World Car Free Day on September 22, 2012

According to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), less British towns are supporting World Car Free Day on 22 September - the annual event that encourages motorists in over 1,000 towns around the globe to leave their cars at home in favour of bicycles, trains and buses. The ETA say the reasons for the low show of support can be blamed on slashed budgets for local government and dwindling interest in the environment. Of the 400 councils that the ETA wrote to asking if they were intending to support the event, a mere 2 councils replied back. Director of the ETA, Andrew Davis, said: “The economic downturn has distracted attention and diverted budgets away from green initiatives such as Car Free Day, but questioning our over-dependence on cars is as much about saving money at the pumps as it is improving the local environment in which we live and work.” In the past ten years, there were several British towns (as much as 50) staging events around World Car Free Day, now the figure is as low as only ten towns planning anything this year. Surprisingly, it's Spain who tops the league table of countries with the largest amount of events taking place in their towns. Sadly for us here in the UK, we fall somewhere near the bottom behind Croatia and Slovenia. For more information on World Free Car Day, please click here.