Wait, before you descend on a nearby dealership, September 22 isn’t a day to get a free car, it’s a day to encourage human beings to leave their cars at home and walk, cycle, skateboard, scooter or ride horseback to get around their day. For those with long commutes, public transportation is the next best thing.
Car Free Day is a worldwide phenomenon. It was conceptualized in the 1970s, says Wikipedia, but was popularized in the 1990s by Eric Britton at the Accessible Cities Conference in Toledo, Spain. Iceland took up the call, as did Britain, France, cities in the Netherlands and, in 2000, it became a European initiative. Now it is observed the world over.
Since 2000, Bogotá, Colombia has held the world’s largest car-free weekday to preserve the environment and “to reflect on the use of public transport.” Some cities, like Jakarta or Tehran, have car free days once a week, but most countries in the world hold it once a year.
While not an officially organized Car Free Day, every year traffic in Israel stops for more than 24 hours in observance of Yom Kippur, which falls on October 2 this year. Observed for the purpose of atonement, repentance and spiritual renewal that begins with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, is the holiest day in Judaism.
Except for ambulances, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, says amusingplanet. com, Yom Kippur “encompasses all motorized vehicles, including cars and public transportation such as buses, trains, taxis and airplanes.” According to the website, “air pollution in Israel on that day, measured by nitrogen oxides, dropped by 99 percent.”
Not only to mitigate pollution from cars and to preserve the environment, car-free days allow humans to navigate their day under their own steam in order to further their health goals and to notice their town’s nearby nature. A day free from the car enables drivers to slow down and experience their towns and cities without the crush of traffic.
It also supports sustainable urban planning by making towns that are walkable and bicycle-friendly, much like Wimberley’s Urban Trails initiative proposed by the city council in August.
