World Car Free Day
World Car Free Day is an annual event that prompts us to reflect on the impact cars have on our society. Cars provide us with many freedoms, enabling us to participate more fully in society. Especially in rural parts of the world, it’s hard to imagine how citizens could conduct their modern lives without the instant mobility that a car provides. For example, in rural Ireland, only 34% of the population are within walking distance of a shop, demonstrating the key role the car plays in connecting our communities.
However, this instant mobility comes at a substantial cost to our climate, economy, and health. It’s estimated that emissions from transport account for approximately 37% of global emissions, and this sector has been one of the most difficult to decarbonise. The reasons for this are manifold, and they’re typically linked to our built environment. Our cities and towns have adapted to this instant mobility, and retrofitting or designing the car out of these environments is difficult and can take time. The World Health Organization estimates that poor air quality, with traffic being a major contributor, is responsible for approximately 6.7 million premature deaths a year globally. Traffic noise also has negative health impacts, and the European Environmental Agency estimates that one in five citizens in the European Union (EU) are exposed to unhealthy levels of noise. In 2023, it’s estimated that 1.19 million people lost their lives in road traffic accidents. When considering these three statistics together, it’s clear that the cost of this instant mobility is considerably high.
From a climate and air quality perspective, at least, do we have a saviour in the electric car? It’s clear that, from a private mobility perspective, electric cars are the future; they considerably reduce emissions and have positive impacts on air quality. But one also needs to consider the life cycle cost of these cars. There’s been considerable growth in the sales of these vehicles over the past five years; however, it’s worth noting that electric cars currently account for just 4% of the total passenger car population globally. As stated, the growth in sales is positive, but can the switch from internal combustion engine (ICE) cars to electric cars happen quickly enough to help us stay within our carbon limits and give us the best chance of impacting global warming?
Even if we could snap our fingers and replace all ICE cars with electric cars, we would still have one very significant problem: congestion. In 2019, it was estimated that the cost of congestion in the EU was approximately €110 billion per annum; in the US, this figure was estimated at $74 billion in 2024. The facts behind these numbers are that citizens are spending longer in cars and that, for example, in the UK, annual congestion means people spend an extra 62 hours in the car on average, at a cost of £5817.
While Car Free Day is perhaps important for optics and reflection, what’s needed is a more fundamental realignment of our relationship with this instant mobility, given the cost it imposes on our societies.
Professor in Transportation in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin. His research addressing global issues such as the environmental impacts of transport and methods to reduce the carbon impacts of transport. He has published over 200 papers in these areas in high impact international journals and international conferences.