Four-wheel nation

(First in a series of editorials about America's car culture.)

AMERICA IS one with the automobile, and the cultural cement hardens with every decade on the road.

What began as a romp in a crazy, herky-jerky, open-air contraption at the turn of the last century has evolved into the fusion of psyche and sleek machine -- a machine that is now a digitized living room/kitchen/office/navigation system and entertainment center on wheels. And it can talk.

Of course, the car has always been more than simple transportation. It was a dare in the early 1900s, a rough-edged dream that bumped along dirt roads on a weekend afternoon as the scarves of passengers streamed behind. The dream was about freedom, independence, adventure, moving out -- and up.

Today that dream, while a lot flashier and able to travel faster than many people ever imagined, is still, at its core, about freedom. It's about taking off when a person wants to and going wherever one wants to go -- an attitude that probably explains why car pools aren't a big sell and why a good metropolitan public transportation system is a rarity in this country rather than the norm.

The norm is the symbolically named freeway, the expressway, the fast lane, the ramp, and the green signs making up the state and federal highway systems.

That federal highway system celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In a series of editorials, the Globe will examine the many ways in which the car touches and shapes America's public life: environmentally, economically, socially, and politically.

So omnipresent is the automobile that vehicles per household outnumber drivers, according to the most recent federal Department of Transportation statistics. In 2003 there were 231 million registered vehicles and 196 million licensed drivers -- up from 74 million cars and 87 million drivers in 1960.

And people are spending more time in their cars -- an average one hour and 21 minutes a day in 2001 compared with 58.35 minutes in 1977. ''If you wanted to put up a statue that really represented America, it would have to be a car," said Bob Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. ''The car is tied to the whole notion of democracy and to the physical reality of the United States. This is one big country."

The car is Jack Kerouac making his epic odyssey, giving voice to restless youth. The car is John Steinbeck and William Least Heat-Moon. The car is migration, transformation, the new life in California, the break, the escape, the possibilities for discovery on the road, and in the soul.

The car is glamour, Hollywood, Academy Awards night with the white limo pulling up to the red carpet. It's Marilyn Monroe in a shiny convertible. The car is rock 'n' roll, rap, thumping bass on the stereo at the intersection, teenage rite of passage, and first love.

But the car is also a magnificent trap now, a technological universe so vast that a driver can easily be distracted from the road.

The simplicity of getting away from it all has morphed into the complexity of taking it along -- and that includes cellphones, refrigerated glove compartments, coffee makers, DVD players, as many as 17 beverage cup holders, and holders for fast food sauces. The dashboard is crammed with dials, indicating speed, average speed, distance traveled, temperature inside and outside, and a list of choices for running the radio and compact disc player.

''The BMW has a menu with 800 different functions," said David Strayer, professor of psychology at the University of Utah, where he does research on driver distractions. He added that a European car features a computer screen on the steering wheel.

Strayer said he has done research on airplane crashes showing the cause to be pilot sensory overload due to the complexity of the cockpit. He feels the automobile could have the same problem.

''Technology is moving so fast," he said. ''All kinds of new things are being put into vehicles, and legislation is way behind innovation. Many communities are just starting to debate cellphone use in cars, but that's been around for a decade. Now cars have TVs."

A person doesn't need a television in the car. A person doesn't need a Hummer for the commute to the office. A person doesn't really need much more than the basics on wheels.

But this is America. ''Madison Avenue has done a great job of convincing us that our cars are part of ourselves," said Ray Magliozzi, who hosts NPR's ''Car Talk" with his brother, Tom. ''If you've had a tough day at work and you've been kicked around by co-workers, then you need a Ram truck."

The Magliozzis are campaigning for people to ignore the siren song of the muscle car and drive smaller, safer, fuel-efficient models. ''You're not invulnerable in an SUV, but people think they are," said Magliozzi, noting that the recent gas prices of $3.50 per gallon might persuade the macho driver to give up the hulk. ''If you try to legislate change, people get angry and shout, 'I'm an American. I can drive anything I want.' It's better to appeal to common sense."

But there's a whole lot of irrationality driving the driver, and the choice of what Thompson calls a person's ''biggest portable status symbol." He adds that people are in a constant state of denial that they're seeking that status. ''They'll say, 'I drive this Hummer because I need it,' " Thompson said. ''I know people who are driving SUVs who despise other SUV drivers."

The relationship with the automobile is contradictory and complex. The car can be a death machine, killing 43,000 people a year in the United States. It pollutes the environment, triggers geopolitical fury, shatters the quiet of the night, and frays the nerves. But it is also beautiful, ingenious, and indispensable. Like it or not, the automobile at this time in this century, after 229 years of the American journey, defines who we are.

Next: The hazards of cellphones.