"Car-free day" highlights Europe's desperation over auto problems
PARIS, Sept 20 (AFP) - The continent that invented the car will turn its back on its creation on Wednesday, with the staging of a "car-free day" in more than 150 European towns and cities, many of them grappling with major problems of pollution and congestion.
Towns across France and Italy, as well as in the Swiss canton of Geneva, will launch initiatives to promote use of public transport or close off their centres for the day, admitting only pedestrians, roller-skaters, buses and environmentally friendly electric vehicles.
Cities taking part include Rome, Florence, Bologna and Venice, as well as Paris, which will close off a huge swathe of its central area and turn the Place de la Concorde square and the tourist haunt of Montmartre into vast pedestrian zones.
Around 14 million urban-dwellers will be affected by this gut protest against the car, and there are plans to to make it a Europe-wide affair next year.
The European Commission "has responded favourably to our proposal to finance the preparation for the day across the (European) Community," said French Environment Minister Dominique Voynet.
The one-day campaign, entitled "In town, Without My Car?", was launched in France last year after a series of pollution alerts in Paris and amid growing frustration at the strangulation of the city's narrow streets by the automobile.
Paris' problems are mirrored in major cities from London to Berlin and from Amsterdam to Naples, which were designed for the horse and carriage but are reeling from the assault of the internal combustion engine.
There are more than 190 million vehicles on the road in western Europe, and the tally is growing at the rate of three million a year.
Parts of the ancient cities of Rome, Florence and Naples are subject to gridlock at peak times. In Paris, the start and end of the holiday season is marked by nightmarish traffic jams, as motorists try to head south and back. In parts of central London, the traffic moves slower at rush hour than during the reign of Queen Victoria, a century ago.
Environmentalists say the love affair with the car carries an enormous price, in terms of time wasted in traffic jams and damage to the public health.
"The cost is colossal. It can be estimated, although no-one wants to do it," said Bruno Rebelle, director general of Greenpeace France, which wants the damage inflicted by the car to be identified and borne by the maker and user.
European governments are already pumping billions of dollars into building bus lanes or improving underground train systems or introducing gas- or -electric powered cars in a bid to wean drivers from their vehicles.
Traffic management systems are becoming smarter and researchers hope the internet, coupled to satellite global positioning systems, will prove to be a fantastic tool to advise car users on how to avoid congested routes.
But European capitals are also looking at tough, coercive measures that would have been unthinkable just five years ago.
These include levies on the most polluting cars; taxes on cars that enter city centres at peak times or are carrying less than two or three people; and an outright bar on auto access to some zones.
Thierry Proteau, director of communications at the European Automobile Manufacturers Association in Brussels, is concerned that the automobile could become a scapegoat.
European car makers signed a voluntary agreement with the European Commission last year to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from about 180 grammes per kilometer to 140 grammes per kilometer by 2008, he said.
As for congestion, "coercive measures against the car will not resolve the problem. You have to work on the right measures, such as improving road infrastructure and other equipment," he said
Proteau put his finger on the dilemma: "European car users are all in favour of improving the flow of traffic, but I am not sure they'll accept tax and other coercive measures against the car."