Write a short note on 'A day without vehicles'
Answers
A road freed of cars may sound like an impossible idea, but
Namma Chennai Namakke (NCM) is attempting the impossible.
A joint initiative by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and Chennai City Connect Foundation, NCM has launched a project — Cycle Sundays — which will attempt to free the roads of cars at least for a day every week so that cyclists can have a ride that is a little less hindered. And pedestrians, a walk that a little less risky
The events, which vary by location, give motorists and commuters an idea of their locality with fewer cars. While projects along these lines had taken place from time to time on an ad hoc basis starting with the 1973 oil crisis, it was only in October 1994 that a structured call for such projects was issued in a keynote speech by Eric Britton at the International Ciudades Accessibles (Accessible Cities) Conference held in Toledo (Spain).[2]
Within two years the first Days were organized in Reykjavík (Iceland), Bath (United Kingdom) and La Rochelle (France), and the informal World Car Free Days Consortium[3] was organized in 1995 to support Car-Free Days worldwide. The first national campaign was inaugurated in Britain by the Environmental Transport Association in 1997, the French followed suit in 1998 as In town, without my car! and was established as a Europe-wide initiative by the European Commission in 2000. In the same year the Commission enlarged the program to a full European Mobility Week which now is the major focus of the Commission, with the Car-Free Day part of a greater new mobility whole.