Italy is a republic based on car . Freedom of choice? Needs? With such economic and social costs? The alternative possible. During the day without traffic opened in many towns of Northern Italy, a reflection on mobility in Italy and possible alternatives to the current system based on the use of private cars: a free choice or motivated by the need? Again, this system suits us or we are paying a total price too high?
E 'come, including the controversy, the car-free Sunday in many towns of the Po Valley. The reason we know it, smog levels high enough to seriously worry the authorities that oversee public health. The problem is known, and is the result of years of lack of planning on different fronti.Appare clear that in situations of high urbanization, mobility system based largely regarding your personal car shows many problems: pollution-related diseases, road accidents (with its high social costs) and other significant costs incurred by individuals and families to maintain the means of private transportation, which are added to those conferred by general taxation to maintain the public transport system.
Having then disseminated the campaign suburbs without adequate urban planning has made it almost obligatory for thousands of people choosing to use private vehicles, while the city saw a huge housing stock (20 million empty rooms) increasingly underutilized because of the high prices of rentals and sales.
How much pollution?
socialiCittaitalia costs, the foundation that develops research for the National Association of Municipalities, has made a thorough investigation into fifteen main cities of Italy coming to calculate lost € 2.6 billion for the slow movement between home and office, gasoline consumed without even one meter location, lost productivity and environmental damage. In this enormous sum of money plus € 3 billion for road traffic accidents, burned half a percentage point of GDP. And if you extend the investigation to the entire country, only in road accidents would lead to 15 billion Euros, or 2.5 percentage points of GDP. Some examples: in Rome the cost per capita is on average € 1,351 a year, you get to Naples to Genoa 905 € to 881 € and calculates, in addition to fuel costs, including environmental liabilities and private costs.
Health and pollution
According to a recent dossier released by the Greens, for environmental pollution in Italy is far cry 7400 dead per year, or, at least 20 Italians die every day in those cases, a fact which is reflected on an enormous social cost of 4 billion € and a half divided almost evenly, between health care costs and lost workdays. "A substantial number of deaths, hospital admissions and respiratory diseases, particularly in children, are attributable to pollution urban air pollution. " The order of magnitude "is the thousands or tens of thousands of cases per year in the eight major Italian cities." Overall, according to several scientific studies (2-Epair Misa), said the dossier of the Greens, "the number of deaths in Italy by pollutants such as PM10, NO2, CO, O3 are around 7,400 a year. 20 people a day die from air pollution in the country. A serious medical emergency. "
How much you have downloaded the transport problem of individual citizens?
addition to health costs and lost workdays, costs are also high that the Italians must support in order to move car.
costs of buying and maintaining
In the decade 1994-2004 the average price of passenger cars increased by 36%. Even more significant was the increase in operating costs over the same period showed a growth of 40%. These growth rates should be evaluated taking into account that at the same time increasing the overall level of consumer prices was, according to ISTAT, 30%. These data are derived from an analysis conducted by the Research Department of LeasePlan Italy, a leader in long-term rental, which placed compared to the official data published by ACI on operating costs in 1994 and in 2004.
The greatest increase has concerned the premiums for liability insurance, which in 1994 was the fourth item of expenditure (after depreciation, fuel and maintenance) and that an increase of as much as 210% leap in second place in 2004 and first place in 2008 (+134%). Also in 2008, the second place we find the cost for fuel (+ 45%), and separated from each other only by a few percentage points the "trio" mark (+ 18%), tires (+ 14%) and depreciation expense ( +12%). According to the
Adusbef, in 2006 the annual cost to maintain a car well € 4000 per family. Considering only the costs of living (therefore net of depreciation and amortization buying a car) who use public transportation spends four times less on average than those who use their cars.
"The fees and taxes imposed on cars and motorcycles - he denounced the association - forcing the Italians to spend each year 5.6% of its revenue for the maintenance of the vehicle, so that 75% of households, whose income does not exceed the 20 thousand euro, is forced to borrow to survive. In addition, the Italians are to bring into account the costs of running a car is also the policy Rc Cars. "
burden on users, both motorists and motorcyclists, according to the association, are especially items such as VAT, excise duties and excise fuel, for which annual total expenditure amounted to approximately 36.9 billion, to which we must add the VAT on the purchase of vehicles and accessories amounting to 8.8 billion euro. But if taxes are the main items of output, appear to be substantial: the figures relating to maintenance: every year, motorists spent 5.3 billion for the VAT on maintenance of vehicles and tires. "The government continues to crack down on auto and motorcycle, shall be the last stamps on Sting and increased its audits, cost over € 4 thousand a year for a tax revenue of 65 billion.
And if Add to this the drive to Rc 85.5 billion, Stresses the Adusbef, denouncing as the effect of increases in costs on transport leads to a singular paradox: in Italy on a fleet of 33 million vehicles, 21 million users pay the annual costs exceed the value of insured property. The ICA estimates that as many as one fifth of the rest of the taxes forfeited by the State derived by the system: we can say that Italy is a Republic founded on the car. But it is really a model beneficial to our country?
What to do?
Most probably it is time to reconsider very carefully the organization of our city and our region, and set a schedule which will give answers in the short, medium and long term.
Some examples of possible interventions
radical reorganization of the network of public transport
Reforming the system of urban distribution of goods;
encourage the purchase of cars with small displacement and alternative fuel systems (hybrids or CNG) ;
Encouraging the use of car-sharing;
upgrade the railways, improving supply chains as a whole, rather than just the speed on routes between their separate;
develop systems of integrated mobility between different types of transport,
Promote interventions densification of urban the gap between center and periphery and optimize infrastructures and services;
encouraging the market of empty apartments to be rented;
redistribution of services and study the mix of functions in neighborhoods;
Promoting short chain (products of the area, local crafts, etc.).
Promote telecommuting and all technologies that reduce the physical movements, such as video conferencing. This also would allow huge savings on travel time and costs, both in public and private sectors.
