The Edinburgh branch of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s succesfully launched in Edinburgh. Nearly a thousand spoof 'parking tickets' were issued to campaigners, who covered the whole of New Town and Stockbridge.
'The days when people could drive tank-sized cars about the city without encountering public opinion are over,' said Alliance spokesperson, Gregory Norminton. '18 of the 4x4 models in our streets fall within the highest band for CO2 emissions. This makes 4x4s the single most polluting group of cars on the market.'
'At a time of worsening global warming, and with the Stern Report making it clear that the world will face economic meltdown if it fails to reduce its carbon emissions, buying a large off-road vehicle for use in towns and cities is morally irresponsible.'
'The Alliance is fighting to reverse the effects of the automobile industry's massive advertising campaigns for these large and dangerous vehicles. We believe that government should ban advertisements for the most polluting vehicles or place visible health warnings over them, similar to those printed on cigarette packets. The largest 4x4s exceed by more than 200% the EU vehicle emissions target of 140 g CO2/km. They are also extremely dangerous to other road users, and can be fatal even at low speeds in collisions with pedestrians, especially children and the elderly.'
'The Alliance is a grassroots pressure group. Wherever people live in Edinburgh, they can help us get out our message.’
The coverage of the Edinburgh Alliance has been remarkable. They have been on Radio Forth, BBC Radio Scotland and, last Friday evening, on BBC 1's 'Reporting Scotland'. See also the following articles in The Edinburgh Evening News and The Herald:
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1658862006
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/75245.html
