WORLD CARFREE NEWS >>>
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Edition no. 16/17 - January/February 2005 - English version
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Contents:
IN BRIEF
WORLD NEWS
- ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND MOTORISTS COLLIDE IN SANTIAGO, CHILE
- ITALY: SUVS SALES DOWN BY 14% AS A RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGN
- RICKSHAWS ALSO THREATENED IN INDIA
- BUSINESSES IN NEW YORK CITY WANT CONGESTION CHARGE
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- CAR BUSTERS MAGAZINE "POST PETROLEUM" WRITING CONTEST
- TOWARDS CARFREE CITIES V: JULY 18-21
- SUMMER BIKE RIDE AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTING
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IN BRIEF >>
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- Ireland this January switched to speed limit signs in kilometres per hour
instead of miles per hour, but not without confusion. One street is
reported to have allowed 80 kmh in one direction but only 50 kmh in the
other. A dead-end road allowed drivers to go 80 kmh, and in front of one
primary school (right after the signs saying 'slow' and right next to a
flashing orange warning light) stood this sign: 100 kmh.
- Dhaka update: In the last bulletin, we reported on efforts to ban
rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the Action Alert announced in response
to the ban. Big thanks to the hundreds of people who sent letters to World
Bank and other officials. The Dec. 6 Action Alert expired on Dec. 31, and
the effect of this and local Dhaka actions are now being assessed. A formal
complaint is also being filed through the World Bank's official process.
- What Would Jesus Drive? That was the title of a recent television
programme aired January 10 on Britain's Channel 4. The programme looked at
the biggest love affair in the world: America's love affair with cars - a
love affair which makes America the biggest consumer of fossil fuels in the
world; the biggest contributor to global warming. Viewers met DJ Foolish
from Detroit who loves his car more than anything in the world; the
Kramers, a three-person family with six cars and the Rev Jim Ball, founder
of the campaigning group 'What Would Jesus Drive' (answer: a hybrid car,
because it's environmental).
- The northern Italian town of Vicenza (population 115,000) imposed a
week-long total ban on cars at the beginning of February in a major bid to
fight pollution. People will have to use public transport between February
2 and 8. Exceptions will be police, emergency services, taxis, disabled
drivers, people going to weddings or funerals, cars on liquid gas, hybrids
and electrically powered vehicles.
- Around 500 Czechs and Germans joined January 19 for a combined protest in
the Bavarian town of Waidhaus. They were roused to action by proposals to
reopen the Waidhaus-Rozvadov border crossing for trucks. Truck traffic in
the border regions has been a growing issue all along the border since the
Czech Republic joined the EU in May 2004.
- A new European Parliament report calls for the phase-out of the rigid
"bull bars" on the front of four-wheel drive vehicles and SUVs, which are
considered dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. The text, if approved by
the Parliament's plenary, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2007. According to
the report, the measures would save hundreds of lives a year in the EU. The
EU Council of Ministers had called for a total ban on bull bars.
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WORLD NEWS >>
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ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND MOTORISTS COLLIDE IN SANTIAGO, CHILE
[from Acción Ecológica]
December 11 was a hectic day in the streets of Santiago. An organisation
called United Motorists of Chile organised a motorcade of car drivers to
call for the elimination of what, according to them, are excessive car
fees. These fees will be applied once the new urban highways built in
Santiago begin operation.
The Acción Ecológica movement, however, decided to make a different
statement. The environmentalists, riding bikes with green banners, arrived
at the same place where the motorists had arranged to meet. They carried
placards that read "Daily Driver = Anti-social Pest" and reproached
motorists about their addiction to a polluting means of transport that is
harmful for the city and the planet.
Luis Mariano Rendón, the coordinator of "Acción Ecológica", talked to
one of the motorists' leaders and told him why the environmentalists were
absolutely against the motorists' protest. "It is not true that car drivers
pay excessive rates," he said. "On the contrary, motorists pay almost
nothing of all the damage they cause to the city and planet: air pollution,
noise pollution, traffic accidents, damage to the urban fabric caused by
highway construction, loss of fertile land to build parking lots and new
roads, and the emission of greenhouse gases," were all listed by Rendón as
the negative impacts from the use of cars. He added that bike riders
respect the right of motorists to manifest their opinion as long as they
comply with the Transit Law, which in Chile prohibits the use of horns
except in cases of emergencies to prevent accidents. The environmentalists
warned the motorists against sounding their horns; otherwise they would
interrupt the caravan. The motorists how
ever, ignored Rendón and began sounding their horns. The environmentalists
then stood in front of the motorcade with their bikes and impeded the cars
from moving forward. Struggles then began and the police intervened in
favour of the motorists. After several retreats and new disruptions, the
environmentalists succeeded in their goal of impeding the illegal and
polluting motorcade.
