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SMOG IN L.A.
The terrible smog which plagues Los Angeles and Silicon Valley is caused by the 25 million vehicles and its particular geographical situation. Cars have a great importance for many Calofornians; they are symbols of status and freedom. The „freedom“ is nowadays severely limited by the amount of traffic on the highways which often brings everything to a standstill and fills the air with thick smog. Still, many families have 2 or 3 cars and the „coming of age“ for each teenager means gettin a new car or at least a driverīs licence. The average car sales room in California has a 50% higher turnover than those in the rest of the USA. In 1991, 30 million cars were registered in the state: more cars per habitant than anywhere else in the world. This, of course, also causes problems: traffic noise, accidents and SMOG. Los Angeles is an Autopia. With ist 3.600.000 people, it is not the biggest city in the U.S., but its traffic is record-braking. Los Angeles is often called the home of the freeway. You can sometimes hear that the 700 miles of the freeways are where the Angelinos live a large part of their lives. Two thirds of the citieīs area are devoted to traffic, and the notorious smog there is largely due to automobiles. The first great smog ocurred on September 8th, 1943. Since then, daily air quality checks have become a familiar part of everyday life in this city. In order to improve the situation, the city plans to attract more car drivers to public transport up to the year 2000. The key measure is the is the construction of an elaborate metro system which, it is hoped, will be completed by the end of the millenium. |
