Sunday, March 16, 2014

Driving By Numbers

Being a teenager and only having my driver’s license for a short time, I’m only allowed to take a car when my parents let me. They have this right since they’re the ones who own the car and I’m still a kid, but the government shouldn’t have this right too.
In France the government is putting restrictions on when people can drive their own cars. Due to the rise in the pollution level in France, citizens are only allowed to drive their cars every other day. They’ve been monitoring this based on if your registration number ends with an even or odd number.
In my opinion, if people have the means to own a car, they should be able to use it. People don’t buy cars just to have them; they are necessary in today’s society for many people. Adults can’t just go to work or drive their children to school every other day. And yes, arrangements can be made in terms of carpooling or public transportation, but what about in cases of emergency? In France they had hundreds of police on the streets to make sure only the even and odd numbered cars were out on their designated days. So what happens if an odd car is on the way to the emergency room on an even day? Being pulled over is definitely not the ideal situation in such a scenario.
Beyond that, by controlling when citizens can drive their cars I think the government is intruding too far into the personal lives of the people. What’s next, telling people when they can turn on their lights or their televisions? There are other ways to combat global warming without compromising the rights of the people. If this were to happen in America, how would Americans react?

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