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During the
rush hour, one in five of the cars on our crowded roads is taking a
child to school. This has implications for the world's natural
resources as well as for pollution.
Two-thirds of the world's rubber, for example, is used for motor
tyres.
In Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, you can actually see this
pollution. It fills the air with fumes, and shortens the lives of
rickshaw drivers. In the USA, low petrol prices and huge distances
invite the use of the car. Fumes affect UK children, too. Students
discover that 13 per cent of today's children suffer from asthma;
while only eight per cent of parents can recall asthma affecting
themselves or their classmates. The students propose a
'walk-to-school week'; and they survey passing traffic with a view
to 'shopping the polluter'.
In Denmark, 'home-zones' give pedestrians and cyclists priority in
streets and squares. Sixty per cent of Danish children cycle to
school along cycle tracks, compared with only one per cent of UK
children.
In Horndean, pupils are asking for new cycle routes and monitoring
new traffic-calming measures. They confront the Transport Planning
Officer. How could the present scheme be improved? In the Danish
town Odense, there are as many bicycles as people. There are cycle
lanes and special traffic lights. Per capita, Denmark has one-tenth
the number of cycle accidents in the UK.
What can you do?
- Share cars, cycle, walk.
- Persuade your parents to use the car
less.
- Monitor the number of single-occupant
cars.
- Persuade your council to try dual-use
pavements.
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