Wow what a bummer that trains, buses, bikes, electric scooters, and every other mode of rapid, inexpensive transportation has been un-invented. Those would have been really useful literally every moment since they were first invented. If we had those we could treat driving like it was the most dangerous thing people do every day, which it is.
My point is that driving is essential only because the people in power have unilaterally decided that it must be, and fuck them for that.