The "Ethos" of the Open Road

The automobile has made for itself a place in the American’s heart. As oil scholar Dan Peterson says, “there is a freedom that promotes adventure with the car”. Americans love the “freedom” of open road stretching ahead of them; they could go anywhere. 


As Don DeLillo said in his satirical novel on American culture, White Noise, it’s “the whole ethos of the road”(67). The “ethos” or spirit of the open road has enticed America for decades. Since the pilgrims we have had a "manifest destiny" to travel to undiscovered places. 
The automobile has opened routes for us that the pilgrims never even imagined. In almost every American's heart there is a desire to discover new and exciting things that lurk around the corner. 


What could possibly be a large enough force to stop Americans from driving, to force Americans to drive 100 billion fewer miles than the year before (Steiner, 29)? 

            It takes a lot to change a routine that is ingrained in the American way. Putting America back to work and Americans caring for the world around them created a gradual change to the automobile culture that exists in the United States. A sudden shift like the acute rise in gas prices proved to create a larger but shorter change. 

Public transportation is on the rise again though. Our dependency on gas to fuel our way of life has to change. Chris Steiner agrees, “people have to change the way they live” (Steiner 2012). As oil in the world diminishes American lives will encounter a major shift in their routine. Energy efficient modes of transportation will come, but will it be enough? 2008’s boom in public transportation showed that its possible for Americans to change routines that are deeply ingrained in American society.