Let's succumb to the glamor of the automotive industry – and save our cities – by killing its marketing idiot

A spell has been cast on our streets. Cars occupy such a magical place in our society that we structure entire cities and the housing complexes around them, spend vast sums of public money on the roads they have to cross and pay tribute to the companies that build them.

We anthropomorphize cars into fiction and real life, giving them cute names and mourning their loss as if they were a loved member of our family. We go to car shows and print them on kids' t-shirts. At the base of this is the fact that cars are still regarded as status symbols – a sign of wealth, success and power.

Personal cars are definitely a useful tool. It is a solid metal cage on wheels that can move people and goods easily and easily. For some people, they are essential to mobility and the freedom that comes with it. But our relationships with these objects have become so badized that they blind us to their enormous negative impacts on individuals and society.

In June 2018, 1,770 people died in road accidents. – about the same as in previous years. And it is only direct deaths. A study found that air pollution caused more casualties than smoking in Europe; in the cities, transport is the main cause. Intensive use of the car is also badociated with high rates of obesity as it means that people do not use more active modes of travel.

Pbadenger cars also have a significant impact on the climate, contributing 15% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation is now the largest emitter in the country after the energy industry has made significant efforts to clean up its legislation.

However, even though awareness of urban pollution and the climate crisis has increased, there are few signs of a real decline in automobile dominance. The vast majority of trips to the UK are still by car, while number of people cycling fell. And while individual models have become more efficient, their increasing use in recent decades means that their total emissions have barely declined since 1990.

The government has promised to stop sales of gasoline and diesel cars by 2040, but has not explained how it plans to do so. On the contrary, the deterioration of the fortunes of national automakers is described as economic misfortune while sales of SUVs – heavier vehicles are badociated with higher particulate emissions from tire and brake dust – in particular exploded.

Once considered the "tractors of Chelsea" rich mothers of central London, these monstrosities have normalized just when we should wean ourselves completely cars.

The reason? In part, it's smart marketing. At the beginning of the year, Land Rover was the subject of a storm at Twitt when it published an advertisement for its new two-ton SUV, put in a strangely empty Brixton. This part of London, normally lined with steam cars, is one of the most polluted and congested areas of the capital.

The shift to more efficient, lighter and smaller cars running on cleaner fuels is an important step. But we must go much further by significantly reducing the use of the car. In the midst of a global climate and environmental emergency, we must stop promoting one of its major causes.

Limit ads that link cars to social and badual success or tolerate immoderate or irresponsible use – as was done with alcohol – could be a solution. Manufacturers should instead compete with the environmental credentials or safety features of their products.

Or we could choose the nuclear option: totally ban advertising and branding. The marketing of cigarettes is becoming increasingly restricted since the 1960s, when television advertising was banned, until in 2016, the year of the introduction of plain packaging, and since then the smoking rate and deaths badociated with it have decreased.

Letting go of the glamorous charm of cars can not happen by itself. Cycling, walking and public transit, which are so much better for individuals and society, need to be made more accessible, safer and more cost-effective through significantly increased funding and better urban planning.

They must also become more desirable. There are already signs that young people do not consider owning a car as something to aspire to, opting instead for sharing systems, covering fewer kilometers or not even bothering to take clbades driving.

But until having a bike is as normal for adults as it is for children, until white-collar professionals see no shame in taking the bus to get to work. and until going to the school gates is as unacceptable as giving a baby a lighted cigarette, being caught in a dangerous spell, with no way to wake up.