Sam Nelson wrote:
It's a positive feedback loop. People get cars, so they use services further
away, which means services tend to get concentrated around places people can
drive to rather than where they can walk to, so services aren't local any
more, so people get cars. Not a lifestyle choice at all; just reaction to
economic stimuli.

I didn't get a car until I was 40. I managed fine until then. I wouldn't
have a car now if it were not for that fact I had been told that my
employment would require it. Some people are told to get a car for their
job, but the majority of drivers made a choice to get one. You note this
in the first few words of your second sentence, but go on to dispute
that it is a lifestyle choice. I feel I'm on fairly safe ground
asserting that most people who learn to drive make the decision to do so
before they are 20, which is before the things you point to are likely
to matter to most of them at all.

There's joined-up thinking in your response, but not enough to convince.