The world wants to drive

By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2004-09-12

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Think of all the complaining we've been doing about air pollution from cars and trucks in the industrialized countries. Now multiply that pollution problem by two, or three, or four as developing countries get on board the auto mania bandwagon . . . a scary thought!

China, for example, is feverishly constructing roads and highways, but still can't keep pace with the explosion in private-vehicle road use. Auto production and sales increased at 50 percent/year over the past two years, and the trend is expected to continue for at least several more years. Beijing reached a figure of 2 million private vehicles last year. The city expect to have 3.5 million by the time the summer Olympics opens there in 2008. The nation expects to have 140 million private automobiles on its roads by 2020, seven times more than at present.

These kinds of projections are causing headaches in government and industry planning centers around the world, but plans, or at least plans for plans, are in the works to alleviate the problem. This past summer the World Business Council for Sustainable Development released a report on the topic that has been several years in the making.

The report, titled Mobility 2030: Meeting the Challenges to Sustainability was developed under the aegis of the council using resources from 12 global automotive and energy companies: DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hydro, Michelin, Nissan, Renault, Shell, Toyota and Volkswagen.

The concerns expressed in the report go beyond pollution. The effects of congestion and lack of planning on business development and on economic and social opportunity around the world also were a major concern.

If current mobility trends continue, says the report, social, economic, and environmental costs worldwide would be unacceptably high, but these costs can be avoided if society as a whole focuses on the achievement of seven goals set out in the report.

The seven goals

• Ensure automotive emissions do not constitute a significant global health concern
• Limit greenhouse-gas emissions from transport to sustainable levels
• Reduce significantly the numbers of transport-related deaths and serious injuries
• Reduce transport-related noise
• Mitigate traffic congestion
• Reduce mobility - opportunity gaps that inhibit economically and socially disadvantaged groups from achieving better lives . . . help poorer countries escape poverty
• Preserve and enhance mobility

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