Hello Hivians 💕
The question, "Should a family own only one car?" requires a lot of consideration.
- Is it cost effective or expensive?
- Does it contribute to air pollution and carbon emissions?
- Is it a liability as cars tends to lose value over time making it a poor financial investment?
- Does it contribute to traffic congestion as more cars on the road will lead to a more traffic delay?
- How about parking challenges?
The most common means of transport is land transportation. There are more vehicles on the road now, and the number keeps increasing day by day. It used to be dominated by commercial vehicles, but private vehicles have now outnumbered them.
Now, one might begin to wonder what could prompt a family to own a car.
Safety is the most important aspect as far as I’m concerned. I lost a brother in a car accident, and I know the pain it caused me and the void it left in my family. Most commercial vehicle drivers are reckless; they do not care that they are carrying entire families in their vehicles. All they think about is how many trips they can make in a day. They rush to offload and return for another trip. They do not drive patiently, nor do they maintain their vehicles. There are no functional regulatory lights, such as brake lights or indicators, and no fire extinguisher. All they care about is having a spare tire.
Comfort should be a top priority. In Nigeria’s transportation system, the way passengers are often crammed into commercial vehicles is terrible. A seat designed for three people usually ends up carrying four. For someone like me with long legs, it’s incredibly uncomfortable
Freedom of movement is another important factor to consider. Commercial vehicles are not always easily accessible, especially during certain hours of the day when finding one can be challenging. Additionally, their operations are often limited to specific routes, meaning they may not take you directly to your destination but only to the nearest bus stop or a location closer to it.
Last but not least, where I come from, owning a car is often seen as a symbol of status and financial stability. It is common for people to buy cars to reflect their achievements. For instance, you would not expect a man with a chieftaincy title to be boarding commercial vehicles. This creates the impression that commercial vehicles are meant for the average citizens and less privileged.
Back to the question: Should a family settle for only one car
In a country where there is no property tax and birth rate control, meaning that a couple can have up to six children, you cannot deny that a single vehicle would not be sufficient for this family. Let’s ignore the fact that Nigeria is a country where the wealthy display their wealth by the number of cars in their compound, but in my opinion, having just one family car is not sufficient.
I have an uncle who is a lecturer, and his wife is a secondary school teacher. They have three kids. In the morning, the husband drives the family to school before heading to the university where he lectures. In the evening, he drives home alone, while the family boards a taxi. Sometimes, the wife will drive the children to school, while the husband takes a taxi to work.
Now you see that it's not balanced. The family has a need for 2 vehicles, even though it will be expensive to operate and maintain. In this situation, I would not call it a liability because the cars are serving their purpose. It will actually contribute to traffic congestion as there are more cars on the road, this is where needs for flyover arises. In terms of carbon emissions, with the rapid increase in production of electric vehicles it will help to reduce carbon emission.
I personally would like to own two vehicles when I finally get married and have children: one private vehicles for me and my wife, and a one for the family.