Coat Check Dream Song Lyrics

Lyric discussion by triple07 

Cover art for Coat Check Dream Song lyrics by Bright Eyes

I know that "Up in the north the ice gave out" refers to global warming, but what is "Out in the west the cars are crashing" referring to?

maybe its referring to earthquakes causing the cars to crash? idk, just a guess

Maybe referring to how in the West (which could either mean "China", "LA" or "North America" as a hold) cars are constantly in gridlock, burning fuel and further destroying the environment; given this song is about global warming I thought this might make sense