[sustran] fwd: UK National Car-Free Day
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Tue Jun 8 10:22:09 JST 1999
forwarded from pednet list:
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 07:52:02 +0100
From: Geraint Jennings <geraint at itl.net>
Subject: pednet: From today's Times - National Car-Free Day
This message sent to pednet by Geraint Jennings <geraint at itl.net>.
June 7 1999
Car-free days may be imposed on cities
MINISTERS are preparing radical plans to allow town and
city centre roads to be shut for one day a year to persuade
motorists to leave their cars at home (Arthur Leathley
writes).
Tomorrow's National Car-Free Day may be the last on which
drivers have no formal restrictions.
Local councils are prevented by law from one-off road
closures, except in the case of emergencies but ministers
have been impressed by French success in greatly reducing
traffic when roads are shut on car-free days. Thirty-five towns
and cities in France used the restriction last year, cutting
car traffic by up to a third, and reducing noise and pollution.
A wide-ranging Transport Bill to allow road closures and
councils to charge motorists is being prepared for the next
session of Parliament starting in the autumn. Legislation
allowing new charges to be introduced in London is already
close to finishing its passage through Parliament.
In France, local councils are compelled to draw up detailed
reports of the effects of Car-Free Day, testing public reaction
and monitoring pollution and noise levels.
Tomorrow's British equivalent will be much lower profile, but
many bus and rail companies are offering discounts and
special facilities to encourage drivers to switch to public
transport and environmental groups are encouraging drivers
to walk or cycle to work where possible.
Andrew Davis, director of the Environmental Transport
Association, a campaigning motoring organisation behind
Car-Free Day, said: "We have built up public awareness but
we now need to go further. We want the Government to give
financial and legal backing to the event to give it a higher
profile."
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