20 January 2011
Today's The Age features an interesting article regarding a push in the city of Paris (France) to ban the use of large 4WDs stating that they were not suited for city living.
Here is a excerpt:
Increasingly congested roads and environmental concerns are pushing the French government closer to banning thirsty 4WDs from tight Parisian streets.
Paris government officials are well down the track towards passing regulations that would completely ban large four-wheel-drives and smoky older diesel vehicles from entering the city heart - or else tax them until their owners' wallets bleed. But
Australia's largest cities seem no closer to imposing congestion charges to discourage motorists from bringing vehicles - especially less environmentally friendly ones - into the CBD areas.
Having spent some time in various European cities around (not as much as I would have liked however) a couple of things were quite obvious to me:
- they drove far too fast for the amount of cars and pedestrians that travelled the streets
- their streets were not built to hold both parked and passing cars a the same time.
We have two cars at home, a family Subaru Outback to fit the five of us and a small hatchback Mitsubishi Mirage that I drive to the station and shopping etc. The other day I was driving home from work and came very close to a Toyota Landcruiser, I couldn't help notice the size of that vehicle compared to my Mirage.
Some people need big cars, particularly for growing families and work. However ,for the rest of the population 80% of them, it really is a status thing and the GFC nor our green finger really doesn't seem to have reduced our hunger for these cars.
I think that it is great that the Parisians are looking at placing some restrictions on these large vehicles. They really aren't necessary, particularly in overcrowded European cities. It will be interesting to see what Australians think of the move, have your say via the poll that is being run.
Original article can be found here.