Finally, the environmentalists decided to file legal action against the
police because it failed to enforce the law by letting motorists illegally
sound their horns.
ITALY: SUVS SALES DOWN BY 14% AS A RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGN
[from Legambiente]
The volume of sales of SUVs [sport-utility vehicles, or 4x4's] has been
growing for years by an average annual rate of 20%, so that today they
represent almost 6% of registered vehicles. But in the last few months the
trend has started to reverse. An anti-SUV campaign introduced in Italy at
the beginnig of last summer by environmental association Legambiente has
hit its target. The campaign started in Milan last June with the
presentation to the national press of a 15-page special anti-SUV report
("Off-roads for the City: Anatomy of a Collective Delirium") full of
figures and facts focusing on issues of fuel consumption, safety (both for
passengers and for other street users), overall dimensions and other
problems of this kind of vehicle. The report culiminated with some policy
proposals such as: a ban on SUVs from the historical city centres, a new
national tax on SUVs, a special driving license for SUVs and off-road cars.
The report got a lot of media coverage for several w
eeks (including national TV news) and the SUV issue became a matter of
"beach debate" in the Italian summer. Some city mayors declaired they
regarded with favour the city centre ban proposal of Legambiente. When the
autumn parliamentary budget discussion exploded, environmentalist
centre-left MP Ermete Realacci suggested the government introduce a new
supertax for SUVs. The centre-right Cabinet declared that it accepted the
idea.
This was it. The issue exploded. SUV lobbyists engaged in the debate,
which beacame very bitter at some stages. Even though the government has
yet to issue any anti-SUV legislation and only Florence has actually
enacted restrictions on SUVs, the mere mention of a supertax was enough
cause a decline in SUV sales, with a 14% drop in the last three months.
Ford has even decided to remove the five-metre-long Excursion from the
market. The issue is still hot, with new episodes and news reports every
week. No matter how it will end, it is a starting point for the
introduction of some carbusting culture in Italy, one of the major
strongholds of car culture in the world, with rates of per capita car
ownership among the highest in Europe (after Luxembourg).
Private cars per 100 inhabitants in the EU-15 countries: Greece 30,
Portugal 30, Ireland 34, Denmark 35, United Kingdom 38, Holland 38, Spain
40, Finland 40, Sweden 45, Belgium 45, EU 46, France 47, Austria 50,
Germany 51, ITALY 54, Luxemburg 60.
RICKSHAWS ALSO THREATENED IN INDIA
[from Janpath Samachar newspaper]
Not only are rickshaws under siege in Bangladesh, but a constant sword also
hangs over 25,000 rickshaw pullers in the Bengali town of Siliguri in
neighbouring India. The local government has been bent on banning rickshaws
in Siliguri for the last 2-3 years. Not only are rickshaw pullers'
livelihoods threatened by the introduction of city autos and buses, but
they have the seats of their rickshaws taken away as a fine for traffic
violations, rickshaws have been banned from municipal areas and from main
roads during specified hours. These are all parts of a concerted plan to
reduce the number of rickshaws, which are blamed for violating traffic
rules resulting in traffic jams and low traffic speeds. Instead of banning
rickshaws, the authorities could regulate or license the number of
rickshaws and train rickshaw pullers about traffic rules. The rickshaw
union has asked the chairman of Siliguri Municipal Corporation to
reconsider their decision. If not, they threatened to block
all roads on February 1. They received the support of a local newspaper,
which is writing against the proposed ban and inviting readers to send
their views on the ban in writing or over telephone.
The ban was to have come into force on January 2, but on December 31,
Mayor Bikash Ghosh announced that the ban would be deferred. The Siliguri
Municipal Corporation will reconsider the ban and the traffic department
have put on hold the new restrictions preventing rickshaws from plying on
Hill Cart Road, Bidhan Road, and Sevoke Road.
