Production of cars should be banned for 10-15 years Tara Ramakrishnan, 6D

Production of cars should be banned for 10-15 years

Tara Ramakrishnan, 6D

Do you think there are too many cars on the road?  Well, I certainly do. I only realized this very recently, because until then, traffic pollution and car crashes just seemed normal, because they had been a part of my life for so long. Can you believe that? But once organizations like Whitefield Rising started spreading awareness, I realized that something was wrong, that something had to be done. This is why I believe that the production of cars should be banned for 10-15 years. Because they cause too many deaths, too much traffic and too much pollution. Don’t you think so?

My first reason is that cars cause too many deaths. Did you know that in 2013, India had the second-most car crash deaths! With 238,562 deaths, India was second in the world to China (261,367 deaths).

Manu may say that these deaths are being caused by the foolishness of the drivers themselves, and I agree that some drivers are extremely reckless, but these deaths, whether they are the fault of the driver or not, most likely would not have happened if there were not so many cars on the road.

So many people die of car crashes every year, and the number one cause is distracted driving. But whether the crash was because of a distraction, or just bad luck, it was because of a car. So no matter how helpful cars are, are they really worth so many lives?

Car deaths in the US have gone from 26 in 1900 to 35,902 in 2015. I honestly cannot believe that cars are destroying so many lives, but you might just be next.

So look at the amount of damage caused by one of many negative aspects of cars and think about the amount of damage cars can really cause.

My second reason is that cars cause too much traffic. Don’t you get frustrated by all the traffic jams that assault you as soon as you step out of your community on to the street? Well, I certainly do.

Only a couple of years ago, Bangalore was a beautiful place, and was even called the Garden City! Can you imagine anyone calling Bangalore that now? Of course not, unless you think apartments are trees and cars are leaves strewn across the ground in autumn.

If you plan on going to Delhi anytime soon, then, I would not suggest stepping out anywhere 8-11 am, because you will definitely be overwhelmed by traffic jams so horrible you wouldn’t believe it !

It’s easy to believe that traffic, like car crashes, are caused by the driver, but they wouldn’t happen if there weren’t as many cars on the road, right?

My final and most important reason is that cars cause way too much pollution. You may not notice it, but the amount of pollution in our air is steadily increasing every year, and 50-90% of that pollution is caused by automobiles. In 2013, it was shown that automobiles contributed almost half the carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide and almost a quarter of the hydrocarbons emitted in our air. All this has resulted in an increase in poor air quality.

This is significant because, in recent times, poor air quality has resulted in an increase in respiratory ailments (like asthma and bronchitis). Poor air quality also heightens the risk of life threatening ailments like cancer, and has resulted in up to 30,000 premature deaths.

Do you really believe that anything is worth air quality this bad? People in Delhi are suffering so much because of the amount of pollution there. Schools were even shut down for some time because you couldn’t see past your hand. But the problem is not only here in India, it’s everywhere around the world! Already, nearly, half of all Americans live in areas which don’t meet Federal air quality levels, but don’t lose hope, we still can do something.

All in all, this shows that pollution is a big part of today’s world and that we should be doing everything we can to better the air of today’s world.

So this is why I firmly believe that production of cars should be banned for 10-15 years. Because of the deaths, traffic and pollution it brings about. So why aren’t you doing anything about it? It’s about time we start thinking about the problems around us, especially the ones that we have caused and that we can do someth