(5 of 5)
In this century, the car has been a measure of American freedom. Put a key in the ignition and a foot to the pedal, and the country is suddenly open to personal exploration. It is self-expression through mobility -- with each mile on the odometer an expansion of one's liberty. But as car crime turns violent, it scratches the nerves of Americans who thought they were safe in their sheet-metal wombs. The crime wave orders them to stay home and lock the doors, with no place to run, because the roads are not safe. The brakes are on the imagination. Freedom's vehicle has become a ride into a wild frontier.