Dear Editor,
In Sao Paolo, Brazil, on weekday evenings, Saturday afternoons and Sunday all day, several kilometres of a major highway in the city centre is closed to cars and open to pedestrians and cyclists. In October 2015, Paris experienced a car-free day and citizens were exhilirated. While I was still living in Italy, the city of Florence instituted a car-free Sunday, and for the first time many people were able to walk in the streets and look at the sights that made the city world famous. Several Italian cities also had alternate car days, decided by the odd or even final digit of licence plates. These events happened because the city officials admitted that pollution (air and noise) had risen to dangerous levels.
The pollution in Richmond is getting worse all the time. The number of cars on the road is rising vertiginously, and yet one of the big concerns remains how to facilitate traffic by building more roads and bigger bridges. Perhaps it’s time to look at what other cities in the world are doing and follow their lead, beginning with car-free days in the centre of Richmond and — why not — alternate car days.
Who can argue that what’s good for the legs is good for the lungs? And let’s add — car-free is care-free.
Sabine Eiche
Richmond
