The Dublin Cycling Campaign is an independent, voluntary lobby group that has been working to improve the city for all cyclists for over a decade and a half.
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Car Free Day
Car-Free Day 2003 Press Release
On Monday 22 September the Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) have organised a wake for the death of Car-Free Day in the city. In sorrow rather than anger the DCC are erecting a tombstone to mourn its passing at a gathering on the steps of the Civic Offices at 1pm.
David Maher (PRO for the DCC) explained why the wake had been organised "All over Europe, cities are closing roads to cars and encouraging citizens to use alternative means of transport as part of European Car Free day. In Dublin however, not a single street has been reserved for pedestrians and cyclists on this day. Dublin City Council is again virtually ignoring the event. They are organising some events for the day before but nothing for the day itself".
While in Dublin the event is now no more than a farce, in other european cities the event has gone from strength to strength. Last year in Munich the main street was closed to traffic and 200,000 people enjoyed a street festival, where they were invited to "reclaim their street" by cycling, skating, walking and dancing. Even huge cities such as London are achieving much more on this day than Dublin. Milan now enjoys 6 car free days a year, while Paris closes off city roads to create a beach for its citizens to enjoy their city in a safe environment for a full 6 weeks during the summer.
Maher continued "the Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) are extremely disappointed at the failure by the city council again to respond to the needs of the hundreds of thousands of cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users to have even a small sample of what the city could be like without motorised vehicles."
The European Mobility Week and "In town without my car!" initiatives arose from the fact that today almost 40% of the transport sector's CO2 emissions are produced by the use of private cars in cities.
Maher finished by stating "while in other countries, Car free day is seen as an opportunity to promote sustainable transport alternatives, in Dublin the authourities appear determined to ignore the day, to ensure that Dublin is grid locked by cars 365 days a year. Do Dublin citizens not deserve better than this?"
