Kristina Blokhin - stock.adobe.c
I can still remember most, if not all, of the quips my old high school football coaches used on us during our two-a-day practices in the lumbering humidity of the North Texas heat. Many I cannot repeat, some I’ve adapted as my own, and some, well they kind of make sense. One saying our good ol’ coaches would use interchangeably was, “it’s like a dollar waiting on a dime.” I remember being stuck in thought on this saying, because it kind of made sense, but then again didn’t. I guess the moral of this one is someone important is waiting on a lesser important person. No matter how you break it down, this play on words is really a long euphemism for being lazy, something I refuse to be labeled.
This thought came back to me after I perused a new study naming Fort Worth the number one city in the nation where everyone takes the shortest trips. Again, this sounds like a euphemism for being lazy, but taken in jest, it could also mean we really like to use our cars for everything, even a trip two blocks away.
In a nutshell, this new study, conducted by Tinting Chicago, states that almost 78% of Americans have driven 2 minutes or less instead of walking to their desired destinations. This means we all hop in the car when a walk or a bike ride would get us to the same spot however close it is. But does this really mean we’re lazy?
To get to this conclusion, Tinting Chicago surveyed 1,578 Americans in the top 30 U.S. cities in the nation about the shortest drives they’ve taken. Participants in this study ranged in age from 18 to 76 years old and were comprised of 49% women, 49% men, and 2% non-binary.
To determine the shortest drive score, respondents were asked a series of questions like, “How do you typically get to destinations within the following distances?” and “How far away does a destination have to be by walking before you drive instead?” According to Trinity Chicago, each response was weighted, and a cumulative score for each respondent was calculated. Then an average score was found for each city, and wouldn’t you know it, Fort Worth came out on top.
But Fort Worth isn’t the only Texas city to make the list. Houston ranked at number three, Austin at number five, and San Antonio at number 6. If you were wondering about our neighbors to the east, Dallas ranked number eight, while El Paso came in at number 14. Still, we came out on top over Las Vegas at the number two spot.
This study also indicates that 29% of Fort Worth respondents have driven less than a quarter mile, with 78% admitting they drive to another store in the same shopping center rather than walking. But here’s the kicker, this study also states that we Fort Worthians would rather sit in traffic to get to a destination quicker by walking or biking; talk about a dollar waiting on a dime.
What cities walk instead of drive?
According to Tinting Chicago’s data, New York City, Washington D.C., and Boston are the top three cities where Americans are least likely to take a short drive. This data also concludes that over half, 55% of Americans, drive to destinations that are 10 minutes or less away by foot. The top reasons respondents say they drive instead of walk includes temperature, speed, and safety concerns, with the number one reason for these short trips being to pick up food.
No matter how we break it down we’re destined to be attached to our vehicles. One thing to think about, however, is the North Texas heat. We might be at number one because we’re trying to avoid melting in the sun wherever and whenever we travel. Just one look at our current heat index for this summer is enough of a reason to seek refuge in a car. That’s not lazy, that’s just common sense.
