Should a person own a car? This is an important question. In a large urban area, there are some good reasons for owning a car. First, a car allows a person to move around freely. With a car, there is no need to check a bus schedule or wait for a train. Another reason is a car is a comfortable way to travel, especially in the wintertime. In bad weather, the driver stays warm and dry, while the poor bus or train rider might have to stand in the rain. Finally, a driver is usually safe in a car at night. The rider might need to walk down a dark street to get to a stop, or wait on a dark corner.
However, as every coin has two sides and in light there is always dark, there are drawbacks of owning a car in a large city like Hong Kong.
Initially, cars pollute the environment. Cars not only emit carbon dioxide and tiny floating particles that cause air pollution and evidently, global warming due to the greenhouse effect, they also cause sound pollution. Cars can be very loud, especially the ones with better engines as they will produce extremely loud noises when accelerating. So owning a car will just contribute to the already high and increasing pollution levels.
Next, owning a car is really dear. In Hong Kong, the possibility of a person being in a traffic accident is high, so the insurance fee is usually very high, not to mention the increasing price for fossil fuels. Since it is so expensive, many people choose to take public transportation instead, so they may reduce the cost of their daily musts. As there are other choices that are cheaper, owning a car is not all that important.
Finally, owning a car is not as convenient as people take it as. Whenever there is traffic congestion, all the cars will crowd at the same two lines, while public transportation like trains and ships does not get affected at all. Also, during holidays where lots of people flock to the malls, the parking places provided are usually not sufficient to allow every car to part at the same time. So time will be lost during the time where a parking place is to be found. All the while, public transportation will have saved a person’s time as parking places need not be found. So owning a car may be deemed unnecessary at certain times.
All in all, owning a car in a large city does benefit the owner in many ways. Although there are bound to be setbacks, having a car does make people’s lives easier. After all, it is safer during night time and it is more comfortable to be warm and dry inside a car on cold, rainy days. And sometimes, it is more convenient than taking the public transportation. Therefore, I believe that a person should own a car in a large city.