Car Crazy in
Denmark
Most people in Europe think that the Danes
are very concerned about the environment,
energy saving and climate change. They
certainly are – except when it comes to
driving their cars. Once they step inside
their vehicles, car owners (about 53
percent of households have cars) forget
everything they've been told about CO2
emissions, future oil shortages and the
harmful effects of road building.
Denmark is the second cheapest country
in the EU for buying both petrol and
automobiles. We have more motorways per
100,000 inhabitants than any other country
in the EU, and our roads rank third
worldwide. Each year, the average Dane
drives 16,000 kilometres, 50 percent more
than the average European. Truly, we're
very progressive!
Given all of this, it's not surprising
that local and national campaigns against
new road infrastructure projects are
condemned to failure from day one. We are
forced to fight the political
establishments in our local communities, on
the regional level and in the Parliament.
Nine out of ten politicians support
building motorways, as do the media,
business people, most of the unions (but
not all of their members), and the powerful
car and road lobby.
Nonetheless, campaign groups pop up
every time a new road construction project
appears. Some run out of arguments and
momentum in a short time, while others go
on fighting year after year. One campaign
group has been fighting since 1993 against
a destructive road project that should have
been finished in 1998! Maybe they'll lose,
but as long as the concrete has not been
poured over their beautiful landscape they
will not give in.
Other campaign groups have had small
victories: for example, the downsizing of a
planned four-lane motorway to a two-lane
road. Another road project was abandoned --
not due to its impact on people living in
the vicinity, but because of the rights of
local amphibians!
Many campaigns have succeeded in
delaying road building projects, or at
least in "softening" them with noise
reduction measures and so forth. But
although we have catalyzed discussions
about our national transport policy, we’ve
only been able to prevent a single
high-speed train line and none of the other
large infrastructure projects.
Is it hopeless? As long as local and
national campaigners still feel the need to
protest, demonstrate, organize and
elaborate alternatives, there's still
reason to be modestly optimistic. FoE
Denmark’s traffic campaigners recently
helped to create a national umbrella
organization to fight road projects, and to
promote public transport and biking as
alternatives to car driving. Let the
protests continue!
Arne Lund,
FoE Denmark
