I chose the topic how the automobile impacted the United States from chaper 12 section 3. Automobiles have changed the landscape of the land of the United States. Once paved roaded were created driving is possible in all types of weather. Route 66 is one of the roads that led from Chicago, Illinois to California. Since this route was formed people settled along the route. When settling along the route people built houses with garages and driveways because they had cars. Therefor the lawns became smaller.
Since cars became popular so did other items that the car needed. Gas stations, repair shops, motels, tourist camps, and shopping center became popular because people could start driving to vacation spots, living farther away from work, and country people started going to town to shop. In the 1920s the automatic traffic signals were in Detroit. In 1929 the Woodbridge cloverleaf, the first cloverleaf, was built in New Jersey.
The automobile became a status symbol. Robert and Helen Lynd noted one woman's comment was: "I'll go without food before I'll see us give up the car." In the late 1920s there was about 80% of all of the vehicles in the world were registed to United States citizens. That is about one automobile for every five people.
Now it is common for each family to have at least one car if not two or three. Automobiles have taken people to far off places where people would never even imagine. Fast food drive - thrus have develped because it was conveinent for the customer not having to get up or out of their car. Safety is an issue; it is the country's leading cause of accidential death.
Top is one of the first automobiles and below is a 2012 automobile
Image sources
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/images/steam-auto.jpg
http://www.autospies.com/images/users/Agent009/images/2012_Toyota_Camry_Hybrid_05.jpg
Sources for information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_the_automobile_on_societies
The Americans Reconstruction to the 21st Century by: McDougal Littell
Comments
Good!