BUSINESSES IN NEW YORK CITY WANT CONGESTION CHARGE
A group representing New York's top corporations is backing the adoption of
a London-style congestion charge to help bail out the city's heavily
indebted Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
The Partnership for New York City, a coalition of 200 chief executives
including Time Warner's Richard Parsons and Merrill Lynch's Stan O'Neal,
has studied London's programme and plans to recommend a similar scheme to
the New York state governor, George Pataki.
The group's business leaders favour pumping the revenue into the MTA to
ensure that the authority's budget pressures do not push subway services
into decline.
Kathryn Wylde, president and chief executive of the group, acknowledged
that London's plan had been more effective at reducing congestion than in
raising revenue. But she said charging higher fees could probably change
this, and that cutting congestion was also important for New York.
"Congestion and the ability to get around Manhattan is a serious issue
and the opportunity to raise revenues is equally attractive," she said.
The MTA faces large operating budget gaps in 2006 and 2007 and has a
laundry list of improvements totalling $20 billion, said Charles Brecher,
research director of the Citizens Budget Commission. It has been forced to
raise subway fares twice in the past two years, and plans another increase
in 2007. However, any plan to use congestion pricing to help ease the MTA's
budget problems could run into political problems, Brecher said. New York
City, which also has struggled to balance its books, would argue that it
deserves a portion of the revenue.
"The real issue is the MTA versus the mayor," Brecher said. "There would
be competition for whose money it is."
A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg said the city's Department of
Transportation was studying London's experience. New York is not the only
city examining London's congestion charging - Stockholm and Edinburgh are
also considering versions of the plan.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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CAR BUSTERS MAGAZINE "POST-PETROLEUM" WRITING CONTEST
The first-ever Car Busters magazine writing contest is looking for
submissions! We are looking for visions of a post-petroleum future: Much
has been written lately about "peak oil," the time when oil production
peaks and after which there will less and less oil extracted from the
ground. Technology may improve extraction techniques, so estimates of peak
oil vary from 2010 to 2100. But there is no argument that there is a
limited supply of oil and that prices will rise drastically once oil does
become scarce. Will alternative sources of energy be found? Will global
society begin using less energy? What will your town/city/village (or your
own life) look like when oil becomes so scarce and expensive that only the
very few can afford to buy it anymore? What will transportation look like?
Cities? Daily life? Also tell us in what year your future scenario (be it
utopia or dystopia) takes place. The stories will be read for creativity
and believability by the Car Busters editorial
collective. Winners will have their stories published in Car Busters #23.
Send submissions to <editors@???>.
Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2005
Length: 600-1,000 words.
First prize: Two years' subscription to Car Busters magazine.
Second prize: "The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial
Societies" by Richard Heinberg.
Third prize: "Roadkill Bill" book of cartoons by Ken Avidor.
TOWARDS CARFREE CITIES V: JULY 18-21
Reminder: The Towards Carfree Cities V conference will take place July
18-21 in Budapest, Hungary, with the annual general meeting of World
Carfree Network to be held on July 22. Mark your calendars. We are looking
for grants to help member organisations attend; please let us know if you
would need such support. <
www.worldcarfree.net/conference>,
<info@???>
SUMMER BIKE RIDE AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTING
[from Bike Chain Response]
This summer Bike Chain Response is organising an interfaith bike ride from
the Nevada Test Site to Los Alamos National Laboratory to raise awareness
of alternative modes of transportation, to raise awareness of the tragedy
of the nuclear weapons industry and to create a dialogue with scientists at
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Bike Chain Response is striving for
expanded use of healthy alternative energy/power sources, nuclear
abolition, open dialogue with nuclear industry folks, and spirituality of
nonviolence and peacemaking.
They will start the approximately 800-mile bike ride on Sunday, June 19,
2005 at the Nevada Test Site, which has seen more than four decades of
nuclear weapons testing. The bike ride will end on Sunday July 17 at the
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Bike Chain Response is
looking for support for this initiative. Volunteers and donations of
organic food are welcome. Contact: Trinity Nuclear Abolitionists c/o Bike
Chain Response, PO Box 4099, Albuquerque, NM 87196, USA. (505) 870-2-ASK.
Registrations for the ride and more information on <
www.lovarchy.org/ride>.
[end]
"La bicicletta è il veicolo più rapido nella via della delinquenza; perchè
la passione del pedale trascina al furto, alla truffa, alla grassazione!"
-Cesare Lombroso-
