last
updated 29 Sep 04
by 4ecotips.com
European Mobility Week is a week-long
event, first launched by the European
Commission in 2002, to promote sustainable
modes of transport in cities. It was
due to end with a ‘Car Free
Day’ – did you know you
had to leave your car at home on 22
September? Somebody kept it quiet
in the UK.
This year’s theme was ‘Safe
Streets for Children’ and over
1,000 cities across the EU were to
participate! The Commission launched
the week with a high-level conference
in Brussels called ‘Smart Moves
for Sustainable Mobility’ focusing
on how to give people options to change
their behaviour to more sustainable
means of transport.
“Thousands of citizens across
Europe commute to and from work, facing
traffic jams, polluted air and noise,”
says the Environment Commissioner
Margot Wallström. “It is
not an easy task for local decision
makers to stand up for what is perceived
as restrictive mobility policies.
However, we must meet the challenge
head-on. There are no excuses for
not taking concrete steps to improve
and make mobility sustainable in cities.”
The conference will showed that it
was possible and that the technology
was available and will support those
that make smart moves for sustainable
mobility.
The conference was opened by Commission
Vice President Neil Kinnock and Mr.
Pieter Van Geel, Minister for the
Environment in the Netherlands
Road deaths in
Europe
There are 45,000 road deaths per year
in Europe, a number which governments
all over Europe are trying hard to
reduce. 60,000 deaths are caused by
air pollution. In both cases, children
are the most vulnerable, in particular,
children living in urban areas.
European Mobility Week aims to focus
minds on identifying lasting solutions
for lasting change. Many cities and
towns all over Europe already work
hard on promoting alternative means
of transport: they are providing good
and efficient public transport, they
offer incentives to citizens that
go for environmentally friendly cars,
they try to give the city centre back
to pedestrians, etc.
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