CAR-FREE DAY – 20 OCTOBER

Whose lunatic idea is this? Here he is (scroll all the way to the end).

According to my local freesheet, on October 20^th all cars will be banned from Johannesburg roads, and we will have to take buses and trains to work. Oh yes, and our friendly Metro police will be there to make sure nobody cheats and sneaks through the cordon.

Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said “The plan is to declare car-free days more regularly with the aim of ensuring that by 2010 people are used to the idea”.

Car-free sounds like a nice idea in a country with a reasonable alternative, and while I’m all for freeing up public spaces for the all-important pedestrian, I don’t think they’ve thought this one through too carefully.

Johannesburg is not designed to be car-free, the car is the reason for the sprawl, and since yesterday someone torched a train and then there’s this, I’m thinking some things just don’t translate from other countries.