REPORTS in The Herald as I write (November 20) tragically illustrate points I made (Letters, November 15), that our addiction to oil and cars constitutes the overwhelming problem facing western society, a problem disproportionally concentrated in Glasgow.
"Forget war and terror, obesity is costing the UK more" says one headline.
Obesity costs the UK £47 billion a year. Yes, but it is not so much the raw financial cost that concerns us but the cost in terms of human suffering; heart attacks, diabetes and early death.
Another headline proclaims "UK must take action over air pollution". Traffic pollution causes breathing, heart problems, and 30,000 deaths every year.
Glasgow represents one of the worst concentrations of both traffic pollution and obesity in the developed world. Environmental lawyers are clearly justified therefore in bringing action against the UK Government, even if it is the responsibility of the local authority to do something drastic to alleviate this blight.
Lastly, the papers have recently been full of reports of road deaths. An 11-year-old girl was killed in Maryhill the other day. The main road death story in The Herald though goes back to 2010 and Glasgow city centre where two young women were killed by a Range Rover on North Hanover Street ("Prosecutors probe blackout driver who killed two students"). The council did respond to this, but in a way diametrically opposite to the right and moral one. It introduced railings to prevent the free movement of pedestrians.
Cars can now proceed at speed with no regard to anyone but themselves. Instead of traffic calming or reallocating space for walking and cycling, pedestrian calming was implemented, forcing walkers around vast diversions.
Car-free city centres are the answer to these problems. It is happening apace across the world including New York, Bogota, Paris, not to mention the cycling meccas of Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
Space and time have been given back to people in these places and in some UK cities such as Bristol and Cambridge.
Why is it not happening here?
Norman Armstrong,
Free Wheel North,
47 Braeside Street,
Glasgow.
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