We realize now that the cocoons of our cars kept us well insulated from the people around us. Our genuine interactions were with family and coworkers, the only people who saw us stripped of the metal that clothed and protected us. Our neighbors, we discovered, were virtually strangers.
In Confessions of an Empty-Nester, the writer talks about some of the positive changes that may come about if more people started using their car less. I'm convined that a car-light community would see reductions in anti-social behaviour, as well as the environmental and safety improvements; turning life in a town into something like rural living used to be.