of goods.
  Nonetheless the positive effects on access to remote places and mobility, comfort provided by the automobile, allowing people to geographically increase their social and economic interactions, the negative effects of the car on everyday life are not negligible. Although the introduction of the mass-produced car represented a revolution in industry and convenience, creating job demand and tax revenue, the high motorisation rates also brought severe consequences to the society and to the environment.
context_section_description: In the early 20th century, cars entered mass production. The United States produced 45,000 cars in 1907, but 28 years later, in 1935, that had increased nearly 90-fold to 3,971,000. The increase in production required a large new workforce. In 1913, 13,623 people worked for the Ford Motor Company, and by 1915 that had increased to 18,028. Bradford DeLong, author of The Roaring Twenties, noted that "Many more lined up outside the Ford factory for chances to work at what appeared to them to be, and (for those who did not mind the pace of the assembly line much) was an incredible boondoggle of a job." There was a surge in the need for workers at big, new high-technology companies such as Ford. Employment increased greatly.
  When the motor age arrived in western countries at the beginning of the 20th century, many conservative intellectuals opposed the increase in motor vehicles on the roads. Those increases removed space for pedestrians, made walking more dangerous, and brought a tremendous increase in pedestrian deaths caused by car collisions.
  W.S. Gilbert, the famous British librettist, wrote to The Times on 3 June 1903:
  Sir,–I am delighted with the suggestion made by your spirited correspondent Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey that all pedestrians shall be legally empowered to discharge shotguns (the size of the shot to be humanely restricted to No. 8 or No. 9) At all motorists who may appear to them to be driven to the common danger. Not only would this provide a speedy and effective punishment for the erring motorist, but it would also supply the dwellers on popular high roads with a comfortable increase of income. "Motor shooting for a single gun" would appeal strongly to the sporting instincts of the true Briton, and would provide ample compensation to the proprietors of eligible road-side properties for the intolerable annoyance caused by the enemies of mankind.
  Ten years later, Alfred Godley wrote a more elaborate protest, "The Motor Bus", a poem which cleverly combined a lesson in Latin grammar with an expression of distaste for the new form of motor transport.
caption: Sacrifices to the Modern Moloch, a 1922 cartoon published in The New York Times, criticizing the apparent acceptance by society of increasing automobile-related fatalities.
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