A quote: "In our natural rebellion against the restrictions imposed by the 'driver's seat,' we are doing more and more inappropriate and distracting things in.... A quote:

"In our natural rebellion against the restrictions imposed by the 'driver's seat,' we are doing more and more inappropriate and distracting things in moving cars.... The result has been a decline in road safety for everyone. The fact that people court disaster by attempting to do something (anything) useful or entertaining to relieve the tedium of driving, indicates that we are on some level painfully aware of the consumption of our time, and are trying to 'have our cake and eat it too.'

The bottom line is that the car subtracts enough hours from our lives that even with its occasional bursts of high speed, the lifetime average miles per hour is just not that impressive. Not enough 'time efficiency' is gained to justify the extraordinary inefficiencies of weight and energy use."

The full article: It All Depends on What You Mean by "Efficient"