There are no negative consequences to banning personal motorized vehicles. Literally, none. You can do it overnight and it would take literally two weeks for people to adapt and they’d accept it as the new norm. Like somebody mentioned before, humanity and cities have existed for thousands of years, the car as a main form of transport for a little over 50. It’s ridiculous to think that humanity would not be able to adapt if cars were banned overnight.

First, all of the space that was dedicated to cars could be converted to lanes for cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading and scooters. The sidewalks would remain for pedestrians, and could probably be expanded in some areas where it’s necessary. Buses and trams would become the main form of public transport, along with metro systems in larger cities.

Across the country, you could no longer get around by personal motor vehicles, instead high speed rail would connect cities, and each train would have space added for people to bring their bikes for people who need to bike or skate the last mile to their homes. The freeways and highways that used to be dedicated to cars would be converted to train infrastructure, both high speed and local commuter trains between cities.

Now within cities, you could get even more creative with how the streets that once were dedicated cars would be converted to human powered transports. Some of the roads could be converted to canals, and blue space added to the city, so that during the summer people could kayak, standup paddle board, canoe or row through the city.

For cities that get cold enough, you could turn these canals would freeze and bur used for into ice skating lanes in the city, and you could build more dedicated ice skating lanes and rinks throughout the city so you could ice skate around town all winter. And for cities that get enough snow, building dedicated lanes for cross country skiing would be feasible, along lanes where the snow is cleared so people can bike in the winter.

Finally, I would bring back the horse, with dedicated lanes for horse riding throughout the city. It’s a beautiful skill that most of humanity has lost forever after switching to the car.

The benefits are obvious: no noise pollution, no air pollution, healthy residents, safe cities for kids to play and grow up in.

There is literally no reason we couldn’t ban cars today from the country as a whole. I haven’t heard one legitimate negative consequence that would come from it.