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. Globally, 90% of the carbon monoxide produced is attributable to transportation. [ref]
  3. Over a third of the world's oil consumption is accounted for by motor 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. In the US experimenters kill 100 million lab animals, hunters kill 200 million "game" animals, and motorists kill nearly 400 million road animals. [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 at least 10 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. In 1995, in Canada, 166,950 people were injured on the roads. Of 3,347 deaths, 2610 were in motorvehicules, and 165 on motorcycles. 415 pedestrians were killed and 64 cyclists. [ref]
  5. 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]
  7. Residents of streets with light traffic had three times as many friends, and twice as many aquaintances as residents of streets with heavy traffic. [ref]
  8. Children under the age of 25 are more likely to be killed by a car than by cancer. [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. In 1993, Ottawa-Carleton region spent $1800 ($2495/person) million on auto travel, $143 million ($195/person) on transit, and $57 million ($78/person) on pedestrian and cycle modes. [ref]
  3. Medical costs due to traffic collisions and air pollution are over $2 Billion/year 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 [ref]
  7. A two car family requires $9,400 more per year than a one car family. This includes house, road and environmental impacts. [ref]
  8. The estimated average motor vehicle external costs (cents per mile) is: automobile 26.4c, bicycle 1.0c, walking 0.2c. [ref]