IF Darwen were renamed Damascus, would we car drivers, as citizens of the world, be any more likely to see the light?

The evidence of the effect of our traffic on health, the environment, global warming and the nature of our society, is telling us ever more clearly that we are on a direct route for disaster.

The problem of achieving a U-turn manoeuvre which is necessary to lead us away from these increasing dangers cannot wait any longer for a solution.

Counting the 90 per cent of cars with single occupants in the traffic jam along the A666 seemed to confirm that the fault lies in ourselves, not in the stars.

Leadership will be required to take decisions at local, national and international government levels, that are unpopular with the individual motorists and the multinational organisations with vested interests in oil and the motor car.

The fact that we shall have to give on convenience and independence to receive the benefits of a society that respects its members and the world we live in, has to be as important an aspect of our education as literacy and numeracy.

It will not be easy to establish the culture of car sharing because it is a good thing or investment in subsidised and co-ordinated public transport because the benefits are worth the cost.

Isn't it strange that we have travelled so far without noticing the dangers of driving with 'our eyes shut'!

CHRIS THAYNE, Blackburn with Darwen Liberal Democrats, Woodlands Grove, Darwen.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.