Many cities in northern Italy banned traffic for several hours Sunday in a one-day bid to fight pollution. The length of the bans varied from region to region, but most ranged from six to 12 hours.
ROME -- Many cities in northern Italy banned traffic for several hours Sunday in a one-day bid to fight pollution.
The length of the bans varied from region to region, but most ranged from six to 12 hours. Lombardy, which includes Milan, banned traffic except for low-level polluting cars from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700 GMT-1900 GMT). Turin, an automotive capital at the foot of the Alps, was among the metropolitan areas joining the ban.
Last week, Rome had a similar one-day ban.
Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, a Greens leader, called Sunday's initiative "a beginning. Useful but not enough," according to an interview with Milan daily Corriere della Sera.
Scanio said that in nearly all Italian cities, there is an average of 500 cars for every 1,000 inhabitants, and that in Rome, there are 732 cars for every 1,000 inhabitants, the report said.
Source: Associated Press
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