 Pollution in European cities is rampant. But if the European Union has its way, that will soon change. As of Jan. 1, all cities will have to comply with new clean air laws. Downtown tolls and street closures may result. Expensive lawsuits are also in the works. The faces of the traffic experts attending the ADAC (German Automobile Association) industry conference became visibly longer with each sentence uttered by the speaker. German traffic taboos, after all, were being broken -- the freedom of German roads was under attack. The future, he was saying, could include the following: the closure of more city streets to traffic; the widening of the snail-paced 30 km/h (18 mph) zones within metropolitan areas; even the imposing of temporary driving bans. The timing of the meeting was appropriate: Friday, Nov. 13. | And here I was, thinking it had something to do with the BBC. Read the rest at the link. |
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