Choking On The Smoke

Newcastle Herald

Saturday April 24, 1999

Brent Davison

THE old Astra had seen its 10th birthday but, judging by the looks of the smoke belching from its exhaust pipe, would not make 11 without major heart surgery.

We see them every day on the way to and from work or heading for the supermarket or even dropping or collecting the kids to and from school.

Normally I avoid accosting my fellow motorists but on this particular morning I just could not help myself.

Drawing alongside at a set of traffic lights, I rolled down the window and got the attention of the woman driving the old Holden.

`Do you know your car is blowing a lot of smoke?' I asked.

`Yes,' she replied, `it's been doing it for ages.'

`Does it worry you, the damage being done to your engine and all that pollution your car is putting out?'

`No. I only use it to drive to and from work each day. Besides, it's only one car, isn't it?'

With that the light changed to green and off we went, the Astra (and one or two others in the line) wreathed in its dirty blue/grey smokescreen.

We are a selfish bunch, we motorists. We will fight tooth and nail to gain just one extra car length in traffic, complain long and loud if the traffic is flowing even 5kmh slower than we want it to and, it seems, happily spread a few tonnes of pollution each on an annual basis.

Here's something to consider: if a next-door neighbour lit a backyard incinerator to dispose of the household rubbish we would call in every authority we could think of to stop it.

We would say that our neighbour was aggravating the kids' asthma, making the washing smell and stinking up the house. In other words, polluting our environment.

Then we would hop into our 10-year-old Astra (or Corolla, Commodore or whatever) and head for the shops, work or school oblivious to what we are doing to the greater environment.

Isn't it about time we accepted the responsibilities of car ownership?

Why is it that so many of us want the best of everything for our families and our homes, even our pets, yet we drive around in old clunkers which should have been either properly maintained or consigned to the auto graveyard ages ago?

And please don't drag out the old arguments about repairs cost. If we can afford to own a car we should be able to afford its maintenance. If not, then catch a bus.

Perhaps it's time that Australia as a whole discovered that motor vehicles, like drivers' licences, are a privilege and not a right.

Why should any of us have to breathe in noxious fumes simply because some drivers are too lazy to repair or replace their malfunctioning cars?

This afternoon I'm planning on burning 50 or 60 kilos of plastic and household rubbish in an outside incinerator. I'm calling it my contribution to the Australian lifestyle.