September 22, European Car Free Day

The World Car-Free Day is celebrated every year on September 22, where the main objective of this day is to discourage the use of the car, seeing that its use on a large scale causes great damage to the environment (air and noise pollution), to inculcate the citizens to leave this means of transport for a day and try new means of travel.

The origin of the date dates back to the 1973 oil crisis, where concern over the supply of oil prompted various European governments to decide to leave the car parked and promote more efficient means of transport.

In October 1994 the first car-free days were organized. Initially, the cities of Reykjavík (Iceland), La Rochelle (France) and Bath (Great Britain) took the initiative to implement the Car Free Day. The first country to implement the campaign at the national level is Great Britain in 1997. And in 2000 it was constituted as a European initiative by the European Commission.

This day reminds us that we must change our mentality and opt for alternative, environmentally friendly means of transport.

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