The only no-fail fool-proof guaranteed save-the-earth lose-weight get-rich-quick scheme

For the Environment

  1. Car production consumes more resources than any other industry. [ref]
  2. Do-it-yourself mechanics dump as much motor oil every 2.5 weeks as was spilled by Exxon Valdez[ref]
  3. Over a third of the world's oil consumption is accounted for by vehicles.[ref]
  4. In Ontario, Almost one million hectares of prime farm land have been paved over to build 160,000km of highways[ref]
  5. Road kill is estimated to be 4 per car per year, or 2 billion annually worldwide[ref]
  6. Transportation is by far the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in North American Cities[ref]

For your Health

  1. Traffic pollution has been linked with heart and lung disease, asthma, hay fever attacks and it may cause cancer.[ref]
  2. Car users can be exposed to pollution levels up to 18 times higher than those experienced by cyclists and pedestrians[ref]
  3. On Average, One Person is Killed in an accident on Ontario roads every 8 hours and injured every six minutes.
  4. The accident rate on local Ottawa roads has jumped more than 18% since 1990[ref]
  5. Fatal motor vehicle accidents annually claim the lives of 300,000 people world wide[ref]
  6. Exposure to the noise, congestion, danger and frustration of traffic can be a major cause of stress (and exercise by walking or cycling can be a major stress reliever)[ref]

For the Love of Money

  1. The CAA Estimates the annual cost of running the average car in Canada in 1994 to be $7,403 (about 20% of the average family's after tax income)[ref]
  2. Every year Ontario taxpayers spend $8 Billion subsidizing car users[ref]
  3. Medical costs due to traffic collisions and air pollution are over $2 Billion in Ontario[ref]
  4. In 1990, 800,000 police hours were spent on Ontario highway accidents[ref]
  5. In Canada, it costs 10 times more to create a job in the automobile sector than it does in farming, fishing or housing construction.[ref]
  6. Only 15 cents of every dollar spent on gas stays in the local economy, vs 40 cents of a basket of goods