Eh, don't be too sure about only living a km away. I know growing up the nearest grocery store was about 12 km away. The nearest place to get coffee was further away.

Fast forward to today the nearest grocery store is only 1.5 km away, but there's no sidewalk and the road is so narrow that you can't walk on the shoulder. You could ride a bike, but there's no bike lane so you'll be hoping the whole way that no one runs you over.

The car issue is a lot more complex than "American Lazy LOL" it's an infrastructure issue that was set in to effect almost 50 years before I was born. Designed to serve the car manufacturers and to sell cars.