The automobile and transport policy

Auto‐centered transport systems are analyzed and related to contemporary transport policy. Auto‐centered transport features a high level of dependence on the auto for daily mobility, and a social space and built environment dominated by the material infrastructures of automobility. In recent decades, there has been an accumulating empirical record of the societal problems and costs generated by auto‐centered transport, including intensive resource consumption, traffic congestion, human fatalities and injuries, and environmental degradation. Despite these problems, however, automobility continues to grow faster than populations. Here, the focus is on two problems related to auto‐centered transport that are mediated through social relations: The creation of mobility‐disadvantaged and health‐disadvantaged groups. A central reason why the needed diversification of auto‐centered transport is proving to be a difficult task is the existence of materially and socially embedded auto‐centered transport systems. Additionally, some responsibility lies with policy analysts and policy makers. Through the example of roadway safety, it is demonstrated how policy discourse is framed by, and helps to sustain, an auto‐centered transport system.