Death in the Cul-de-Sac

Take the cul-de-sac, for example, which is my metaphor for the world of suburban monotony and triviality that so many Western Christians find themselves trapped in. The literal cul-de-sac (i.e., a dead-end street), a feature of suburban housing developments, was designed to address homeowner anxieties about the dangers of automobile traffic in their streets. 

It was thought that the closed-off street would eliminate dangerous, high-speed traffic that might be especially threatening to children playing on the sidewalks and streets. Looking for a pathway to safety, human beings built cul-de-sacs. 

Ironically, several decades later, studies reveal that cul-de-sacs are the most dangerous residential configurations for children. It turns out that, contrary to our intuitions, children aren’t injured by forward-moving traffic nearly as much as by cars backing up—which is exactly what cars do in cul-de-sacs. As a result, many cities are now seeking to ban cul-de-sac developments because of the danger for children.