How America Got Hooked On Cars

Americans drive much more than in any other country – twice as much as the average German, for example. And the actual experience of driving isn’t quite as romantic as the image. Drivers are often stuck in traffic. Cars pump out pollution. Less walking means less exercise. Cars also can kill people. Some skeptics say, indeed–cars are awesome. But they got a lot of help from favorable policies and strong lobbies. CNBC spoke with some researchers and looked at numbers to get the full picture of why Americans became so dependent on cars. Chapters: 0:00 - 01:37 Introduction 01:41 Chapter 1: A nation hooked on cars 03:47 Chapter 2: How we got here 08:00 Chapter 3: Cars are subsidized 11:32 Chapter 4: Solutions Producer: Robert Ferris Editor: Andrea Miller Animation: Jason Reginato Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi Additional footage: Getty Images