Bustling traffic fills every available lane on the highway on your drive home from work. It's rush hour again, and it's more of a slow, steady crawl rather than a drive. You can't roll the windows down to relax and get a breath of fresh air, because the air simply isn't appealing; It's all emissions from the other cars, and the smell of burning gasoline is simply naseauting. It's moments like this when you recall the stories in the news about cities all over the world limiting car usage, and wondering how useful or effective it really is. Banning the use of cars has advantages such as helping to reduce pollution, reducing stress, and conserving resources.

Pollution is a prominent problem in every society today, and often times you witness "Go Green" campaigns on the television, with celebrities trying to persuade you, and call you to action on trying to save the Earth. A great way to actually help reduce pollution, is through a "No Driving" campaign. In the document written by Robert Duffer, he discusses how Paris partially bans driving in order to "clear the air of the global city." A system was put in place that allowed drivers who only had odd numbered license plates to drive on Monday, and only even numbered plates the following day. This helped to reduce congestion on the streets, and reduce the smog polluting the air to a safer amount. Before this was put in place, it was said that "[The smog] rivaled Beijing, China, which is known as one of the most polluted cities in the world." In "The End of Car Culture" by Elisabeth Rosenthal, the author also discusses how "If the pattern persists-and many sociologists believe it will-it will have beneficial implications for carbon emissions and the environment..." This is expressing how a lower percentage of car usage compares statistically to a lower percentage of carbon emissions in the air, which stresses a healthier environment. Maybe now we can roll down some windows while on the highway.

Stress is a major factor in everyone's life; It makes things difficult, wavers a person's focus, and isn't beneficial to your health in the slightest. These "No Driving" campaigns are actually helping to reduce the amount of stress in people, by giving them a chance to do some stress relieving activities, such as bike riding or rollerblading.  In the first source, "In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars" which is also by Elisabeth Rosenthal, a mother of two and media trainer named Heidrun Walter stated "When I had a car, I was always tense. I'm much happier this way." Walter was able to stroll on sidewalks and smell the fresh air, all while listen to the sounds of nature and children playing, free of the sound of cars. In Andrew Selsky's article, "Car-free day is spinning into a big hit in Bogota," Selsky informs the reader that Bogota makes renovations in the district on parks and sidewalks, so that during the time of "No Cars," people have enjoyable options as to how to get around the city. With such dedication to a project, it would be surprising to not be satisfied with those results.

Non-renewable resources are what power our daily lives, from gasoline to coal, once it's gone, it's gone for good. With these campaigns to ban driving, we are helping to hold on to what we have, and in a way, realizing what we have before it becomes something we had. In the second article, Paris banned driving to reduce smog, which they blamed on the use of diesel fuel rather than gasoline. The use of diesel fuel may be helping to conserve gasoline, but it's used in Paris because of a tax on gasoline, and is simply a prefferable price. By not driving at all, the citizen reduced smog, and conserved their resources for another day. In Rosenthal's second article, she discusses how Bill Ford put forward a proposal on partnership, hoping to "create cities in which 'pedestrian, bicycle, private cars, commercial and public transportation traffic are woven into a connected network to save time, conserve resources, lower emissions and improve safety." With the conservation of non-renewable resources, we are helping to ensure a future for those who success our generations.

There are so many advantages to driving, like being able to travel long distances faster, and being able to carry things with you wherever you go, but they are advantages of circumstance, and ultimately the use of cars is a price we pay with our health. The advantages of using other forms of transportation outnumber the advantages of car usage, both in the health of the people, and the health of the planet. If not using cars can reduce stress levels in people, or reduce pollution in a matter of days in densely populated cities, or even conserve the resources we can't renew, we should have banned driving already!