Italian Traffic Solution

Italian Traffic Solution

THE INEVITABLE HAS HApened. Private cars are being banned from the central areas of some of Italy’s most-crowded cities this summer. City officials, though, are recognizing the implicit advantages of two-wheeled transportation by permitting motorcycles and mopeds to circulate on an unrestricted basis on roads otherwise closed to all but emergency vehicles and delivery trucks.

The first experiment of this sort took place in Rome in February,

1987, when the city was closed to all traffic except for bikes with displacements of up to l 50cc. The plan worked so well that the restriction of private cars now has been instituted on a permanent basis, but with two-wheelers of any type or engine size now permitted to travel freely within the city. Many cities have since followed suit.

The advantages of motorcycles over cars were concisely summarized by advocates of an automobile ban in the historic hill town of Perugia, who in their summation included some interesting statistics. Apart from the obvious fact that the average bike takes up a tenth of the road space of a family car (3.93 square feet vs. 36.9), bikes are also less toxic, as a vehicle’s emissions increase in direct relation to its carburetor size and number of cylinders, and are more fuel efficient. According to a recent study, the average 750cc motorcycle covers 197 passenger feet per given unit of fuel compared to 236 for a moped, 59 to 158 for a bus (depending on its size) and just 39 for a typical mid-sized family car.

Italians love their cars as few other nations, but if the experience of these cities is anything to go by, their lead in recognizing the inherent advantages of two-wheeled transportation in reducing traffic congestion and chaos could be followed before very long by other countries.

Alan Cathcart