[roge7331]

As long as people can't smoke and legally drive with the car the next day, it's useless for most

[x3ro]

I see how this statement makes sense for some, but many people in Germany, especially in big cities, drive a car only a handful of times a year, if they even have a license.

[lasagna_coder]

'many people' - less than a third of germans live in big cities. The vast majority of adults have licenses, almost all from the stats I see.

[distances]

I don't think most people drive a car every day. Actually not sure that most people drive at all, especially in Germany.

[lasagna_coder]

There are many cars and many car owners and many car drivers in Germany, I think the stat is something like >3/4s Germans own cars. There happens to be public transport and bicycle infrastructure proportionate to the density of a region (ie more in cities), but lots of Germany is still rural, sparsely populated, and dominated by cars for getting around. If you aren't from/in Germany and visit it, you'll see how popular cars are here and that is unlikely to change soon.

[refurb]

There are 49M personal vehicles in Germany out of 83M people.

You really think it’s that rare for a German to drive?

[distances]

Didn't assume it's rare, just if it's the majority. But yeah your numbers clearly point to a majority being drivers. I guess even most public transport users do have a car then for occasional use.

[dagw]

Actually not sure that most people drive at all, especially in Germany.

Germany is definitely a car country and, outside a handful of large cities, rather rural.