Description
One of the Financial Times’ Best Environment, Science, and Technology Books of the Year, 2025
Explore the financial, social, ethical, and environmental impacts of our obsession with, and dependency on, cars. Learn how to change the way we use them.
Roadkill: Unveiling the True Cost of Our Toxic Relationship with Cars, by Professor Henrietta Moore and Arthur Kay, explores the philosophical implications of car culture, as well as the practical impacts it has on your money, your taxes, your neighborhood, your planet, your health, and your happiness.
While the car has been marketed as a symbol of “freedom”, the authors convincingly argue that it has limited the flourishing of our cities and restricted our choices. How can we fix our toxic relationship with cars? The authors offer a new way of thinking that promises to multiply your choices, improve your city, and expand your freedoms.
Inside the book:
- Jaw-dropping, real-world examples of the human and monetary costs imposed by cars, including the fact that cars have killed 60 to 80 million people since their invention, more than the deaths of WWI and WWII combined.
- Philosophical arguments explaining how car-centric cities restrict the freedoms of drivers and non-drivers alike.
- A catalogue of ideas and approaches for urban designers, transport planners, policymakers, and mayors.
- Practical recommendations for all contexts: for you, your family, your neighborhood, your town or city, and your national government.
- Critiques of the myths around electric cars and autonomous cars, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the implications of this emerging frontier.
- Ideas on how we can re-frame our relationship with the car? The authors recognize they can be useful machines, when used intentionally, and thoughtfully invited into our lives.
- Over 45 figures, original illustrations, diagrams, and colour photographs.
Roadkill is a persuasive and illuminating call to action for city dwellers, drivers, environmentalists, urbanists, and policymakers—anyone interested in practical ways to improve your life and expand your freedoms.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Light at the End of the Tunnel 1
Chapter 2 The Road to Freedom 11
Chapter 3 Time and Money 23
Chapter 4 The Great Love Affair 37
Chapter 5 Health and Happiness 49
Chapter 6 Who’s in the Driving Seat? 67
Chapter 7 Electrifying Change: Techno-futurist Visions I 81
Chapter 8 Cyber Capitalism: Techno-futurist Visions II 93
Chapter 9 Paving Paradise 107
Chapter 10 Taking the Con out of Convenience 121
Chapter 11 The Car in the City 133
Chapter 12 A Prosperous Society 149
Chapter 13 Imagine: Roadmap for Change 159
Chapter 14 New Forms of Freedom 179
Appendix A Crib Sheet of Solutions 185
Appendix B The True Cost 203
Appendix C Timeline of the Car Industry 209
Appendix D Human Versus Cargo: Similarities and Differences 213
Appendix E List of Interviews 215
Appendix F Recommended Further Reading 217
Notes 219
Acknowledgments 273
About the Authors 275
Index 277
