Rome Bans Cars

[Blarg]

When people bash the USA they forget that we sometimes lead the world in the issue of pollution control. California really got the ball rolling many years ago with higher emission standards than the rest of the country and significantly reduced the smog levels in areas like the Los Angeles basin. There were California and 49 state cars and to this day you can't register a car in this state that was a 49 state car until it reaches the magical 40 year old mark.

 

In Italy cities like Rome and Milan they have been instituting bans on car usage over three day periods trying to break the cloud of poisonous fumes that engulf these cities. In 2008 Milan was listed as the worst air polluted city in Europe and has been struggling to shake the title. They now offer discounted public transportation tickets to get people off he road. In Rome they are using an even odd ban on cars on alternate days,

 

This should be part of a travel advisory to those thinking of seeing Italy from a rented vehicle. You may find yourself garaged in major cities, unable to go anywhere because of a smog day restriction.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188685

 

 

 

[gotbeer]

I remember reading an article a number of years ago.  And they were saying the biggest enemy of the Colosseum and other structures of that type was pollution.  I think the same thing was said about India and the Taj Majal. 

 

That they are resorting to 3 days of no driving is really just a bandaid to their problems. 

[eaterfan]

I'm not old enough to remember when it was really bad here but my dad tells me stories about how thick the smog cloud was here in the 60s and 70s. It's amazing the issue has gotten better despite the huge increase in the number of vehicles on the streets since then.

People complain that environmental regulation here drives business to other states and abroad. But when people can't go outside often because if smog days it's worth it. The cost of regulation is high but there is a cost to deregulation as well with all the health problems that come from dirty air and water.

The weather and topography of the region make it extremely susceptible to air pollution especially if nothing is done.

[Blarg]

We used to have smog alert days at school and they would suspend recess. It was bad. Not that the air is really clean these days but the difference is pretty significant.

 

I looked at an old FIAT to buy in Las Vegas that was almost identical to my first new car I bought in 1978. Turned out it was a 49 state car and wouldn't be able to register it for 3 more years when the restrictions phase out. The difference was minimal but you can't just bolt on the mandated California smog controls and call it a 50 state.

[Homebrewer]

My family moved to Socal in 65. We lived for a year in Glendora, before buying a house in Huntington Beach.

In those days, the San Gabriels were seldom visible from their own foothills. It was that bad.

My lungs would burn from any exertion at recess or in PE.

It was pretty damn bad.

 

Driving through LA these days, especially on winter weekends, when you can see the mountain ranges clearly form as far away as LAX...I think that the extra we pay for gasoline and having tough standards for smog control has been worth it.

But it's probably only because I do remember what it was like back in the 60's.

[gotbeer]

I'm not old enough to remember when it was really bad here but my dad tells me stories about how thick the smog cloud was here in the 60s and 70s. It's amazing the issue has gotten better despite the huge increase in the number of vehicles on the streets since then.

People complain that environmental regulation here drives business to other states and abroad. But when people can't go outside often because if smog days it's worth it. The cost of regulation is high but there is a cost to deregulation as well with all the health problems that come from dirty air and water.

The weather and topography of the region make it extremely susceptible to air pollution especially if nothing is done.

 

I remember in elementary school, when they would have stage 3 smog alerts.  It was so bad, you could barely see the next building that was maybe 50 feet away. 

 

At least in the LA area, compared to where we were then.  It's a galaxy far far away.  IE on the other hand, still gets the residual crap that's still very visible.  Probably even today on a cold clear day, you will see the smog line as it creeps towards the IE. 

[Brandon]

Damn, I'm not that old and remember the school smog alerts where we couldn't go out.

[Amazing Larry]

This doesn't count Vespas does it?!!!

Edited December 28, 2015 by Lawrence

[Homebrewer]

When I was in school, we didn't have smog alerts.

We went out and played in the smog... we wheezed, and we liked it. It built character.

Kids today could do with a little smog. Bunch of softies.

[nate]

Damn, I'm not that old and remember the school smog alerts where we couldn't go out.

 

Yep.

 

And some people think that it was a mistake to sign that treaty to lower emissions...

[mtangelsfan]

Not as much a mistake as a meaningless gesture.  

[Ray McKigney]

I thought this thread was about that idiot Jim Rome.

[Tank]

when my wife was the secretary at my school, we had a machine in the office that was dedicated to smog alerts from the AQMD. glad to say that machine (and the need for it) has been gone for many, many years.

 

glad to see rome is starting to do something though it may not really address the problem. those morons in china really need to get their crap together.

[Jobu]

those morons in china really need to get their crap together.

They're just waiting for Amazon to deliver their country sized television...

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/blue-skies-in-china-can-only-appear-on-screens-because-1458359419

[Tank]

They're just waiting for Amazon to deliver their country sized television...

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/blue-skies-in-china-can-only-appear-on-screens-because-1458359419

 

"china is basically blade runner." nice.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Damn, I'm not that old and remember the school smog alerts where we couldn't go out.

same here. I think were both hitting mid...late young life.

Damn...i remember getting a lesson on air raid drills too because of the cold war. Maybe i am an old sh*t.

[Tank]

i remember air raid drills, as well.

 

thank goodness crawling under a desk would have been enough to keep us safe from bombs, shattered glass, and nuclear radiation.

[eaterfan]

i remember air raid drills, as well.

thank goodness crawling under a desk would have been enough to keep us safe from bombs, shattered glass, and nuclear radiation.

Mock those desks all you want but not one American school child ever died in a nuclear attack while at school.

[Tank]

Mock those desks all you want but not one American school child ever died in a nuclear attack while at school.

Word.

[Ray McKigney]

You can see these signs posted all along the border.

 

[Tank]

Well done, Ray.

[Tank]

Crap, top of the page!

[Vegas Halo Fan]

i remember air raid drills, as well.

 

thank goodness crawling under a desk would have been enough to keep us safe from bombs, shattered glass, and nuclear radiation.

 

I was in elementary school in Florida and my father was in the military during the Cuban missile crisis. I remember the films - being told to "drop and cover" if I saw the flash overhead. Never mind that I would have been incinerated seconds later. It was comforting to know that my school desk would protect me against a direct nuclear strike, though. Just hope that it doesn't happen during recess, where there are no desks.

[Tank]

Oh, if it happened during recess all of us were dead in our tracks.

Schools should have smartened up and put desks all over the playground. How dare they play with our lives like that.