That's because there are measurable, quantifiable, and quite significant advantages to driving cars that are far more important than the disadvantages.


Really?
Wind back the clock 100 years and look at what small communities had - local industry, local shops, and a local community spirit.
The 'advantages' that cars have brought include those such as large out of town malls that non-driving pensioners can't get too, that have helped create inner- city/town declines, large centralised employers vs. smaller distributed employers, and an ever-increasing pace of life where society *accepts* sitting in traffic for 12% of a 16 hour day as normal.

Don't get me wrong - I love to drive. Winding roads over hilly terrain, and no traffic in sight. But apart from that, the car is a means to an end. It's a means of getting to and from work that is moving further away, and a means of picking up grocerys from stores that are also moving away.

It's very difficult to survive without a car now - and that can't be a good thing. Sure, there are some advantages too*, but I wouldn't neccessarily state that they are "far more important" than those aspects of life that we have given up.

*Just where would you install an empeg on a horse?