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Nowadays having a car has become a real necessity. In a family, which is made up by four people, there are at least two cars. Everyone has got his own commitments and so everyone needs a car: everybody knows how many quarrels take place between parents and children because of this matter .
But when do people mainly use the car?
Workers, who are employed far from home, usually prefer using the car instead of taking the bus, because this way they don't begin their day in an irritated way because the bus is always late (despite students are condemned to wait at the bus-stop minutes after minutes!)
Moreover, it usually takes place less time: for example, with the car you can drive in the railway and so you can reach faster your working-place. You are also more indipendent because you are able to calculate the time you need to work with it: I mean, for example, the representatives, who travel round to companies or organisations, the suppliers, who must decide what to choose for their firm's advantage, or the doctors, who have to run from a place to another when they are called with urgency .
People with children always complain when they haven't a car: during the week their children go to school, they usually make a sport at least twice a week and they have the duty to go to one of their schoolmates' party... but don't worry, if no party is organized, you will receive a call from your child's best friend who will invite him by him... and you, dear mum, will not be able to say * no *. Children's everyday life is often busier than that one of an adult, so it is better to have a car to make all these transportations easier. My mother is becoming crazy because my younger sister occupies her time in such a way, but fortunately she sometimes has the strength to say * For today it's enough *.
And what about young people? Maybe my younger sister, if she was asked to write this composition, would say that I always want the car when my mother has her gym-lesson or when my father wants to go out with his friends .
I belong to that lowering class of families who have * only * a car, so aI realize how it is useful .
Young people often use it because they want to have fun in other cities, or simply because they must reach distant places, maybe during the night when buses or undergrounds don't run .
From all these different points of views using the car seems to be justified but everybody knows how it is dangerous for societies as a whole .
First of all, pollution is largely increasing not only because of the factories' smoke, but also because of the * cars' smoke *.
Traffic produces smog and it is reaching very high levels, above all in the pick: from 12:00 to 13:30 and from 18:30 to 19:30 you would better use a mask in order to protect yourself from pollution and tossic gas .
Moreover if you drive in the traffic, it's just like waiting for a bus: stress and irritation will attack you day after day... There are many statistics that claims what I'm saying: driving in the traffic is really one of the principal causes of stress .
The worse comes when you look for a park: parking in the city centre is almost impossible; of course, if you decide to get up at 6:00 in order to arrive at a quarter to seven near your office, you can find a free parking without paying. But if you start working at 9:00, what do you do from a quarter to seven to 9:00?
Besides, parking lots are very expansive, and also when you have enough money to park your car there, it is not obviuos that you will find a place for it .
In many cities people complain because there are not enough parking lots, considering the high number of cars which are used everyday .
In order to solve this problem of the too large number of cars in comparison with the available space, experts and city councils are discussing, because the situation is really difficult to support .
Some time ago in some cities the city council decided to alternate pair targes with despair ones, so to have an half number of cars per day. But this solution provoked many disagreements among people, because it caused a new reorganisation of everyday life: it lasted only few days , pollution lowered but it increased again other some weeks .
A possible and maybe more concrete solution could be that of bettering other ways of transports, which already work, but they don't work well enough .
If there was a way only for the buses, at least in the city centre, people would probably take the bus without being irritated .
In Bergamo it's difficult to imagine an underground which goes from the down-town to the up-town, but in many cities it would be a good remedy: it is fast, it is often on time and it is comfotable enough and it is not so expansive. On the other hand it is very expansive to build it, but I think that on the whole it would be an advantage for our society .
In my opinion the issue is to distinguish when using the car is useful and when it is indispensable: we sometimes should ask ourselves if there were other ways to do what we have in mind without using the car or we should be less lazy: in Spring or in Summer we can use bikes or motorbikes, it can also be enjoyable to have a walk, also if it takes more time .
Certainly nowadays it is sometimes indispensable to have it and to use it, but if we want that also our children or our nephews will see a blue sky (and not only a grey one!) it will be better to put our car into the garage and stop it for some time .
