A disheartening video shows the United States is a hellscape of people who drive alone to work.
A TikToker who shares content about public transit and electric vehicles highlighted the isolation, which stretches from sea to shining sea.
Moles R Cool (@molesrcool) cited a 2019 World in Maps production showing "how far we've leaned into designing our entire country around cars instead of people," calling it "a truly cursed map." It's monochrome, meaning the most common means of transportation to work by county — "drove alone" — was true across the contiguous United States and Hawai'i.
@molesrcool a truly cursed map that perfectly illustrates our addiction to cars #cars #traffic #trains #pedestrian #greenscreen ♬ Yacht Club - MusicBox
Alaska featured many areas where people mostly walked to work and one with a taxi/motorcycle/others designation. You have to squint to see three small red dots for public transportation near New York City and San Francisco.
"You should be able to walk or take a train to work if you wanted to," Moles R Cool said. "You should still be able to drive, but it shouldn't be your only option."
The creator noted new high-speed rail in other parts of the world could get Americans from New York to Chicago in an incredible two and a half hours — but cities continue to expand highways instead. Even with Shinkansen trains that are now 60 years old, the U.S. would boost its infrastructure by light-years.
"We've completely failed on the city level in terms of walkability and metro systems, and we've also failed on the national scale in terms of high-speed rail," Moles R Cool said. "We are so far behind."
Social media users agreed, and they flooded the post with their thoughts and ideas.
"The people want walkable cities!" one TikToker commented.
Another user wrote, "I'm sick of risking my life on slippery roads in a blizzard just to make $15 an hour."
"America is so bloated with outdated technology and policies that hurt us all," someone else said.
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